STC’s Mid-Valley Campus Library celebrates banned books with art exhibit

Mid-Valley Campus
Sept. 9 – October 31, 2009

Books from the exhibition “Sealed For Your Own Protection” by STC Instructor Phyllis Evans.

South Texas College’s Mid-Valley Campus Library Art Gallery is proud to present “Sealed for Your Own Protection,” an installation exhibit celebrating banned books by STC Instructor Phyllis Evans. The exhibit opens Wednesday, Sept. 9 and will be on view through October 31, 2009. On Wednesday, Sept. 30th an Art talk will be held at 1:00 p.m. followed by a reception in STC’s Mid-Valley Campus Library, Bldg. E. located at 400 N. Border, Weslaco. Admission is free and open to the public.

Evans is an art instructor and chair of STC’s Visual Art and Music Department. She earned her Master of Art in Drawing from Sam Houston State University, and a Masters in Fine Arts in Painting (with digital emphasis) from West Virginia University.

“Much of my work addresses social concerns, especially inequalities in gender, wealth, and power,” said Evans. “The intent of the installation is to celebrate intellectual freedom and to remind library patrons of their constitutionally protected freedom to read what they please.”

The eye-opening exhibit confronts viewers by surprise, and even bewilderment, as former “banned books” are interspersed and embedded throughout the stacks of the library. The books sit on shelves, incognito, only to be found inaccessible, covered in encaustic (beeswax and resin) with their respective pages glued together, and literally “Sealed For Your Own Protection.”  It is Evans’ hope that the exhibit serves as a reminder for people to relish and preserve their unrestricted intellectual liberty.

South Texas College’s Library Art Gallery Program exhibits regional, national and international artwork, explores new visions and theories of creativity, and introduces innovative artistic expressions to the South Texas region.

For more information call 872-3488, e-mail libraryart@southtexascollege.edu or visit http://lag.southtexascollege.edu.