Self-taught painter sweeps top awards with ocean scene in employee art show

Published on: October 11, 2023 By: Jan Jarvis

Smiling woman with dark hair standing next to the painting of the the ocean and beach she entered in the art show. — Qi Liu, Ph.D., stands beside her oil pastel seascape that took top honors at the On My Own Time employee art show, including Best in Show, the People’s Choice Award, first place in the Amateur Works on Paper category.

Amid the peaceful images of nature, from yellow calla lilies to a forest path in autumn, a small oil pastel of the sea stood out.

Titled Mediterranean Blue, the artwork won Best in Show, the People’s Choice Award, and even first place in the Amateur Works on Paper category in UT Southwestern’s annual On My Own Time employee art competition, a program of the North Texas Business Council for the Arts. The vivid painting was the second piece that self-taught artist Qi Liu, Ph.D., had entered in the competition. Last year, she submitted her colored pencil drawing of her cat, Cedar.

Dr. Liu, as well as all winners and those who received honorable mentions, were recognized at a Sept. 7 reception hosted by UT Southwestern. The competition, in which UTSW has participated for 22 years, attracted 73 visual art entries by UT Southwestern employees and students and featured a wide variety of artistic pieces, including a sculpture of hanging wood triangles and jewelry depicting dragonflies.

Woman with red hair and checked jacket shaking hands with a man with closely cropped short hair wearing a blue shirt standing in front of a blue sketch of a small child holding a banana.

Travis Iurato is congratulated on his first-place win in the Professional Works on Paper category for his entry, Ayah at the Oak Bluffs Carousel.

Triniti Vanoven won the Sustainability award for An Ode to My Cat, a unique textile and fiber piece using her pet’s excess fur to create the artwork. The Sustainability category is unique to UT Southwestern.

During the reception, Stacie Adams, Chief Executive Officer of the Business Council for the Arts, praised the many creative pieces.

“When I look at some of the works of art here, I just have to say ‘wow,’” she said. “You have some incredibly talented artists here.”

Dr. Liu, a postdoctoral researcher who came to UT Southwestern in 2018 as a visiting scholar, recently started experimenting with oil pastels when she discovered how much she enjoyed painting.

Growing up in rural China, she always had a passion for art, but she put those feelings aside to pursue science. She was the first in her family to attend college.

“I loved painting when I was young, but because of financial limitations, I trained in science,” Dr. Liu said. “I buried my heart for a very long time.”

Smiling woman with fair hair and glasses shaking hands with woman with red hair wearing a checked jacket. A picture of a forest is projected on the wall and partially on the fair haired woman's head.

Debby Kirchhevel is congratulated on her first-place win in the Amateur Works on Canvas category for her entry, Autumn Forest Path.

After receiving a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Sichuan University in Chengdu, China, in 2021, Dr. Liu became a researcher to continue her academic career in Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern within its Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases, where she studies how intracellular trafficking can regulate the immune system.

Her childhood interest in painting was reignited when she was inspired by a friend who had recently taken up the craft. She ordered supplies and began watching instructional videos in Chinese.

“My first piece was based on a two-minute video of a bright moon, a blue sky, and lots and lots of clouds,” she said. “I love clouds, so I put them in everything.”

Since she began painting, Dr. Liu said she has realized that science and art are not that different.

“Science is trying to find the answers to the ultimate mysteries and elegance in life,” she said. “Painting is trying to find the ultimate beauty in nature. There are no boundaries.”

Soon after she took up painting, Dr. Liu said she realized how calming it was to get lost in the experience.

“Painting feels like peace inside,” she said. “When I paint, I don’t worry about anything.”

Dr. Liu’s artwork, along with those of all first-place winners, advanced to the OMOT regional art show at NorthPark Center, where the pieces were displayed through Oct. 10.

