The result is The Living Room, opening on July 27 and on view for two months in the Tower Gallery. For it, Foley uses a unique material, recycled cardboard, to create naturalistic forms and makeshift home furnishings to envelop visitors in an active living space. Foley says she drew upon the Museum’s encyclopedic holdings for inspiration when creating The Living Room, particularly from the Wendy and Emery Reves Collection. Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, the Reves Collection of impressionist, post-impressionist, and modern paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and decorative arts objects are displayed together in a re-created domestic setting modeled after the couple’s Villa La Pausa in the south of France, once owned by Coco Chanel.

“Jill has made an environment for the temporary C3 that is dramatic, fun, and memorable,” said Diachisin. “Her ‘living room’ maintains the important elements of C3 for visitors as a social place for learning, interacting, and contributing.”

“In The Living Room, I wanted to create a space at the DMA that felt like home as well as a retreat,” noted Foley. “I feel that in much of my work I am trying to escape from the art world while being part of it, so it seems appropriate to have a domestic and inviting retreat within the Museum’s gallery.”

As a visiting artist at the DMA, Foley will lead a variety of art workshops over the next two months. Each Thursday evening during Thursday Night Live, she will lead Thursday Night Specials, including Make It/Take It, Tech Lab: Open Lab, DIY@DMA, Drawing in the Galleries and Creative Process: Inside Out. During these adult workshops, Foley will share her creative process and inspire participants to create their own works of art.

On September 25, the Center for Creative Connections will re-open on the first floor with a new exhibition, Encountering Space.

About the Visiting Artist

Dallas artist Jill Foley earned an M.F.A. from Southern Methodist University in May 2009 and a B.F.A. from Texas Wesleyan University in December 2005. Her work has been featured in three exhibitions at Dallas’s Conduit Gallery.

About the Center for Creative Connections and the Dallas Museum of Art

The Center for Creative Connections (C3) offers an environment for visitors of all ages to have a creative, educational experience with real works of art. C3 is an expansive 12,000-square-foot space consisting of the centrally located exhibition and several distinct learning areas. The learning areas include the Art Studio, an interactive learning space for children under the age of four called Arturo’s Nest, a Young Learners Gallery for children 5–8 and their families, a theater and a Tech Lab. The Center hosted more than 150,000 visitors in its first year. Today, this translates as roughly 30% of all Museum visitors.

Located in the vibrant Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) ranks among the leading art institutions in the country and is distinguished by its innovative exhibitions and groundbreaking educational programs. At the heart of the Museum and its programs are its encyclopedic collections, which encompass more than 24,000 works and span 5,000 years of history, representing a full range of world cultures. Established in 1903, the Museum today welcomes more than 600,000 visitors annually and acts as a catalyst for community creativity, engaging people of all ages and backgrounds with a diverse spectrum of programming, from exhibitions and lectures to concerts, literary readings and dramatic and dance presentations.

The Dallas Museum of Art is supported in part by the generosity of Museum members and donors and by the citizens of Dallas through the City of Dallas/Office of Cultural Affairs and the Texas Commission on the Arts.

The Door by Cathey Miller

I Am Women
RISING Gallery
Through July 31, 2010

RISING Gallery was pulsing like a crowded downtown nightclub for a full three hours on July 15, 2010, for the I Am Woman art opening. The FGIII Art & McKane organization who put on the exhibition packed the venue with great art, a DJ, string musicians, a beautiful crowd, and eighteen local smoking hot female artists. The show features a group of artists’ works benefiting Alley’s House, a non-profit for teen mothers and their children. The artwork is on 24 x 24 inch canvases all priced at $300 and based on the theme “feminity, love, beauty, passion and power”.

Hot Tip from StealingKitty: Jennifer Morgan’s awesome donated piece was still available for purchase as of Tuesday.

Pinky and Rocco by Cathey Miller

The front wall of the gallery displayed RISING Gallery Artist Chris Panatier’s custom portrait of a woman with a flower for the occasion, and set the stage for the gallery literally full of paintings and photographs. I featured Chris Panatier last month (Review of Chris Panatier at RISING Gallery), and continue to be impressed with his work. Each of the eighteen artists displayed five works, and as a whole, the show was very impressive and colorful.

Immediately upon arriving, Cathey Miller’s new series, Pinky, stood out to me. The Door, from this series is a striking close up portrait of a woman in a mustache crouching down in front of a door. I found myself looking into the painting’s large eyes and was curious about the implied shenanigans about to happen in front of the shiny doorknob. When I took a closer look, I was delighted to find how painterly the portrait was painted. The brush strokes throughout the whole painting were deftly handled, and the bright happy colors Ms. Miller uses add whimsy to her cryptic subject matter.

The Monkey on her Back by Jennifer Morgan

Pinky and Rocco, a painting of two women, had me giggling a bit at Ms. Miller’s ability to communicate her humor through her well executed art works. This painting seemed to show two sides of Ms. Miller. In one pose she has long white hair with a white cat, both appearing soft and vulnerable. In another pose she is a Don Juan character complete with mustache holding a black cat in a pose of confidence. They appear either as a couple, room mates, or maybe she is trying to give the viewer a glimpse of two sides of herself. It works for me. I continue to find myself intrigued by this artist and it is nuances like this that keep me coming back for more. Her Don Juan character is the one I want to watch feminist porn with or maybe make feminist porn together. Don Juan knows about sexytime this is for sure.

