Artist Beth Fedigan at the BHC

Brownsville-South Padre Island artist Beth Fedigan will be one of the featured artists in the exhibition Hecho a Mano: A Heartfelt Tradition at the Brownsville Heritage Complex. The exhibition opens at 6:30 pm on August 10, 2006 with a reception. The reception is free to the public. The exhibition runs through October 9, 2006 and is included with general admission to the Brownsville Heritage Complex.

Fedigan, who is well-known for her watercolors of fish and beach life, will feature her hand-made baskets which are made from local materials found around South Padre Island.

According to Fedigan, “My work is strongly influenced by texture. Texture is surface enrichment. It’s manipulative; and by staining, scratching, weathering, and whatever else we can do to surfaces, it makes the piece beautiful. We live in a primarily visual world. I feel that the more ways we find to express our ideas and reactions to the world, the more effectively we will respond to the stimulation we receive from our immediate environment. Art is a form of communication, and/or self reflection. Art should make a viewer think, but it shouldn’t tell a viewer what to think. For me, the act of creating is spiritual; it is communicating with the creative forces that drive me. Ultimately, art allows me to express things through visual means that cannot be communicated with words.”

Hecho a Mano: A Heartfelt Tradition explores the hand-made traditions of South Texas and Northern Mexico.

Along with Fedigan’s original baskets, Mission artist Julian Rodriguez will showcase his ceramic bowls, plates and cups, as well as his more sculptural folk-saint series. McAllen artist Raquel Hinojosa will display her paper mache art.

Also on display will be paper crafts, local hand-made piñatas, and textiles of Mexico from the private collection of UTPA Special Collections Librarian George R. Gause.

Through the duration of the exhibition, workshops and public demonstrations are scheduled in conjunction with the exhibition.

The Brownsville Heritage Complex is located in historic downtown Brownsville at 1325 E. Washington St. The Brownsville Heritage Complex includes: The Stillman House Museum, The Brownsville Heritage Museum, The Aiken Education Center, The Heritage Resource Center and the Children's Heritage and Cultural Learning Center.

For more information please call 956-541-5560 or email info@brownsvillehistory.org.