Aleah Burns
Baylor University

Oil Paint on Stretched Canvas
36” x 24” x 1.5”
$1,250

In my work, I explore the complexities of the human relationship with digital technology. More than ever before, we spend hours each day slipping in and out of worlds that exist beyond our own through our screens. Whether through social media, the news, or television, we are inundated with more information than our minds have evolved to process. Our attention is pulled in countless directions as we encounter an abundance of online realities, and our sense of self becomes confused and fragmented.

My paintings incorporate screens both literally, in the form of computers and phones, and abstractly, through overlapping rectangular forms. The screens both reveal and obscure elements of the composition, encompassing the modern duality of perception: the world we encounter through our devices and the world they quietly blur, fragment, or hide from view. Through my work, I hope to prompt viewers to examine their own position within this increasingly screen-based, digital age.

Brittne Kittrell
Houston Christian University

Pan Pastel and Prismacolor Pencils
9” x 8” x 0”
$800

My artistic journey is rooted in the experience of the self. Each creation becomes more than a visual display; it acts as a form of communication that moves beyond language, offering viewers a deeper understanding of my inner world and, at times, a pa

thway to

reflect on their own. The purpose of my work is to build connections that evoke emotion, inspire new insights, and encourage personal reflection. These vivid pieces are sincere reflections of my personal ecosystems, the shifting moments of my life, and the simple objects and themes I encounter daily. Within these influences, I continue to pursue the grounding values of comfort, joy, and clarity. My approach focuses on expressing the internal perception of self, which may not always align with external interpretations. This process thrives on freedom, experimentation, and the tension created through strong contrasts of light and dark. Layered marks and gestures create a visual language revealing the process behind the piece.

Chloe Hudspeth
Houston Christian University

Oil on Canvas
40” x 70” x 2”
$1500

As a Hispanic American shaped by both Ecuador and Texas, I have lived much of my life between two homes, deeply formed by both yet never fully rooted in either. For years, the pace of American life distanced me from my cultural roots, creating a sense that I

had to choose between two worlds. My work resists that choice.

Through ceramics and botanical painting, I return to the rhythms and materials of my heritage, including blackberries, cacao, guava, soil, and branching forms. These natural elements act as vessels of memory and belonging. Clay carries weight and touch, while painting and printmaking echo the textures of landscapes held across distance. Each piece becomes an act of preservation, creating space for both cultures to exist together.

Christopher Crayton
University of Texas - Arlington

Aluminum Cast with Chalk Pastels
12” x 8” x 5”
$600

Movement and emotions are linked together. The body is the conduit that emotions flow through as energy creates movement. My aim is to show how one can capture this in a variety of different ways through sculpture.

Esther Santee
University of Houston

Cyanotype on Paper, Sewing Thread
54” x 30” x 0”
$150

In my current body of work I am emphasizing the presence of my physical body. It is a response to life after the death of my mother and an obsession with my own existence. I plaster cast my body to remedy this obsession with having to see that I'm alive, that I take up space, that I am here. In this process I am creating shells of myself, that when removed from my body become void of life, in reference to the empty and lifeless seashells on the beach. Through the process of creating my large scale cyanotypes, I have turned my practice into a ritual revolving around the sun. In these pieces I am using the natural world around me as the medium. I lay on the sand to expose my body under the sun and rinse the papers in the ocean. The work is at the mercy of the elements and in this way has become vulnerable. Through this I have found a way to record the fragile nature of the physical passage of time. My cyanotypes are an index of moments taken from my life and they then become me.

Ginger Gore Russell
SFASU

Photography
21” x 21” x 1.5”
$1500

My work is deeply rooted in my body, blend elements of portraiture, memory, and place, capturing the many dimensions of my life. After undergoing a partial hysterectomy and losing my mother, I found myself in an urgent emotional space. Picking up my camera felt like answering a profound inner need-like giving birth to a part of myself that desperately wanted to emerge.