Each painting has Ms. Miller appearing as one or the other of these characters and you feel you are getting to know her just a bit more, through her disguises. This series is my favorite work from Cathey Miller, and it is a direction that I hope she continues exploring.

Click here to visit StealingKitty’s I Am Woman Flickr gallery.

The other artists I especially enjoyed were Jennifer Morgan, Michelle de Metz, and Laura Elia.

Jennifer Morgan’s work was strong, colorful and displayed an appealing subject matter. Ms. Morgan’s painting, The Monkey on her Back, featured an 18th century woman with literally a pink monkey on her back was my favorite from her series.

Goldilocks by Michelle de Metz

Michelle de Metz photorealist pastels were provocative and appear at first glance to be blurry photographs. Goldilocks was my favorite Ms. de Metz piece because of the blurred vulnerability that kept me there with its fine execution. There was strength here that was communicated. Add to the fact that Ms. de Metz was wearing a strapless leopard print dress and is a blonde bombshell, you totally feel her blurred art is trying to let you know she is more than what she appears. I raise my hand in attention to say yes, Ms. De Metz, I want to know.

Laura Elia’s work features Tibetan prayer flags on 36 x 36 inch wood panels. These are acrylic works using a reactive polymer compound over the top that give each panel a high gloss finish. After inspecting each of her pieces I was impressed with the craftsmanship she possesses in a medium that was new to her. Give her work a good look, you will be pleasantly surprised. A favorite from her collection was an abstract, I Am Happy. Each piece of artwork has one or more Tibetan prayers embedded within – a humble request for compassion, courage, knowledge, or end to suffering. The mantras and sutras embedded in the paintings are conduits to assist on the path toward enlightenment and freedom.

I was trying to stalk Bonnie Leibowitz, but failed as I could not seem to find her. I need to visit her studio sometime or perhaps maybe I will finally meet her out and about. I felt the same way about the elusive Jennifer Morgan.

I am Happy by Laura Elia

I Am Woman not only revealed that women are sexy and beautiful but they are capable of creating fine art. You rarely get to see talented women artists together in a gallery and this is an opportunity you should seize. You can see all of these women works along with others through July 31, 2010, at RISING Gallery.

RISING Gallery is located at 4631 Insurance Road in Dallas and is open Tuesday – Saturday. RISING Gallery owners Bryan and Taber Wetz along with Director Jamie Arendt, houses fine arts and furniture in a relaxed and welcoming space.

Upper Valley Sails by Doug Taylor, 2010

The City of El Paso Public Art Program and Representative Ann Morgan Lilly invite the public to the dedication and unveiling of Upper Valley Sails, a kinetic sculpture designed by artist Doug Taylor, located on the traffic circle intersection of Country Club Rd. and Upper Valley, on Monday, July 19, 2010, from 9 to10 a.m.

About the Project

As part of a traffic improvement project in district 1, the City of El Paso approved the construction of a roundabout traffic circle where two percent (2%) of funds were set aside for the design, fabrication, and installation of permanent public art. Upon review by an artist selection panel, the Public Art Committee, and the Cultural Affairs Advisory Board, artist Doug Taylor was selected from a pre-qualified group of artists to provide an iconic sculptural piece of art.

About the Art Work

Upper Valley Sails is a three sail kinetic, wind powered sculpture reminiscent of the cottonwood seeds, ubiquitous in the areas, floating translucent against the sky. The sculpture’s location and function symbolically recognize the site as a historic trade and travel route, transporting people and goods, commemorating a shared cultural history. The artist strategically built and designed the sculpture for comfort and not for speed in the effort to keep a slow moving turbine that is self governed in high force winds. As wind velocity increases, the rotor slows while the sails adopt a horizontal bias.

About the Artist

Artist Doug Taylor focuses largely on wind- and water-powered kinetic works, implementing renewable energy and exploring the relationship between society, technology and the environment. Taylor’s work has been installed at sites such as Whistler’s World Cup Plaza, Victoria’s Selkirk Waterfront and Vancouver’s False Creek (George Wainborne Park) and Kitsalano Pool.

Upper Valley Sails by Doug Taylor, 2010

The Cotton Mandate by Chris Panatier

My intention is to paint what I see not what I think I see

One hot summer Thursday evening found me at the foyer of RISING Gallery admiring the custom mural on the wall. It is smashed with red paint, bracing itself for the compelling woman painted within. The painting grips you, holds you there for a moment and just when you think you are released, she imposes her will onto you as you walk through the works of Chris Panatier, Love Them Now, Always. He captures various moments in a person’s life on wood panel with oil paint. I inspect the series to try to understand his process, and realize that I need to meet this artist and ask him all the questions that came up during my tour of his series at Rising.

We met at a local Italian restaurant. He reminds me of an edgy Clark Kent; his face bright with promise and his tattooed arm hinting at a good time. We exchanged pleasantries and got down to the business of discussing his art. I wanted to know if the drips on the side of his wood panels were deliberate. He let me know that he left those drips there to illustrate the process and felt they gave them a painterly quality.

I was curious about the intent of several of the pieces where only a portion of the face was painted. His thoughts were that the viewer will automatically fill in where there are blanks. It becomes the viewers interpretation of that piece. If you look closely at this series you will notice gaps in the forms throughout. This fact I find interesting, as I only noticed it on the bodies, and now am very curious to see them again and notice where this is true in the faces of these different portraits.

