UH-Downtown Staff Member and Artist Exhibits in Prestigious Show

LouAnn Holloman's Incentive Wins a Place in the Lawndale Art Center's 2007 Big Show

(Houston, Texas, August 28, 2007) Some people are late bloomers. That's how it was with LouAnn Holloman, financial assistant in UH-Downtown Facilities Management. She started university in 1979. But then a few things got in the way, like marriage and raising kids. Later in life, she got her degree in her first love — art.

Holloman worked a number of years as the director of administration at the Lawndale Art Center.   A staff of three put on four exhibitions a month, one of which was an annual, juried exhibition called the Big Show.  

Lawndale employees could not enter artwork, but when Holloman moved to UHD she submitted a painting to the 2007 Big Show. 457 other artists submitted, too — over 1,143 pieces were juried. Only 117 pieces were selected for the exhibit which opened in July. Among them was Holloman's Incentive.  

"A lot of the people who make art do so because it is their way of articulating what they think," Holloman says. "Incentive is a little subversive in its own way and kind of unusual for me. I seldom get into politics in my work."

Incentives was born in a newspaper photo of young, Middle Eastern men with guns raised. The visual struck Holloman as strange because it seemed so staged.  

"I thought about the insurgents and how they hate American ideals but also sort of embrace them — like using western weapons and clothing. We Americans are avid consumers — half of the Sunday paper is ads. I thought it would be intriguing to put the two images together."

UH-Downtown is a public university of nearly 12,000 students, offering a wide variety of bachelor’s degrees, as well as master’s programs in criminal justice, professional writing, security management and teaching. One of four distinct universities in the UH System, Houston’s Downtown University is nationally recognized for its student diversity, wireless campus, outstanding academic opportunities and productive community partnerships. At UHD, the emphasis is on excellence in teaching and student success.

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