In these photographs, I incorporate family heirlooms, my hair, intimate close-ups, and unexpected scale to express a kaleidoscope of feelings: tenderness, anger, pride, grief, and a stubborn, unyielding hope. Sometimes, my images invite you to lean in and connect; at other times, they confront you openly, boldly demanding attention. They reflect my experience of menopause and aging, the challenge of remaining visible when the world often prefers to look away, and the ongoing process of reconciling who I was with who I am becoming.

Hailey Harvey
Houston Christian University

Ceramic and Embroidery Floss
20” x 33” x 4.5”
$900

My work makes the ephemeral nature of memory tangible, cultivating spaces of comfort, solitude, and familiarity. Through material and form, I create vessels that hold what lingers, allowing traces of experience to mark and shape us over time. These works act as sites of refuge, holding moments that resist disappearance while honoring what cannot be physically preserved.

The recurring presence of a lamb and a hare move through ever-shifting spaces of transition, highlighting relationships of openness and guidance, stillness and motion. They pass through thresholds between the known and unknown, the physical and ethereal, leaving quiet imprints in their wake.

With each journey, traces emerge through textures that echo memory held within the body. Softness and structure coexist, forming tactile surfaces where experiences are held, and memories persist. My work invites pause, dwelling in the comfort of remembrance as past and present intertwine, allowing memory to unfold at its own pace.

Haylee Wuensche
Houston Christian University

Ceramic with Red iron Oxide
8” x 11” x 11”
$300

My studio practice has always been a means of catharsis and expression. In my current work, I explore the human body as a vessel for emotions and experiences that are difficult to capture in words or give physical shape. I use reductive and additive processes

in a meditative back and forth to construct the figure, creating a conversation between concept and material that allows the medium to influence the outcome of the piece. As the forms twist and contort, they take on their own identities shaped by my personal feelings and experiences. I want the compositions and poses to evoke emotions that have fought their way out through the body, leaving behind raw and rough impressions of the human experience. I believe that form can capture, store, and express sensations that are commonly buried in the subconscious and the act of creating these figures allows for a moment of catharsis for both myself and the viewer.

Isaac Cavazos
Texas A & M Corpus Christi

Waterbased Markers, Ink, Pens, Pencil
12” x 9” x 0”
$300

I like to obsess over details no one notices, I enjoy the process of making something more than the final result, I use pointillism to combine both of these interests.

Jillian Hill
Houston Christian University

24” x 18” x 0”
Gouache, Acrylic Paint, and Prismas Color Pencils
$750

In my current body of work, I explore the themes of self-reflection, transformation, and personal growth as they unfold throughout different stages of my life. I am particularly drawn to the practice of self-portraiture, using it as a way to capture not only physical likeness but also the emotional and spiritual essence of identity. While a portrait may appear to be a single captured moment in time, I see it as much more. It feels as if it were a layered narrative that holds memory, meaning, and the complexity of lived experience. Each portrait I create tells its own story, serving as both a mirror and a record of the journey I continue to walk as a woman and as an artist.

Julia Marcucci Wood
Houston Christian University

Drypoint Print with Lace Embossing
14” x 11” x 0”
$215

Julia Marcucci Wood is a Houston-based painter and visual artist who focuses on the celebration of values and textures by finding authenticity in the feminine form. Julia's work explores and identifies the cyclical nature within the feminine as she embraces themes of imperfection, transformation, and surrendering. While these elements relay to diverse individuals' interpretation of the figure, her audience can derive recognizable elements and emotions from subject matter, finding resonance with their own experiences through the intimacy of her compositions. By the usage of figurative art through her practice, this bridges the gap of identity and fragmentation of women with power and defiance, hoping to make these connections relatable.

