The 2022 Alkek One Student Gallery installations are now up and ready for visitors to experience. These awesome projects demonstrate how digital technologies and creativity align. Five student projects were selected among the entries to this second year of the competition to have their work installed in the first-floor lobby of the Alkek Library. Library staff partnered with the Common Experience team and selected the winners that represented the 2021-22 theme of Compassion. The article below profiles one of the participants whose work was selected for the gallery.
Leslie Flores, photography major in the College of Fine Arts and Communication, is no stranger to the world of art. She was particularly inspired by this year’s Common Experience theme, Compassion. It wasn’t difficult for her to take the abstract notion of compassion and create something tangible.
Flores stepped into her late grandmother’s footsteps for her artwork submission to Alkek One’s 2022 Student Gallery competition. She created blankets and pillows, just like her elder used to craft to give to new mothers in her neighborhood. Like her grandmother, Flores believes that we show compassion through acts of service.
Her display piece, entitled Warmth Around the World, is one of seven linens she created with plans to deliver to women in local homeless shelters.
“One of the biggest challenges people experiencing homelessness face is environmental impact and keeping warm in the winter seasons,” Flores said. “Women and children are the fastest-growing homeless population and often don’t feel secure and safe in shelters. To provide comfort to these individuals in the community, I constructed blankets and pillows with different symbols of compassion from around the world and added relaxing scents of aromatherapy to the bedding for these women and their families.”
The Alkek One MakerSpace was instrumental in creating her artwork.
“I created these linens by way of crotchet, embroidery, and alternative print processes such as cyanotypes – a concept I learned of during an Alkek One Maker Day,” she said.
Additionally, her creation process was deeply personal. Not only was she inspired by her grandmother, she used remnants of her grandmother’s fabric for the blankets. Flores’ artwork is a physical embodiment of several lessons she’s learned about showing kindness and giving back to others.
“We’re all in a tough spot right now,” said Flores. “We need people to show their kindness and generosity and come up with amazing ideas to put forward for the future.”
This article was contributed by Angela Smith, marketing and promotions coordinator in the Division of IT Marketing and Communications office.