CONTACT: Julie Navejar
kajam03@tamuk.edu or 361-593-2590

A&M-Kingsville Alumnus Displays Artwork at Conner Museum

KINGSVILLE (September 12, 2003) ---- Texas A&M University-Kingsville alumnus Jesus Salvador De La Rosa will exhibit his artwork at the John E. Conner Museum on campus beginning Monday, Sept. 15, and continuing through Saturday, Nov. 15.

De La Rosa received his bachelor of fine arts degree from A&M-Kingsville in 1999 and has recently started the master of fine arts program at Ohio State University in Columbus. His exhibit, “Cultural Experience,” consists of 16 original works done predominately in oil.
The artist is no stranger to the Conner Museum. In 1998, De La Rosa teamed with two other art students to design and paint an original mural in the museum’s mammoth section. The mural depicts South Texas as it would have appeared 10,000 years ago with animals that were living at that time.

He also illustrated a book featuring historical buildings and homes in Kingsville called the “Illustrated Guide to the Original Town Sites, Volume 11.”

Since receiving his degree, De La Rosa has worked as an art instructor, a silkscreen printer, a graphic designer and publications manager. He also owns and operates his own art gallery in Nuevo Progreso, Mexico that gives him and other artists the opportunity to exhibit and sell their artwork to an international audience.

He has his art in numerous exhibits and shows and received several awards, including the Graduate Enrichment Fellowship to Ohio State University. He received the Artist
Recognition Award at Festival Internacional de Tamaulipas, placed first in the second annual Thanksgiving Harvest Celebration Art Exhibit at A&M-Kingsville, placed third in the 27th International Art Show at the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art and received the spring Scholastic Excellence Art Award at the University of Texas at Brownsville. He also received several scholarships while at A&M-Kingsville.

De La Rosa was born in Weslaco. After living in Nuevo Progreso, Mexico most of his early childhood, his family moved to Santa Maria.

The exhibit at the Conner Museum is his first solo show. The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information call 361-593-2810.

-TAMUK-