Contact:

Communications
3000 Pegasus Park Drive, 6th Floor
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Phone: 214-648-3404
centertimes@utsouthwestern.edu

On My Own Time literary arts winners announced

Five UT Southwestern employees received six literary arts awards in the 2023 On My Own Time (OMOT) employee art competition, a program of the Business Council for the Arts.

“This year, we had 49 entries, the most we’ve ever had,” said Courtney Crothers, Art Curator at UT Southwestern. “Literary art categories are judged regionally against entries from all other participating companies, and I’m very proud of our writers to have placed in so many categories.”

The winners are:

Second place, 10-Word Story: “Hold On” by Deborah “Debbie” Walker
Third place, 10-Word Story: “Voice Silenced” by Dinu Mammen
First place, Creative Nonfiction: “Death’s Intimate Familiarity” by David Doucette
Third place, Creative Nonfiction: “Bear in a Bowtie” by Jennifer Wang
First place, Open Verse Poetry: “Only Six” by Jennifer Wang
Second place, Open Verse Poetry: “What If” by Talia Collier, M.D.

Categories in the competition included 10-word stories, AI literature, creative nonfiction, fictional short stories, and open-verse poetry. Authors of first place literary arts submissions were invited to read their works at the AT&T Performing Arts Center on Thursday, Oct. 12. Winning entries will also be published in a Business Council for the Arts Program.

Visual Art Winners

Best in Show: Qi Liu, Ph.D., Mediterranean Blue (Works on Paper)

People’s Choice: Qi Liu, Ph.D., Mediterranean Blue (Works on Paper)

Sustainability: Triniti Vanoven, An Ode to My Cat (Textiles & Fiber)

AI Art: Sruthi Prabha Suresh, The Puzzle of Vision (First Place, Amateur)

Black & White Photography: Darin Triplett, I Wish She Looked at Me With Kinder Eyes (First Place, Amateur)

Ceramics, Wood & Glass: John Ritter, A Full Life: One Line at a Time (First Place, Amateur); Bradley Cleaver, Phoenix (First Place, Professional)

Color Photography: Praneeka Muthu Raman, Lotophagi (Honorable Mention, Amateur); Claus Roehrborn, M.D., Alien Throne and Milky Way (Honorable Mention, Amateur); Kinjal Panchal, Still of the Silence (First Place, Amateur); Shari Hunt, The Red Fire, Yosemite 2022 (First Place, Professional)

Corporate Collaboration: Karanjit Kooner, M.D., Ph.D., The Garden of Fragrance (Honorable Mention, Amateur); Brittney Hubbard, Stained Impressions (First Place, Amateur)

Digital Art: Praneeka Muthu Raman, Your Body Keeps the Score (Honorable Mention, Amateur); Emily Buchanan, Seeing Beyond the Eye (First Place, Amateur)

Jewelry & Metal: Shun Ko, Transformation (First Place, Amateur)

Mixed Media: Talia Collier, M.D., Bearing Fruit (First Place, Amateur); Ann Chisholm, Self Absorbed Permutation (Honorable Mention, Professional); Edwin Montes, White Flower (First Place, Professional)

Sculpture: Merritt Hillman, Hanging Triangles (First Place, Amateur); Tabitha Emde, Elder Scrolls Spriggan (First Place, Professional)

Textiles & Fiber: Haris Girish, D.V.M., Ph.D., Night Sky (First Place, Amateur)

Works on Canvas: Sandi Estill-Terpack, Venous Woods (Honorable Mention, Amateur); Manshi Swain, The Smell of Home (Honorable Mention, Amateur); Debby Kirchhevel, Autumn Forest Path (First Place, Amateur); Beenish Rubbab, Let Go (First Place, Professional)

Works on Paper: Manshi Swain, Candles (Honorable Mention, Amateur); Qi Liu, Ph.D., Mediterranean Blue (First Place, Amateur); Edwin Montes, Yellow Calla Lilies (Honorable Mention, Professional); Travis Iurato, Ayah at the Oak Bluffs Carousel (First Place, Professional)