Across the Threshold of Understanding by Chris Panatier

“My intention is to paint what I see not what I think I see”, remarked Chris. Chris’s work I find engaging and has a way of getting your attention with its almost divine vulnerability.

My favorite paintings from this series are Across The Threshold of Understanding (18 x 24 oil on birch panel, SOLD) and The Cotton Mandate (30 x 40 oil on birch panel).

The quality of the wood panels and the application of the paint have you wondering where did this man come from and how did he land here. Chris is from Oklahoma originally, however calls Dallas home. He spent his college years as a cartoonist at the Daily Texan in Austin. He is self taught and takes his art seriously with self directed study that includes the understanding of color, form and application. In addition, he studies with established artists like Bonny Leibowitz to further his craft.

Chris has abstract works showing at Samuel-Lynne Galleries. These are intense works where Chris uses the application of color and his intuitive nature to blast out works on linen within a matter of 2 hours while rocking to Mastodon on full blast. He paints publicly once a year to illustrate his intense process of painting. This is surely a sight to see for us all.

I love how his influences include amazing women painters like Jenny Saville and Angela Fraileigh. His works seem to understand intuitively what a woman may be trying to convey with a vulnerability that is inspiring. Chris isn’t concerned with gender labels and this sparked my interest regarding his artist picture of him dressed in drag. The question begs, “Are you wearing women’s panties right now, Chris?” and the answer “No” with a laugh follows.

In a recent statement about his work, “In a world that seems to be swirling with any combination of catastrophe, deception, politics, war, and uncertainty a moment of truth is like a shelter you can always rely on”, gives you just a taste of what this particular series reveals in its truth.

I say, “Bravo! Bravo!”.

I look forward to more from this artist and recommend you check him out at either RISING Gallery for his portrait series or Samuel-Lynne Galleries for his abstract works.

The Cotton Mandate by Chris Panatier

Girl on Floor by Kasten Searles, 2010

ROYGBIV
Mokah Art Gallery
June 3 through June 26, 2010

Reception on Saturday, June 19, 2010, from 7-10 p.m.

Mokah Art Gallery is pleased to present ROYGBIV, an exhibition of painting and installation by Kasten Searles with video and light installations by Edward Ruiz.

Kasten’s paintings are an exploration of the social snapshot. She uses photos found on the Internet to explore the duality of the image. A posed social snapshot not only reflects the reality of the subjects but the illusion of their desired identity. Kasten takes these contrasting ideas of reality and illusion and develops them into the painted portrait. Kasten is a painter with a background in design, music and photography.

Edward Ruiz uses video to layer color and imagery. He warps and masks the projected image to transform a static object into a dynamic work of art. Kasten Searles, a graduate of The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, is currently a graduate student at the University of Dallas. Ruiz Lives and Works in his studio in Exposition Park Dallas Texas.

Mokah Art Gallery, an extension of Life in Deep Ellum, serves to promote culture and art in Deep Ellum and surrounding communities. At the Cultural Center, Mokah Art Gallery exhibitions feature contemporary art of local artists from the experimental, the emerging, and the established.

Mokah Art Gallery is located at 2803 Taylor Street, Dallas, Texas 75226. Hours are Tuesday – Friday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. or by appointment.

Editor’s Note

Kasten has been one of our volunteer art reporters in the past. We really like Kasten and her art. You can follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/kasten.

Distorted Memory by T.J. Griffin

Distorted Memory by T.J. Griffin
University of Texas at Dallas
June 25 through July 24, 2010

Opening reception on June 25, 2010, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

T.J. Griffin Distorted Memory Artwork on view at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) from June 25 through July 24, 2010. Mr. Griffin is showing new works in the UTD main gallery in Richardson, Texas. Painting ambiguous narratives, populated by human and animal figures, his artwork allows the viewers participation in creating the final story.

T.J. Griffin was a participant in the Dallas Contemporaries 2009 and 2010 Wish Auction. His artwork has also been recognized by the Dallas Museum of Art through the 2008 Awards to Artists from The Clare Hart DeGolyer Memorial Fund.

Mr. Griffin’s artwork has many influences such as artist Neo Rauch’s and Eric Fischl’s paintings of deranged societies and distorted narratives.

You can view his artwork online at www.tjgriffinart.com The University address is 800 West Campbell Road Richardson, Texas 75080. This link www.utdallas.edu/map is to the building on the UTD Campus.

Distorted Memory by T.J. Griffin

Vernon Fisher: K-Mart Conceptualism is organized by the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and the Museum’s chief curator, Michael Auping. The exhibition will be on view from September 25, 2010 through January 2, 2011. Special exhibitions are included in general Museum admission: $10 for adults; $4 for seniors (60+) and students with identification; free for children 12 and under; free for Modern members.

Marla Price, the director of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, announces the forthcoming exhibition Vernon Fisher: K-Mart Conceptualism. The exhibition, including approximately 35 works, is a survey of paintings, sculptures, and installations spanning the late 1970s to the present, including many of the artist’s best-known works, drawn from public and private collections in the United States and Europe.

