GALLERY: Good art comes in small packages

The University of Houston-Clear Lake Art School for Children is presenting its first exhibition, "Honey, I Shrunk the Art Show." The exhibition is currently open and will run through Nov. 29 in the UHCL Alfred Neumann Library. The exhibition’s theme is "Making Everyday Things Small" and will display a collection of numerous works of art in a miniaturized format created by students and faculty. Some pieces will be available for sale by the artists.

David Moya, director of the Art School for Children, stated that he wanted to create a theme for the art exhibition that was playful and different.

“I know it’s an older movie ["Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,"] but I feel like it’s a part of pop culture and it’s a classic,” Moya said. “The theme was ‘making everyday things small,’ and I think some of the artists interpreted that differently. Some of them were a little more literal, so there’s a bit of a mix of things in there.”

The UHCL Human Factors Program has provided virtual reality technology to transform the miniature art into full-sized objects.

“I think the only thing is that when people come to the show, I want it to sort of make them think about their place in the reality that they live in,” Moya said. “You see these things that are really small objects and they’re kind of to scale, and then we’re going to put it in a virtual reality environment, and it’s going to become life-size.”

Moya stated that planning the exhibition was slightly more stressful than he anticipated.

“It’s been stressful because this is my first time organizing something like this,” Moya said. “It’s a whole process to have an idea and then try to get people to buy into it, submit their work, you know, take the fees, advertise. Little bits and pieces of those things, I have skills that have allowed me to kind of navigate through some of those things, but I mean, it’s been a big collaborative thing. I mean we had the undergrads, the T.A.s were working on the gallery. I sat down with them. We designed it, and we came up with the ideas, and they implemented it. There’s a lot of things to it that I wasn’t really planning for, and that’s what makes it stressful.”

The contestants consist of college students, artists and faculty.  

“It’s a mix of people from the university,” Moya said. “People saw it on the Internet so, it’s a mix.”

Chloris Yue, interim executive director at the UHCL Neumann Library, is very excited about having different audiences coming in and out of the library.

“The students have such potential,” Yue said. “They have a way to showcase their work, and we are just providing the space.”

Yue stated that she welcomes any student organization who wants to collaborate with the library.

“This way we are able to get more exposure,” Yue said. “We are doing a lot of services for the students, and we just want them to be aware. This is also a way to have a chance to reach out to more students. Sometimes they might see the library as just a place to read and study. We have a lot more services and resources that are waiting for them to explore.”

“When people come to experience the show, I want them to kind of not just say ‘oh it’s cool’, but to think about how these spaces translate, not just in a small environment but in a virtual environment and how we fit in between those things,” Moya said.

Moya hopes that the audience walks away with more than just an experience.

“As an artist and teacher, the big question is, when people are there, what do they walk away with?” Moya said. “That’s how we should always think about things. You know, we’re putting on this show, creating lessons, making art work, for what? Because other people are experiencing it.”

Moya explained that this exhibition is just the beginning of more to come.

“I want to build a class around it,” Moya said. “I want to teach older kids about making small art and scanning it and having that 3D element too. So, this is sort of just the beginning of more. Hopefully this is not just a one and done.”