For Catherine Allen, having her paintings featured at The University of Texas Permian Basin’s “Land and Likeness” exhibition is not just another stop on the gallery circuit. It is a return to the place that shaped her as an artist.
UT Permian Basin is showcasing artwork by four regional artists in the exhibition, which explores landscape and portraiture examining the regional geography and psychological dimensions of identity. Catherine shared the opportunity to exhibit her work locally at the University is deeply personal.
“I’ve shown this work elsewhere in the state, but the chance to show it locally, especially at the school that meant so much to me, means everything. Pam Price was such a mother figure to me.”
Catherine came to UTPB to study under former professor, the late Pam Price.
“She pushed me to meet the potential she saw in me,” Catherine said.
Catherine graduated from UTPB in 2010 with a degree in oil painting. A Midland native, she has spent the past 10 years painting West Texas landscapes.
“It’s something I do because at a certain point in my life, the idea of home, which is a huge theme in art, became something I couldn’t ignore,” Catherine said. “Painting has given me a stable vantage point from which I can pin down that idea.”
Catherine drives throughout the Permian Basin taking photos, then pieces them together in her work to make imagined but believable scenes. She has six paintings featured in “Land and Likeness,” on display at the Nancy Fyfe Cardozier Gallery.
The exhibition also features three other regional artists: Daniel Sorensen, art instructor at Odessa College; Micheal Hubbard art instructor at Midland College; and Alice Leese, rancher and painter.
“Land and Likeness” opened January 20, 2026, and will remain on display through April 9 at 3991 UTPB Circle.
