The Hixson-Lied Visiting Artist & Scholar Lecture series begins with a lecture by painter and muralist Ana Maria Ortiz. Hailing from Barranquitas, Puerto Rico, and currently living in Houston, Ortiz started painting on old wood pieces with tempera paint as a little girl in her dad’s wood shop. Getting into the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez, she studied art and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in animal science.

Ortiz is influenced by scenarios where nature suffers as a consequence of humankind. Known by the local art scene for her humanoid creatures, Ortiz paints and draws animals with exaggerated anthropomorphic features, creating sympathy for her iconoclastic subjects in a society of stereotypes with sensibility and dark humor. These noble beasts, that seem to look at us in silence, represent more than a design, but a language that each must adapt to their own understanding.

Her visit to Nebraska is co-sponsored by the Lux Center for the Arts and the UNL Faculty Senate Convocation Committee.

The lecture is free and open to the public.