Born in 1943 at Fort Worth’s Harris Hospital, Vernon Fisher is one of Texas’s most internationally recognized artists. He has lived and worked in Fort Worth since 1977. Fisher received a BA in English literature from Hardin-Simmons University in 1967 and an MFA from the University of Illinois in 1969. Influenced by artists such as Edward Ruscha and John Baldessari, Fisher constructs visual narratives, combining images and language in a wide range of media.

“The show,” Auping comments, “will be a revealing look at a body of work that sprang from an especially interesting moment in contemporary art history in the late 1970s and early 1980s-a time when the legacies of Pop art and Conceptual art created a unique hybrid between painting and installation, inspiring narratives derived from juxtapositions of language and vernacular imagery. The subtitle of the exhibition refers to Fisher’s interest in philosophical enigmas coming out of working-class backdrops and situations.” Fisher explains, “I have an attraction to that kind of subject matter, and have written my share of pieces featuring Dairy Queens, grocery stores, Laundromats, third-rate hotels, etc.”

The exhibition will showcase the early collages that combine abstract painting, text, and image, as well as a selection of many of his best-known blackboard paintings, in which a faux blackboard surface is used as the ground for realistic, painted vignettes adjacent to fragments of different stories that suggest variously ambiguous meanings. A number of large-scale installations will also be included.

Fisher has had over 80 solo exhibitions worldwide. His work is in the permanent collections of more than 40 museums, including the Modern’s. He has received numerous awards throughout his career: the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 1995; the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation in 1984; and the National Endowment for the Arts Individual Artist’s Fellowship in 1974-75, 1980-81, and 1981-82. In addition to his artistic accomplishments, he held the title of Regents Professor of Art Emeritus at the University of North Texas in Denton for nearly 30 years and was the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching of Art Award from the College Art Association in 1992.

Accompanying the exhibition will be a book published by the University of Texas Press, with an introductory essay by Frances Colpitt, the Deedie Potter Rose Chair of Art History at Texas Christian University; foreword by Ned Rifkin, Director of the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art; and an interview with the artist by Michael Auping.

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
3200 Darnell Street
Fort Worth, Texas 76107
Telephone 817.738.9215
Toll-Free 1.866.824.5566
Fax 817.735.1161
www.themodern.org

Museum Gallery Hours
Tue 10 am-5 pm (Sep-Nov 10 am-7 pm)
Wed-Sat 10 am-5 pm
Sun 11 am-5 pm

General Admission Prices (includes special exhibition)
$4 for students with ID and seniors (60+)
$10 for adults (13+)
Free for children 12 and under
Free for Modern members
Free the first Sunday of every month and half price every Wednesday

Teenage Riot by Joey Seeman (Detail)

Rock n’ Roll Fantasy
Dear Clark Studios
Through September 9, 2010

If you missed Joey Seeman’s Rock n’ Roll Fantasy opening at Dear Clark Studios on June 10, 2010, you missed a real rockstar experience. Joey Seeman’s art is vivid, edgy and grabs your attention. It isn’t just his art that reaches for you and begs you to come closer, it is the man himself.

Joey is what I have deemed a new world branding genius in the world of rockstars and wannabee’s. I want to consult with him about my own personal brand and get his recommendations on how to appear more rockstar or at least have droves of beautiful Dallas women following my every word. Either way, Joey is the man to watch in this town of the bold and the beautiful.

Joey’s current series, Rock n’ Roll Fantasy showcases glam rock artists like David Bowie, New York Dolls and the Sex Pistols in Technicolor on wood. He has other various people in his series.

See Joey Seeman’s Rock n’ Roll Fantasy Exhibit at Dear Clark Studios for more information.

Teenage Riot by Joey Seeman

One of my favorite works, Teenage Riot (24×48 acrylic & ink), is the epitome of teenage rebellion and angst. It also, gives you a taste of the underground local Dallas punk scene and would be a great edition to any collector seeking a piece of time from our beautiful city.

Joey Seeman is not only an artist but an excellent marketer. From the guests of his show, you know he has his finger on the pulse of what’s hot in our city. All the young, hip, edgy and fabulous people came out to support him and get their pictures snapped by the alluring paparazzi. Joey could be found in all rock star black with his badass tattoos peeking from his sleeve. You know you want to know him, you know you want to consume him, and if nothing else he would be a lovely morsel of all that is badass and edgy.

His current series Rock n’ Roll Fantasy will be hanging at the Dear Clark Studios Salon through September 9, 2010. I recommend checking out this vibrant series and make sure you make it out to his next show. It is an experience you won’t forget.

For more information on Joey Seeman visit his website www.joeyseeman.com.

Dear Clark Studios is located at 3317 McKinney Avenue, Ste. 101, Dallas, Texas.

Come Here by Cathey Miller

Trigger Happy
Magnolia Gallery
Through June 30, 2010

If you take the escalator of the Magnolia Theatre right now, you find yourself on the second floor captivated by Cathey Miller’s series, Trigger Happy. They are like candy on the walls with their pleasing color palettes and saucy actresses holding guns. Each painting has a message, or rather a command, like ‘Shut It’,'Come Here’, and ‘Bring It’.

I find myself in front of ‘Come Here’ intrigued. It speaks to me. I pan my view and realize all these sexy ladies with guns are commanding their audience and I am not the only one submitting. There are many attendees in front of the various painting, who appear submitting to the commands of these fierce starlets. You cannot help it. The color tones welcome you in; the sexy starlets beg your attention and the typeface used, BRILLANT! I dare you not to look and have your curiosity peeked. I find the whole series very clever. It subtlety has you captivated and a bit turned on.

