TXST Painting Major Emma Reyna has first solo show
A flock of painted birds has nested at Jo’s Cafe for the month of January. As a part of the cafe’s monthly art series, Texas State Painting major Emma Reyna is showing a flight of her recent work made during her time on campus. Located at 310 Mary St., Jo’s Cafe is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Every month a new local artist is handpicked and curates a show of their work on the cafe walls. This rotating gallery displays longtime local legends as well as up-and-coming Texas State student artists.
Displaying her first solo show, Reyna has focused on oil painting and metal work for the past few years of her education. Originally she thought about pursuing illustration and animation but after a community college painting course she fell in love with oil painting.
“It wasn’t really something that I was expecting, that I would concentrate on, but the more I did it, the more it felt right, like this is what I’m meant to do,” Reyna said.
One of her reasons for falling for oil painting was the ability to manipulate various textures with the medium.
“I know you can get a really good texture with acrylic, but I like it better with oil because it’s almost like cake icing, especially with the medium that I use to mix into it to make it more thick,” Reyna said. “I find that I get the best texture after the paint on my pal- ette has dried for a day or two, because then it’s really tacky and it holds the brush texture really well.”
She appreciates the process of oil painting too which has a longer drying time than acrylic paint.
“Sometimes it takes forever to dry which does irk me a little bit but I like being able to manipulate it more,” Reyna said.
Her paintings at Jo’s share a common theme, many depicting birds or parts of birds. In a few of the pieces she has threaded red string through the canvas to add an elevated texture, both physically and metaphorically. Rich symbolism flows from work to work, depictions of bells and even blood give surrealistic context to the rich purple and blue hues used in the paintings. Her work is based on her personal experience with her own emotions and feelings.
“For me, every single little thing has its symbolization and meaning but I also kind of like to hear what other people associate with it,” Reyna said. “I think that the most important thing about being an artist is when somebody finds meaning in your art, even if it’s completely different from what your own intentions with it are.”
Recently Reyna has explored transforming the imagery in her paintings into a less fluid form, experimenting with metals. A friend convinced her to try out a metals course and at first she found it challenging since she was not used to creating in the 3D form.
“Seeing something and then figuring out exactly how to make it was always hard, but now I kind of put my knowledge into that more because I know more now and it’s a little bit easier now, but I really do enjoy it a lot,” Reyna said. “What I’ve been doing is taking objects or motifs from my paintings and putting them in metal work to bring it into a physical form so I have a whole bunch of other things that I am really eager to make that are basically just right out of my paintings.”
And create she will, as she heads into her last semester at Texas State presenting her painting thesis in May. She will be hosting a meet and greet reception at Jo’s Cafe on Saturday, Jan. 31 from 1 to 3 p.m. To view more of her artwork follow her Instagram at @e.reyna.art and explore the monthly local artists featured at Jo’s at @joscafegallery.
