Biography
My drawings are a mix of traditional still-life painting and the type of illustrations you might find in an academic journal, but my sensibility is a bit Pop. Using the drawing techniques and realism of botanical or archaeological illustration, I make my own lists of like objects and group them together to carry new meaning. The arrangement is often humorous, and sometimes poetic. Working on paper lends the work an intimacy that you might find in the rare books section of a library. The work is meant to be thoughtful and quiet.
I am currently part of the collective at Box 13 ArtSpace, Houston, Texas, where I maintain a studio.
For money making work: I have bartended, arranged flowers, delivered pizza, worked as a fry cook, slide librarian, and as an archaeologist in Honduras. For the last 13 years I have been teaching High School for Alvin ISD.
Selected Exhibitions
2017 Aspect 2017: A Regional Drawing Exhibition: Houston Community College Gallery
2016 The Origin of Fruit, Box 13 ArtSpace, Houston, TX
Bayou, By Us, Front Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Well Hung, Snow White Tan, Khon’s Wine Bar, Houston, TX
2015 White On White, LHUCA, Lubbock, TX
2012 The Big Show, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX
2005 Pathwinder/Threadwinder, CSAW, Houston, TX
2003 Alternative Quilts, Houston Center for Contemporary Crafts, Houston, TX
Layered Evidence, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX
Summer Breeze: New Houston Painting, Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston, TX
University of Houston MFA Thesis Exhibition, Blaffer Gallery, Houston, TX
Domestic Bliss, Raw Space, Houston, TX
Grounded, Small Project Installation, University of Houston, Houston, TX
2002 The Big Show, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX
Big Dan’s Bowling Show, One Ten Studios, Houston, TX
First Prize Winner, Dishman Competition, Lamar University, Beaumont, TX
2001 Scene of the Crime, Small Project Gallery, University of Houston, TX
New Prints from Texas, Women and their Work Gallery, Austin, TX
Friendly Mart, Convenience Market Installation, Houston, TX
2000 Art by Women in the New Century, Union Gallery, El Paso, TX
Education
2003 MFA in Painting, University of Houston
2000 BFA in Painting and Printmaking, UT El Paso
1990 BA in the History of Art, UC Berkeley
Work Experience
2017 to present Art and Art Appreciation Teacher, Manvel High School and Alvin Community College
2003-17 Art and Art History Teacher, Alvin High School and Alvin Community College, Alvin, TX
2003 Art and Art Appreciation Adjunct Instructor, Montgomery College, Conroe, TX
2000-3 Teaching Fellow, Painting and Drawing, University of Houston, Houston, TX
Archaeological Illustrations in Publication
2011 Koontz, Rex.“El Tajin: El Arte Del Clasico y El Surgimiento De La Elite De Las Tierras Bajas De Veracruz.” In Seis Ciudades Antiguas De Mesoamérica: Sociedad y Medio Ambiente, 235–249. México, D.F.: Insituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.
2009 Koontz, Rex. Lightning Gods and Feathered Serpents: The Public Sculpture of El Tajín. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Koontz, Rex. “Social Identity and Cosmology at El Tajin.” In The Art of Urbanism: How Mesoamerican Cities Represented Themselves in Architecture and Imagery, ed. William Fash and Leonardo Lopez Lujan, 260–289. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collection.
2008 Coe, Michael D, and Rex Koontz. Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs. 6th ed. New York: Thames & Hudson.
Koontz, Rex.“Iconographic Interaction Between El Tajín and South-Central Veracruz.” In Classic-Period Cultural Currents in Southern and Central Veracruz, ed. Philip J. Arnold and Christopher A. Pool, 323–359. Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collection.
2006 Koontz, Rex. “Performing Coatepec: The Raising of the Banners Festival Among the Mexica.” In Space and Spatial Analysis in Archaeology, ed. Elizabeth Robertson, 371–380. Calgary and Albuquerque: University of Calgary Press and University of New Mexico Press.
Other Publications
2001 Koontz, Daniela. “Boursier-Mougenot,” Artlies
2000 Koontz, Daniela. “Pop Art Codex at the Bridge.” Bridge
Bibliography
2003 Klaasmeyer, Kelly. “The Good, the Bad and the Humidity.” Houston Press
2002 Klaasmeyer, Kelly. “The Biggest and the Baddest.” Houston Press
Related Service
2012 Slide Jam, Houston Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, TX
2003 Slide Jam, Houston Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, TX
2002 Curatorial Internship, Houston Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, TX
2000 Curator, Codex from Other Sides, The Bridge Center for Contemporary Art, El Paso, TX
Artworks donated to Box 13 Artspace's Empty Box, Diverseworks’ Luck of the Draw, The Art of Living: Hugh Pirnie Benefit, Art League Benefit, Lawndale’s Dia de Los Muertos, Aurora Picture Show, Art Car Museum, University of Houston’s Dollars for Scholars
Awards/Grants
2012 Alvin ISD Education Foundation Grant: Personal Portraits of Orphans
2011 National Endowment for the Humanities: Teacher’s Institute at the Art Institute of Chicago.