Cain Gallery now open with Fall 2021 show with works from across the country, collection spans over 50 years
Art Program’s “Permanent Collection Exhibition” features 30 works from purchases of award-winning submittals from DMC National Drawing and Small Sculpture Show
Article by Melinda Eddleman
In 1966, Del Mar College (DMC) Art Department Chair Joseph A. Cain started a legacy of bringing exceptional art to Corpus Christi with a juried competition that attracted artists from all 50 states. He also dreamed of preserving the best works, the award-winning pieces, with a permanent collection that Coastal Bend residents could enjoy for years to come. (Learn about Cain from the fall 2020 exhibit release.)
Each year, that dream lives on with the College’s Art and Drama Department presenting the National Drawing and Small Sculpture Show featuring two- and three-dimensional works. The department then purchases the top award-winning drawing and sculpture for perseverance.
As this year’s fall show, the department presents the “Permanent Collection Exhibition” with over 30 pieces curated in the Joseph A. Cain Memorial Art Gallery, located in the Fine Arts Center on the DMC Heritage Campus (Baldwin Blvd. and Ayers St.).
The free exhibit is currently open to the public and runs through Friday, Dec. 3. Gallery hours are Mondays through Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Fridays from 9 a.m. until noon. For more information, contact the Art Program at art@delmar.edu or 361-698-1216.
Patrons are encouraged to practice COVID-19 safety protocols, including wearing a mask or face covering and practicing social distancing. The College is current in Phase 3 of the Return-to-Campus Plan.
The “Permanent College Exhibition” spans a wide variety of media used to create the drawings and sculptures by regionally and nationally acclaimed artists such as Texas native James Surls.
“For over five decades, the Art Department’s National Drawing and Small Sculpture show has been a crossroad for new styles, new approaches to art-making,” said Benjamin Ogrodnik, Assistant Professor of Art and Gallery Director. “The works from our collection represent a wide variety of acclaimed practitioners from across the country, and the department feels it’s important for the College to preserve and showcase its legacy of collecting pieces from the national show.”
Artwork featured in the exhibition ranges from a piece on view purchased in 1970 to several pieces the department recently purchased from the 2021 national show.
Ogrodnik added, “The collection exhibition connects Corpus Christi with historic and contemporary art, inspires students in their studio art courses and allows all of us to become a bit more curious and sensitive to the visual world.”
Del Mar College empowers students to achieve their dreams. We offer quality programs, individual attention, outstanding instruction through faculty with real-world experience and affordable costs to credit and noncredit students in Corpus Christi and the South Texas Coastal Bend area. Nationally recognized while locally focused, we’re ranked in the top two percent of community colleges in the country granting associate degrees to Hispanic students (Community College Week). Del Mar College focuses on offering our students programs that match current or emerging career opportunities. Whether students are interested in the fine arts, sciences, business, occupational or technical areas, students get the education they need for the future they want at Del Mar College.