The entrance of Mary Moody Northern Hall buzzed with excitement as the WT Alumni Art Show’s opening ceremony commenced on Thursday, April 4.

The art show platformed art pieces by graduates from the various art programs offered at West Texas A&M University. These art pieces showcase a wide variety of techniques and styles, from acrylic paintings to miniature displays. During Thursday’s event, prizes were awarded to the best three art pieces as decided by Deana Craighead, the curator of art for the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum.

“When it comes to this exhibition, I would really focus in on, ‘How does this show how you grow from your experiences here into the the artist that you are after moving on?’” Craighead said, “For me, a lot of it was just about sense of place and how you connect to WT and Canyon and a region.”

The first-place winning art piece was a miniature display titled “Free Little Art Gallery” by artist Loc Dao. Dao’s display was inspired by the “free little libraries” that pop up in residential areas that allow people to take and leave books for their community. The piece includes a plaque encouraging viewers to take and leave miniatures of their own creations.

“My work is grounded in museums, and I come from a place of ‘no touch’,” Craighead said. “And to not only encourage touch but to encourage taking in an interactive, conceptual exchange with the viewer, the participant, and the artist all being the same person was this really beautiful conceptual idea for me.”

The show was as much a reunion for WT alumni as it was a commencement event for an art gallery. Jon Revett, WT’s art program director and Doris Alexander Distinguished Professor of Fine Arts, reported that connecting with former students was a major goal of organizing this event.

“This is our first-ever alumni show,” said Revett. “We decided to reach out and start forming relationships with our students. We hadn’t really done that before. So we were approved to do an art show, which also became a contest to kind of inspire them to come back and reconnect with us.”

The oldest alumni present was Texas artist Dick Archer. Archer graduated from WT’s art program in the 1970s. He received the notification about the event via Facebook and decided to submit, leading to 4 of his paintings being displayed in the gallery.

“I did art when we first got out of school for a while, and you know, I got back into it about four years ago,” said Archer. “I’ve got a brother that lives in Dallas and he started doing watercolors. And he kind of got me inspired to put back in watercolors and start playing with them.”

“Palo Duro” by artist Amanda Barnett, won third place. “Pueblo Storms” by Michael Merriman came in second. “The Free Little Art Gallery” by Loc Dao won first. All winners were awarded cash prizes ranging from $500-$1500 dollars. The alumni art show will remain open for public viewing at the Dord Fitz Formal Art Gallery until April 27.