Exhibits
"...hitched to everything..."
"...hitched to everything..."
Sherry Tseng Hill
Gallery (2nd Floor Southwest)
About the Exhibit
ART TOUR and WORKSHOP with Sherry Tseng Hill: SUNDAY, MAY 10, 2026, 1:00 PM-2:30 PM | 2nd FLOOR GALLERY
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." ~ John Muir
In this exhibition "...hitched to everything...", Sherry Tseng Hill explores the intricate connections within our natural environment by highlighting the tiny things that often go unnoticed, discarded, or even feared, yet play a crucial role in sustaining our world, such as fungi, slime molds, insects, and decaying leaves.
These small decomposers, pollinators, and food sources help maintain soil health, nutrient cycles, and the overall balance of our ecosystems. As we become more aware of the environmental degradation caused by human activities, we also recognize the urgent need to protect our planet. While these small creatures may seem insignificant, they have a significant impact on our world.
Using translucent mulberry paper as the structural foundation for her work, Tseng Hill considers the delicate balances of nature. Through hand stitching, she layers diverse materials as metaphors for the complexities and interconnectedness of our environment, and contemplate and reflect on the beauty and richness that exist beneath our feet, in the air, in water, soil, and the unseen spaces around us.
About the Artist
Sherry Tseng Hill makes mixed-media artworks that blur the line between the abstract and the representational. Her works incorporate both 2D and 3D elements to explore the texture of connections, as well as the interactions and rhythms of communities, including humans and the More-Than-Human World, while examining borders and edges as sites of friction and violence.
Born and raised in Taiwan, she moved to the US at 14. Part of two cultures yet fully belonging to neither, she lives in the gray area between two states of being: the immediacy of the present and a lingering sense of the distant. Her own experiences with the tensions between two cultures, threatening, violent yet also exciting, vital, and often unavoidable, drive her to think about migration and colonization in the context of climate change and what it means to make a home. Turning over rocks and peeling back tree barks, she looks for traces and crevices, thinks about how they can serve as metaphors for other things- erasure, loss, the passage of time, and what is seen/not seen- to tell stories about our impact on each other and reflect on the art of living together.
Through generations of family tradition in craft-making, she explores her past and re-presents new narratives. Using mulberry paper (a nod to her culture of origin) as structural foundations with materials from everyday surroundings- twigs, palm bark fiber, bamboo grass from a broom, and threads, she layers, felts, weaves, and stitches to explore environmental degradation from the entanglements and legacies of relations.
Tseng Hill received a Bachelor of Architecture (1982) and a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture and Art History (1980) from Rice University, Houston, Texas. After practicing architecture and raising two sons, she completed the BLOCK Program at The Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2021-2023), where she currently teaches. Her work is in the public collections of Rice University, Houston Endowment, and the City of Houston, where she was commissioned to create a Public Artwork. Tseng Hill has exhibited at The Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Rice University, Moody Gallery, Fort Worth Community Arts Center, the San Antonio Art League and Museum, Discovery Green, and The Jung Center. She is represented by Moody Gallery in Houston, Texas.
Image credit
Styrofoam Memories
Styrofoam Memories
Chris Rabb
Living Room (6th Floor South)
About the Exhibit
What if the disposable images of yesterday turn out to be our most enduring monuments? This exhibition features a thoughtfully chosen collection of works that examine the dynamic interplay between Pop Art, Abstraction, and storytelling. Pop Art’s use of popular imagery is woven together with the expressive forms of Abstraction and narrative elements, creating a multilayered approach. Imagine the glint of neon on a Pac-Man screen, or the sugary scent of cereal dust rising from a morning bowl—these works bring such sensations to life. By integrating recognizable imagery with abstract composition and narrative cues, the pieces transform familiar visuals into rich stories, combining fantasy and memory within colorful assemblages, cultural symbols, and expressive designs.
Inspired by retro media, consumer products, ads, and cartoons, the series turns mass culture’s language into lively, abstract patterns. Whether it's the bright colors of a 1980s arcade game, the smiling face of Tony the Tiger from vintage cereal ads, or the bold lines of Saturday morning cartoons, these references become touchstones in the playful mix. This encourages viewers to engage with the art through humor, curiosity, and personal interpretation. The result is a visual playground that shares stories and moments without spelling them out, inviting a conversation between the viewer and the artwork, grounded in shared culture and personal memories.
About the Artist
My work focuses on play, experimentation, and storytelling through Pop Art Abstraction. At its heart, I ask how the symbols and language of mass culture shape our shared memories and personal identities. I’m drawn to the contrast between bright, lively surfaces and deeper meanings, as well as how nostalgia and irony affect how we see everyday images. I welcome surprise and spontaneity in every layer, which is packed with pop culture references and icons. Bold, eye-catching text runs across my pieces like ads, inviting viewers to look closer. By abstracting familiar objects and images, I create a playful conversation where nostalgia, irony, and curiosity come together.
Painting allows me to test new processes, such as layering acrylic paints and experimenting with mixed media, including collage and spray paint, while deepening my affinity with the emotional and cultural depth in daily life. By incorporating a variety of materials and application techniques, such as stenciling, texturing, and the use of bold, graphic brushwork, I engage with the unpredictable vocabulary of color, form, and visual storytelling. The influence of artists like Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, particularly their collaborative works, is evident in my use of bold color, the layering of pop culture imagery, and a sense of energetic composition. Similarly, the playful and socially aware practices of John Rosenquist, Banksy, and Keith Haring inform my approach to using recognizable icons and text to provoke both joy and reflection. While I draw from these influences, I strive to move beyond replication by incorporating personal memories, contemporary references, and an emphasis on the emotional nuances behind familiar images. My work builds on their legacy through a more intuitive process, where spontaneity and improvisation guide the narrative, allowing my own perspective to come forward. Through this approach, I aim to create artwork that instills joy, inspires reflection, and evokes a renewed sense of awe in the viewer.