Julia Pardy
Texas A & M - Corpus Christi

Acrylic Paint
18” x 24” x 1.5”
$650

My work explores community, meaning, and culture. Being from Canada, I am able to have an outside perspective on the culture and community of new places I explore, providing a fresh view of common cultural norms; familiar in a nostalgic sense, yet free from the mundanity of seeing the same thing repeatedly. For example, moving to Texas has allowed me to explore the community and culture present through a unique lense. Many think of Texas culture as only cowboys and horses, but I see Texas culture reflected in the unconventional area of foods, showcasing a diverse blend of cultures and backgrounds, yet all harmoniously served together. Meals are much so much more; meals are memories. I hope individuals will see my work and instantly relate it to a personal experience they've had, creating a sense of nostalgia.This nostalgia is exactly what I aim to capture in my work.

Kasia Sustaita
Houston Christian University

Oil on Wood Panel
12” x 9” x .75”
$545

My art centers around moments I don't want to forget and the practice of gratitude. I'm drawn to shifting landscapes and organic, candid portraiture. My work serves as a permanent archive of momentary sights, often unnoticed or taken for granted. Moments can shift or quietly slip away, and we often recognize their importance only once they're already gone. Through my art, I preserve memories not just to hold onto them, but to offer others a window into my experiences.

Each of my works captures a transitioning moment, turning something brief into a lasting impression. More than simple reflections of the physical world, my art honors the quiet scenes that are easily overlooked, inviting both myself and the viewer to consider just how precious the small, passing fragments of life truly are. Through my art, these glimpses become something to be noticed, remembered, and cherished.

Kate Swayze
Baylor University

Oil on Canvas and Painting Rag
24” x 36” x 1”
$1350

Swayze depicts her immediate family through the replication of family photographs and imbues her paintings with affixed painting rag scraps, indicating her personal relationship to the individual and how she views them through precise selection of color and mark. The rag is the same material used in kitchen towels, referencing a domestic sense of home and familiarity. The painting rag alludes to the person depicted but is also a testament to the medium of painting. Her identity, on a fundamental level, is shown

in the most primitive way as a byproduct of her work.

Additionally, the interplay of abstraction and the representational mimics the ambiguity of memory and gives equal importance to both the substrate and the subject matter. The figure fractures and fades, as memory does, into the substrate by which it has come. Both the imagery and the painting rag hold the passage of time, documenting process and what it means to be a human over time.

Katherine Huff
Houston Christian University

Oil Paint
40” x 18” x 2”
$1300

I paint from the past in order to define what it means to be. In my works, places linger between dream and memory feeling both familiar and foreign. I create scenes that blur the line between the internal and the external world. Figures and objects often emerge from shadowy landscapes, evoking a sense of quiet unease or eternal longing. The work resists clear narrative, instead suggesting fragments of stories or remnants of fables that exist beyond the frame of the canvas and reference an older time.

Symbols are withheld or disguised and meaning unfolds slowly, as if remembered from a dream or another life. These scenes, rooted in my lived experience yet filtered through imagination and dreams, aim to transform ordinary moments into portals of introspection and desire.

Katia Herrera
University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley

Colored Pencils
20” x 16” x 20”
$150

It wasn't until I was 16 when I become interested into the world of art. I had no knowledge of what to do, or where to begin. But I still wanted to create. They were many ups and downs when starting, but it was an experience that I enjoyed and learned. This experience provided me with constant support and inspiration deeply moved me how my art was truly and open way to provide me comfort and peace. As an artist my work celebrates the flexibility of how I see and live through everyday of my life, interesting yet very demanding. What I seen through these many things it gave me the strength to see the beauty and the truth around me. I paint with oils and acrylics and sometimes colored pencils. Each medium is very different some give peace some I have to put more patience than the others, but it gives me all the time I need.

Keegan Conrad
Sam Houston State University

Micron Pen and Chalk Pastel
22.09” x 18.09” x 0”
$200

My name is Keegan Conrad and I am currently a 2D studio major with a teaching certificate at SHSU. I aspire to teach high school art and eventually master in ceramics. I am a trans artist who started doing art seriously in 2023 and quickly fell in love with this particular genre of expression. I found a way to voice feelings and struggles that were suppressed for mot of my life. Being trans in Texas is already hard enough, however being trans, queer, autistic and bi polar are a recipe for extreme struggles.

