Sam Ivie ('97), an art alum and UNT library specialist, created a series of dots that turned into an award-winning portrait.

His piece, Girl, won Best in Show, People's Choice and the Works on Paper (Professional) category at the On My Own Time exhibition, an annual competition in which artists in the North Texas region can show off the work they create away from their jobs.

Thirty-four UNT faculty and staff members created 58 pieces — including paintings, photography, sculpture, textiles, ceramics and jewelry — that were displayed in August at UNT on the Square in Denton. Winners in 11 categories at each exhibition around the region are being displayed at NorthPark Center in Dallas through Sept. 30. The Business Council for the Arts has sponsored the event for 20 years.

Ivie's portrait of a girl is a progression of smaller drawings he created in ink through stippling, which uses dots to form imagery. He says from a distance the piece may look like any other graphite or charcoal drawing, but on closer inspection, "the illusion fades."

"A stippled surface is meant to be examined," he says, "and, hopefully, arouses a certain level of curiosity about how the image was made."