By Gerard Flanagan, news writer and photographer, Office of University Communications
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Campbellsville University is hosting a traveling exhibit featuring artwork from Hispanic, Latinx and Latin American Kentuckians.
Azucena “Susie” Trejo Williams, associate professor of Art and Design at the university, will have artwork shown in The Pence-Chowning Art Gallery, 205 University Drive, Campbellsville, through Thursday, Sept. 8 as part of the traveling exhibit, titled “Our Kentucky Home: Hispanice/Latin American Visual Art in the Commonwealth.”
The Kentucky Arts Council, in partnership with alDía en América and Casa de la Cultura Kentucky, invited Hispanic, Latinx and Latin American Kentuckians to share their visual art.
A panel of Hispanic/Latinx Kentuckians and other cultural specialists selected works to include in this exhibit.
Panelists reviewed the art and noted various degrees of talent and creativity in the use of media, as well as recurring ideas such as emotional connections to people and places and the need for community.
According to the Kentucky Arts Council website, the 2020 U.S. Census showed 4.6% of Kentuckians identified as “Hispanic or Latino.”
“Members of this population share some things in common, but it is important to recognize the widespread diversity of cultures within this group,” the website said. “Even one individual can have many cultural identities that intersect in complex ways.
“One way to explore how people express different identities is through the arts.”
The website said, “Some create art to remember past times and places, while adapting to a new home or new identity. This collection of art also explores the present time and movement toward the future.”
This traveling exhibit will appear in exhibitions throughout Kentucky through October. The exhibit’s goals are to share Hispanic/Latin American/Latinx experiences in the Commonwealth today, demonstrate diversity through diverse media, styles and themes and recognize the contributions of these Kentuckians to the cultural landscape.
Trejo Williams has been a faculty member at Campbellsville University since 2015. She was awarded the Faculty Servant Leadership Award in 2017.
Trejo Williams received a Bachelor of Arts in Photojournalism from the University of North Texas in 2004. She also earned her Master of Fine Arts from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2016.
Trejo Williams is an interdisciplinary artist working in installation, photography, video and sound. She continues to exhibit her artwork nationally in both solo and group exhibitions.
For more information, call (270) 789-5133 or (270) 789-5327. For the full schedule of the traveling exhibit, visit http://artscouncil.ky.gov/KAC/Showcasing/exhibits-006-our-kentucky-home-hispanic-latin-american-visual-art.htm.