Through my art I like to capture nature and life observations as well as pieces that represent impactful moments of my life.

Laura Cano
Houston Christian University

Yarn on Stretched Burlap Canvas
30” x 24” x 2”
$850

My practice explores womanhood, heritage, and cultural identity through the reinterpretation of Mexican folk-art traditions, symbols, and motifs. To fully express these narratives, I work across both painting and mixed-media techniques. I may beg in pieces on canvas, while others incorporate ceramics, fiber, wood, found objects, glass, or mosaic elements. The material choices are intentional, allowing texture, weight, and structure to convey emotion and cultural meaning. I build layered visual narratives that preserve memory, history, and lived experience. Storytelling is foundational to how I work. My process centers on documenting personal experiences alongside those shared by others, capturing the spirit of the people, traditions, resilience, and moments that shape the time in which the work exists. Each piece functions as a record-holding stories that might otherwise remain unseen or unheard. When a community does not see itself represented in the arts, it raises a deeper question.

Maddie Brown
Sam Houston State University

Colored Pencil, Watercolor, Textile Based Collage
35” x 24” x 1
$1000

I am an emerging mixed-media artist who was born in Odessa, TX and lives in Houston,TX. My current body of work is centered on childhood memories and the navigation of girlhood into womanhood. I also make art dealing with cultural constructs of femininity and the clash of sexuality and innocence that many women juggle. Domestic structures (architectural features of the home) and feminine textiles such as lace and ribbon are crucial when creating the nostalgic and feminine aspects in my work. My work unfolds as an extension of my own identity, and reflects my desire to return to the innocence and simplicity of girlhood.

My work is built upon the memory of my childhood, blended with adult themes that are often hidden behind layers of innocence. I am exposing my intimate memories and loss of girlhood to share feelings of nostalgia. My work brings translations of memories and domestic structures to viewers forcing them to see the art with intimacy, elevating them beyond the ordinary.

Norma Arteaga
Texas A & M University - Kingsville

Serigraph
13” x 11” x 0.1”
$150

My work reflects on immigration as both a lived experience and a constructed system, shaped by policy, documentation, and national myth. Growing up in a border town situates these histories as personal and collective. Carried through stories of crossing, belonging, and resilience passed through generations.

Using serigraphy, I engage repetition, layering, and precision to reflect the repetitive and structured nature of bureaucratic systems. This medium allows me to reconfigure symbols from government documents and national iconography. To mirror how political messages are imposed and enforced throughout the force of time. My work connects lived memory to institutional structures, questioning how legality has come to define belonging and compassion.

Raye Hampey
University of Texas - San Antonio

Mixed-Media Sculpture
27” x 22” x 9.5”
$950

My body of work focuses on the relationship between the organic and the inorganic and the human experience. With this collection of work, I aim to address humanity's tendency to force the natural world to conform to our standards and needs. The first entry references the over-engineering of living creatures to suit a man-made purpose. The second entry references the pursuit of moralistic perfection in a reality that is ambivalent to any set of morals or ethics. The third entry alludes to the insistence to domesticate and condition the natural world, specifically at the increasingly precarious point that we find ourselves today.

Rivkah Parker
Houston Christian University

Dry-Point Print on Paper with Mohair Yarn
11” x 9.5” x 0.1”
$250

My artwork investigates the tension within liminal spaces and the in-between, drawing on dreams, memories, emotions, and inherited beliefs. I explore these concepts in my artwork through images of spirituality, events from my childhood, and nature, navigating the feelings of uncertainty that I have experienced in my life. In this way, I aim to create a space where beauty and dread coexist. By bringing form to this state of mind, I encourage my audience to reflect on what evokes similar feelings in their own lives, and to sit with the discomfort and meaning found in uncertainty. My goal is to compel my viewers towards introspection and a deeper understanding of themselves as I draw upon a shared exploration of the collective human experience.

Sara McKethan
University of Texas - San Antonio

Glazed Stoneware Ceramic
7” x 8” x 20”
$2000