The artist, Cathey Miller could be found among the crowd in her colorful dress, classic good looks and engaging personality. I had questions and wanted to know more about where this artist drew her inspiration.

“Thank you for inquiring about my story. It is a very interesting and fascinating tale of bohemian wanderlust, scantily clad models, and felony charges that were eventually dropped,” said Miller.

“I recently trained at the Ukrainian School of Metaphysics and Sheet Metal Fabrication. I studied under a gypsy fortune tell name Baba Yayga. Many genius ideas began bubbling to the surface as I was levitating the steel, and I began to see words floating in thin air. Words like ‘SHUT IT’, ‘STOMP ON IT’, and ‘SICK YOUR FERAL GIRLFRIEND ON IT’. What was the meaning of these words? I cannot say. I decided to take the shorter commands and put them on the paintings of lady hellcats holding guns.”

“My purpose with this series is to hypnotize the movie customers buying popcorn into taking out their checkbooks and buying my genius art. My feeling on this is that if can afford popcorn at $10 a bucket, you can afford art.

“Currently, I paint pictures all day long, and I am an exotic dancer on a roller derby team to earn money, while constantly being stalked by the medical fetish tranny horse rider people, who just want me to paint them.”

Albeit Miller has more than just tranny stalkers, her whole vibe and work spark your interest. She seems very private and low key and then BAM! She comes out bold, vibrant, and sexy. It seems the art world loves a superstar that fucks super models and paints in Italian suits. The art world needs a change, a revamp, where an artist who looks like a super model, fucks like a rockstar and paints like it is the air she breaths is revered. I say ‘Bring It’ Cathey Miller we are ready to see all you got.

Trigger Happy will be hanging and available for purchase at the Magnolia Gallery thru June 30th. My favorite pieces of the series are ‘Come Here’ and ‘Shut It’. You can find out more about this artist from her website: www.cathedonia.com or follow her on twitter twitter.com/cathedonia.

Trigger Happy by Cathey Miller

Come Here by Cathey Miller

The Dallas Museum of Art is pleased to announce its 2010 Awards to Artists. This year, sixteen artists received one of three awards. The Museum’s annual awards were established in 1980 by the Clare Hart DeGolyer Memorial Fund and the Arch and Anne Giles Kimbrough Fund to recognize exceptional talent and potential in young visual artists who show a commitment to continuing their artistic endeavors. The Clare Hart DeGolyer Memorial Fund is awarded to artists between 15 and 25 years of age who reside in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona or Colorado, while the Arch and Anne Giles Kimbrough Fund is open to residents of Texas under the age of 30. The two funds have awarded over $450,000 to artists since their founding.

The DMA also announces the 2010 travel grants. In 1990, the Otis and Velma Davis Dozier Travel Grant was created to honor the memory of Dallas artists Otis and Velma Dozier, who strongly believed in the enriching influence of travel on an artist’s work. The grant seeks to recognize exceptional talent in professional artists who wish to expand their artistic horizons through domestic or foreign travel and is awarded to professional artists at least 30 years of age who reside in Texas. Since the fund’s development, the Otis and Velma Davis Dozier Travel Grant has given over $130,000.

The seven 2010 Clare Hart DeGolyer Memorial Fund Award recipients:

• Courtney Brown is interested in the relationship between ancient rituals and contemporary art making. She reinterprets Native American traditions through ritual-based performances and preserves the remnants as sculptural items. She is currently working toward a B.F.A. at the University of Texas at Arlington and will use the award funds to finance a week-long performance project exploring the Dakota Sioux’s medicine wheel rituals.
• Rachel Brownlee is an interdisciplinary artist who will complete her B.A. at San Antonio’s Trinity University this year. She will use the funds to create a visual environment that mimics the process of sound perception, combining elements of sculpture, cinema, and audio recording.
• Tamara Joy Hunt is a candidate for a B.F.A. in Studio Art and a B.A. in Art History at The University of Texas at Austin, and her work addresses ideas of temporality, postmodernist sculpture, and artistic identity. With the award, Hunt plans to retrace artist Robert Smithson’s footsteps through Yucatan, Mexico, in his seminal work Incidents of Mirror-Travel in the Yucatan.
• Nicole Loehr draws on her undergraduate studies in Communications Design, Photography, and Psychology at the University of North Texas to create “exaggerated portraits” that illustrate various aspects of the human condition. She will continue a series of portraits she began in 2008 that explore the Bipolar I disorder and will begin a new series following the themes of the mythological character Icarus.
• Chelsey Mulnix’s paintings extend beyond their surface. She incorporates fabric collage elements into her portraits, thus demanding that viewers reconsider the materiality and orientation of the works. She is currently completing a B.F.A. in Drawing and Painting from the University of North Texas.
• Melisa Oporto uses photography to examine the role objects play in defining an individual’s perceived identity. She will graduate from the University of North Texas this spring and will use the award funds to further develop a longstanding series, La Familia Oporto, which investigates the social implications of her family’s personal possessions.
• John Osburn is a multidisciplinary artist modeling new relationships between music and dance. He received his B.A. in Music from Texas Women’s University and will be attending Queen’s University Belfast in Ireland next year to complete a M.A. in Sonic Arts. John will use the award funds to orchestrate a community-based, collaborative project combining sound, dance, and the visual arts that will be performed in Denton this summer.

