New ‘Riddles of the Ground’ Art Exhibit Hosts Opening Reception Tuesday, April 29 at TAMIU
A new two-person art exhibition, “Riddles of the Ground,” will be celebrated with an opening reception Tuesday, April 29 from 5 – 7 p.m. at Texas A&M International University’s (TAMIU) Center for the Fine and Performing Arts Gallery.
Riddles of the Ground features the works of Sandra Amoabeng and Emily Rice, TAMIU art faculty members.
Having recently relocated to Laredo, both artists investigate the surrounding landscape, finding connections to their practices and between their practices. Riddles of the Ground surveys everyday objects that are passed by and tread over. The exhibition invites witnesses to consider matter as alive.
This aliveness is in scrap metal, soil, and seeds. It is in the air, colors, textures from town, a grackle’s call outside of an HEB, and jollof simmering on the stove. There are questions leading to more questions: What does it mean to be a kind neighbor? How can one be a good friend? How can we better care for the proximal? Pigment-rich sculptural drawings by Amoabeng and Rice combine to create a garden of hope with a collaborative gift.
Sandra SK Amoabeng, is a multidisciplinary Ghanaian artist and educator based in the U.S. Her creative journey is marked by a profound connection to nature and utilizing natural materials, mainly soil and flowers. Amoabeng creates paintings and ephemeral installations which speak to memory, belonging, and which foster dialogue on sustainability and our relationship to the environment.
Amoabeng holds a BFA degree in Painting and Sculpture from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana and an MFA degree in Visual Arts from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, New Jersey. Amoabeng is a visiting faculty member for the TAMIU College of Arts and Sciences, department of Fine and Performing Arts.
Emily Rice is an artist based in the southern U.S. Rice earned the MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville after receiving the BFA in Art and Spanish from Birmingham-Southern College.
Rice explores post-apocalyptic fragmentation and sustainable resurrection through a queer futuristic lens. Through drawing, painting, digital media, sculpture, and installation, Rice elevates materials into realms of animism and myth. Investigating and reshaping torn, broken, and dead materials through an alchemical method for transfiguration and a way to gather time together. Rice’s works are manifestations of a believed and beloved reality, examining the fascia between relationships and time. Recently living in Tegucigalpa, Honduras as a Creative Research Fulbright Scholar in Installation Art, Rice is teaching Painting and Drawing this semester at TAMIU.
Riddles of the Ground will remain on display at the TAMIU Gallery from April 29 to May 9, 2025 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday - Friday. Call 956.326.2654 to view by appointment or stop by the FPA offices, room 205.
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