About Us 

Our

Mission

Statement 

We believe that community–wide engagement with the visual arts produces important dialogues, creates new ideas, and gives voice to diverse viewpoints. We value arts education and open artistic expression through exhibitions and programming as a service to ACC and our community.

As an educational space, The Art Galleries (TAG) at Austin Community College prioritizes the following goals: 

  • Provide educational spaces that cultivate creativity, critical thinking and intellectual discourse, which complement the program curriculum of the ACC Art Department and other disciplines.
  • Maintain a welcoming environment in the galleries that promotes diversity, inclusion, and cultural awareness in our communities.
  • Recognize the historical inequities in our society, and in the arts, by providing platforms for underrepresented and emerging artists in Central Texas.
  • Present the outstanding artistic achievements of ACC students, faculty, staff, and alumni through impactful exhibitions and programming.
  • Partner with local organizations and ACC programs to create meaningful outreach programs and access to the galleries.
  • Deliver public programming and events designed to bring our communities to the galleries for their own close interaction with works of art.
  • Create a space where different perspectives can become a forum for ideas and artistic imagination can thrive and grow.

Who We Are

Staff

Peter Bonfitto

Peter Louis Bonfitto is the Director of Art Galleries and Exhibition Programming at ACC. Since 2020, he has overseen the Art Department’s gallery spaces at Highland Campus, as well as online programming and events related to gallery initiatives. Before coming to ACC, Peter worked in the Curatorial and Scholars Program departments at the Getty Research Institute (GRI) in Los Angeles, CA, where he co-curated the gallery exhibition, Connecting Seas: A Visual History of Discoveries and Encounters (2013-2014), and the online exhibition, The Legacy of Ancient Palmyra (2017). At the GRI, he also played a pivotal role assisting and collaborating with scholars and artists on projects related to annual research themes. Peter’s collaboration with resident artist Richard Tuttle resulted in the artist’s book You Never See The Same Color Twice (GRI, 2017), for which he served as managing editor and contributor. He has taught Art History and Art Appreciation at ACC since Spring 2018 and has lectured at The University of Texas at Austin. Peter is lead author and editor of the forthcoming publication, World Architecture and Society: From Stonehenge to One World Trade Center (ABC/CLIO, 2021).

Bess Siritanapivat

Bess received her MFA from the University of Iowa in Metalsmithing and Jewelry. During her time there, she experimented with jewelry and sculpture techniques to create work that focuses on interaction. Her latest installation, Guerilla Golf, was displayed during the West Austin Studio Tour at ACC’s Highland Campus. This work was a fully functional miniature golf course made of cardboard that visitors could play during the tour. Before joining ACC in 2018, Bess taught classes on metalsmithing, laser cutting, and 3D printing at Techshop Makerspace. She also assisted the Makerspace users with sewing, routing, welding, waterjet, and milling equipment. Bess is also a huge proponent of teaching STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math). She believes that art is where STEM converges, and it can be used to help communicate  abstract concepts to  physical or visual formats, which gives students another avenue to understand information. 

Olivia Spiers

Olivia Spiers is the Gallery Coordinator for Outreach and Programming for The Art Galleries (TAG) at ACC. In this role, Olivia works with faculty in the Art Department as well as staff in the Arts & Digital Media (ADM) division to coordinate events such as exhibition programs and artist talks. Along with this, Olivia collaborates with community organizations and departments across ACC’s campus to bring Austinites and ACC students into The Art Galleries for tours or class-specific programs, where they can foster connections and interdisciplinary relationships through art. Before coming to ACC, Olivia earned her B.A. in Art History and Classics from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and her M.A. in Museum Education from the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to her degrees, Olivia has worked at several museums such as: The Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Frist Art Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. In her spare time, Olivia enjoys chipping away at her ongoing research which delves into trauma awareness in museums and storytelling’s ability to cultivate resilience, respect, and empathy.

Gallery Assistants

Ellen Crofts

Norma Bickmore

Gina Woodruff

Soleil Parks

Bailey Forman

Dagon McNiff

 

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