The seven 2010 Arch and Anne Giles Kimbrough Fund Award recipients:

• Sonya Berg presents a contemporary view of landscape using images of swimming pools and waterfalls as metaphors for containment, control of the landscape, and the void. She is an M.F.A. candidate at the University of Texas at Austin and earned a B.A. from Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania. She will use the award funds to pursue her current series of paintings and drawings by researching and photographing local and non-local empty municipal swimming pools.
• Rachel Cox uses photography to explore identity, place, and material culture. Over the past year, this interest has manifested itself in a series of photographs depicting densely packed domestic space that show her largely hidden beneath artifacts of past and present inhabitants. She will use the Kimbrough Award to produce this series, Assimilation, at a previously unattainable scale. Cox graduated from the University of North Texas with a B.F.A in Photography in 2006 and has previously received the Museum’s Clare Hart DeGolyer Memorial Award.
• Jasmyne Graybill creates site-specific installations and sculptures that explore the relationship between nature and domestic spaces. Inspired by familiar parasitic forms like fungus, lichen, mold, and barnacles, Graybill sculpts fictional organisms that infest and overtake domestic architectural spaces. This body of work is an interesting extension from her academic training in Painting and Drawing, for which she earned an M.F.A. from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2008 and a B.F.A. from the University of North Texas.
• Clayton Hurt earned his M.F.A. in Sculpture from Texas Christian University in 2007 and a B.F.A. from the University of North Texas. While his post-graduate work dealt with animal forms and their relationships to the commercial food industry, Hurt intends to embark on a new project exploring the realms of interactive art. He plans to bring together a variety of games and physical environments to create a new kind of experience, one in which the viewer watches, waits, and engages with the physical objects.
• Alfredo Salazar-Caro’s artwork tackles questions of cultural identity. His current body of work combines video, sculpture, and installation to create subtle critiques of human nature. He intends to develop large-scale mixed media projects involving video and sculpture. Salazar-Caro is a past recipient of the Clare Hart DeGolyer Memorial Award and is currently pursuing a B.F.A. in Sculpture from Brookhaven College.
• Trey Wright combines and manipulates photographs to create artificial scenes of urban landscapes, alluding to humanity’s tendency to shape and exert influence over its surroundings. Wright will further develop his current body of work, Islands. He earned his B.F.A. in Photography from the University of North Texas in 2009 and is a past recipient of the Clare Hart DeGolyer Memorial Award.
• Billy Zinser’s art practice revolves around the self-invented cartoon characters MACODRONS, which he produces in a variety of media. These animated shapes evolved out of Zinser’s non-objective experimentation with color, line, and shape. He will use the award funds to explore various incarnations for his MACODRONS, including large-scale public installation projects and claymation video distributed over the Internet. Zinser earned his B.F.A. in Painting and Printmaking from the University of Texas at Austin in 2005.

The two 2010 Otis and Velma Davis Dozier Travel Grant recipients:

• Wura-Natasha Ogunji is an Austin-based video and performance artist who uses physical actions of the body as a way to understand place, land, history, memory, and her own family. Of Nigerian descent, Ogunji grew up in America and her only connection to Yoruba culture is through her body and knowledge of her ancestry. With the Dozier Travel Grant, Ogunji will travel to Nigeria for three months to engage with the original site of her artistic narratives. Ogunji has exhibited at Exit Art, New York; Arthouse, Austin; and the Oakland Museum of California, among other institutions and has received grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and the Brooklyn Arts Council. She earned an M.F.A. in Photography from San Jose State University and a B.A. in Anthropology from Stanford University.
• Jeremy Smith is a self-taught cartoonist who finds meaning in mundane moments and articulates them through image and text. He will use the Dozier Travel Grant to visit New York City and collaborate with Al Columbia, a professional cartoonist whom he greatly admires, exposing Smith to a new level of expertise and techniques. Smith has exhibited at The Public Trust and Art Prostitute galleries in Dallas, among others, and was a recipient of the Xerix Grant in 2007, which enabled him to publish his first book, Ropeburn.

Awards to Artists grants have been awarded to more than 230 recipients, many of whom have gone on to successful careers within North Texas and across the country. Over the years, the DMA has acquired works from many of the artists who have received awards from the DeGolyer, Kimbrough and Dozier funds. DeGolyer artists include Jeff Elrod, Misty Keasler and Robyn O’Neil. Kimbrough artists include David Bates, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Lawrence Lee, Melissa Miller, Robert Pruitt, Michael Miller, Erick Swenson and Kelli Connell. Dozier artists include Helen Altman, Annette Lawrence, Scott Barber, Joseph Havel, Katrina Moorhead, Ludwig Schwarz and John Pomara.

About the Dallas Museum of Art

Located in the vibrant Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) ranks among the leading art institutions in the country and is distinguished by its innovative exhibitions and groundbreaking educational programs. At the heart of the Museum and its programs are its encyclopedic collections, which encompass more than 24,000 works and span 5,000 years of history, representing a full range of world cultures. Established in 1903, the Museum today welcomes more than 600,000 visitors annually and acts as a catalyst for community creativity, engaging people of all ages and backgrounds with a diverse spectrum of programming, from exhibitions and lectures to concerts, literary readings, and dramatic and dance presentations.

The Dallas Museum of Art is supported in part by the generosity of Museum members and donors and by the citizens of Dallas through the City of Dallas/Office of Cultural Affairs and the Texas Commission on the Arts.

Self Portrait in Blue by Michael Roman, 2010

Last November I told you about my experience learning how to print drypoint with instructor Peter Ligon at Southern Methodist University (You Can’t Make Art without Getting Your Hands Dirty). This time I will impart my experience learning acid etching and aquatint.

Etching and aquatint were once again taught by Peter Ligon at SMU. The only difference was the day of the week and a few of the regular students. I don’t think two sessions makes me a regular yet, but who knows.

Acid Etching

Acid etching is not nearly as scary as it sounds. Yes, real acid is used to remove unwanted parts of the copper plate, but it is very easy to use without incident. If you were to get a little acid on you then a rinse of water will take care of it. Just don’t splash the acid in your eyes because we’ll have to hose you down. Consider yourself warned.

Now that the safety lecture is completed we can start talking about etching a plate.

Same as drypoint, we use copper plates for creating a print. We start out by degreasing the copper plate and coating it with asphaltum, a black, runny liquid. This is known as a hard ground. The hard ground will protect the areas of the copper plate that we don’t want etched.

After the hard ground has dried we take a needle and scratch in a drawing down to the copper plate. The needle is only strong enough to removed some of the hard ground from the copper plate. It does not removed any copper or create a burr like dry point does.

Once the drawing is completed then contact paper is applied to the back of the copper plate. Remember that the acid will slowly eat away at any exposed copper. Since we may decided to be thrifty one day and use the back side for another print, we will protect it from the acid. This also increases the life of the acid by not eating away at the back side.

With our drawing scratched into the hard ground and contact paper applied to the back, we are read to etch the plate. We use small plastic holders to keep the copper plate, which is put into the acid face down, from touching the bottom of the acid vat. Depending on how dark we want the etch lines to be is determined by the length of time in the acid vat. Really light lines can be done in less than ten minutes. Heavy dark lines can take an hour our longer depending on the strength of the acid.

After etching the copper plate in acid for the desired time, we then rinse the plate with water. We use kerosene and fine saw dust to remove the hard ground. At this point we have an etched plate ready for inking and printing, which are much like drypoint printing except that more ink is removed.

Aquatint

Aquatint is also an acid printing process that can be used with and without etching a plate first. Aquatint has the ability to give tonal values to the copper plate. It can be a very beautiful addition to an already etched plate, but it adds a layer of difficulty to the process of creating the plate.

Aquatint is the application of very finely ground resin that is evenly dusted over the surface of the copper plate. After dusting, the copper plate is then heated to 350 degrees to melt the resin and adhere it to the copper plate. Although the resin has melted to the copper plate, it has left evenly spaced holes all over the surface of the copper plate.

Once the aquatint has been applied and the copper plate is cool enough to touch, then we apply stopout (a clear version of the black hard ground) with a paint brush to protect the areas of the plate that should not be etched. After the stopout has dried and the back of the copper plate has been covered with contact paper, we can then use the same acid vat to etch the aquatint.

The great part about aquatint is the ability to build up values. When the copper plate is first aquatinted, we will stopout the area of the plate to be the whitest. We then put the plate in the acid bath for the desired length of time and rinse the plate with water. We can then continue to stopout other areas of the plate again and again. This allows us to create several tonal values using the same aquatint and stopout.

After the aquatint etching process is completed, then all stopout is removed by alcohol. Then plate can then be printed the same as a regular etch plate. The aquatinted areas will hold more or less ink depending on how much exposure to the acid they received.

Well, my general overview is becoming long winded. I think you get the idea. Acid etching and aquatinting is not nearly as hard as it sounds. You should give it a try.

Now would be a good time to look as some photographs.

Pinhole Camera image of SMU Printmaking Lab press (photo by Mr. Holga)

The above pinhole camera photograph is the main printing press at the SMU printmaking lab. The press puts a lot of pressure on the copper plates to transfer the ink from the grooves of the plate to the damp paper. The printmaking lab is a very dirty and wonderful place. Last term I did a lot of hand washing with kerosene to remove the ink. This term I discovered disposable gloves.

Mo Melander inking a full size copper plate (photo by Mr. Holga)

The above photograph is Mo Melander inking a full size copper plate. The plate is put on a heating element which helps the ink flow into all the etched grooves of the plate. Once the plate is inked, then the majority of the ink is removed and reused. Only the ink in the etched grooves will remain for printing.

Mo Melander pressing a full size copper plate (photo by Mr. Holga)

The above photograph shows Mo turning the printing press. Prior to this Mo laid the inked plate on the press and then a damp piece of paper on the plate. He then covered everything with felt blankets, which hold the paper in place and protect the paper from tearing.

Mo Melander and instructor Peter Ligon remove the paper from the plate (photo by Mr. Holga)

Here Mo and instructor Peter Ligon slowly peel back the printed paper from the plate. The larger the art, the more help needed. Clean hands are essential for handling the paper. Nobody wants a smudged work of art.

Untitled by Mo Melander, 2010

Here is Mo’s print. Mo preferred to etch his copper plates without aquatinting. With all the needle work he did, there was no need to add any tonal values.

Self Portrait in Blue by Michael Roman, 2010

Above is my self portrait in blue. This print was both etched and aquatinted. You can see the etched lines and all the aquatint values. In comparison, my print is a small 4 x 6 inches. Mo’s print above is about 20 x 30 inches.

I hope you enjoyed this overview of etch and aquatint printmaking. See you again in the fall. Cheers.

Joey Seeman's Rock n' Roll Fantasy

Rock n’ Roll Fantasy
Dear Clark Studios
Opening Thursday, June 10, 2010, at 7 p.m.

Glam Rock or Culture Shock? Artist Joey Seeman hits Dear Clark Studios with Glam Rock Art Exhibit.

Dear Clark Studios on McKinney Avenue presents Rock n’ Roll Fantasy, an exhibition of new work from nationally recognized artist, Joey Seeman. The opening of the exhibit will take place on Thursday, June 10 from 7-10 p.m., with the artist in attendance. “Rock n’ Roll Fantasy” will be on display through September 9.

Hailing from Miami, Florida, the work of Joey Seeman has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the United States. His art has been featured in numerous national and international publications such as Vogue, Spin, Juxtapoz and Ocean Drive magazines. Joey’s work was most recently exhibited in Dallas at The 4th Wall Gallery alongside acclaimed contemporary artists Glenn Barr and THH70.

Describing the upcoming show, Joey explains, “Rock and Roll has always been a driving force for me creatively, most notably the glam and punk rock eras when artists like David Bowie, New York Dolls, and The Sex Pistols were truly setting the trends. I felt it was time for me to pay tribute to an era that I hold particularly dear.” Adds Seeman “This was a time in rock music when the groupies became as well known as the musicians they were attached to. It was a glamorous and decadent time in music, and I wanted to bring a little of that feeling back through my art- my loving tribute to the bands that rocked and the girls that helped them roll!”

In addition to being a full-service salon, Dear Clark has hosted many cutting edge art exhibits in the past few years. Its uptown location, combined with it’s hip and savvy clientele, make Dear Clark Studio an ideal setting for the rock-themed show that Joey Seeman has created. Dear Clark Studios is located at 3317 McKinney Avenue, Suite 101. The studio is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Joey Seeman's Rock n' Roll Fantasy

Michael Nye's About Hunger & Resilience

Table of Contents: Stories of Hunger and Resilience by Michael Nye
Janett Kennedy Public Gallery
June 5 through June 29, 2010

Exhibit Combines Photography, Audio for Complex Look at Personal Stories

The face of hunger is often unseen in North Texas and so often we lose touch with the stories of individuals and families who are unsure where they’ll find their next meal.

To bring those faces to light, internationally acclaimed photographer and San Antonio-native Michael Nye documented the voices, stories and portraits of the food insecure for an exhibition entitled Table of Contents: Stories of Hunger and Resilience.

A project four-and-a-half years in the making, Table of Contents will finally debut at the Janette Kennedy Public Gallery at Southside on Lamar (1409 South Lamar), June 5 through June 29, 2010.

“The poor in our communities are often the least heard and the most forgotten,” Nye said of his exhibit. “I have felt with even a greater conviction that we all need to speak of the essential needs of our human family, and grow in our understanding of how difficult life is for so many in our country. These stories are about all of us as we live with our uncertainties and the realization that we too could experience hunger.”

Traveling around the country, Nye interviewed people of all ages, races and backgrounds, recording their stories while photographing portraits. The result is a multi-media exhibition that portrays the complexities of life with hunger in a rich audio-visual format.

Because “listening is seeing,” according to Nye, audio stations next to each portrait allow visitors the opportunity to listen to stories firsthand, making it an unforgettable gallery experience.

“Sometimes it takes a talent like Michael Nye’s to force hunger into the public consciousness,” says Jan Pruitt, president and CEO of the North Texas Food Bank. “Listening to the heart-wrenching tales of hunger while staring into the faces of wives, mothers, daughters, husbands, fathers, and sons, the elderly and working poor just helps to hammer home the facts of life right here in our own backyard: Texas has the highest rate of childhood hunger in the nation, and the second highest rate of hunger overall. We thank Mr. Nye for his advocacy on behalf of hungry individuals everywhere.”

The Janette Kennedy Gallery is open to the public 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is free.

To contact the gallery directly, call (214) 426-1575.

About the North Texas Food Bank

The North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) is a nonprofit hunger relief organization that distributes donated, purchased and prepared foods through a network of 1,146 feeding programs in 13 North Texas counties. The NTFB supports the nutritional needs of children, families and seniors through education, advocacy and strategic partnerships. Close the Gap is the NTFB’s 3-year initiative to unite the community to narrow the food gap by providing access to 50 million meals annually by 2011.

Founded in 1982, the NTFB is a member of Feeding America (feedingamerica.org). *Last year, the NTFB provided access to 37 million meals through its efforts. Each month agency pantries distribute food to more than 53,000 families and on-site meal programs serve 435,000 meals/snacks. Every dollar donated to the NTFB provides four meals for the hungry.

Michael Nye's About Hunger & Resilience

Trigger Happy by Cathey Miller

Trigger Happy – New Paintings by Cathey Miller
Magnolia Gallery
Opening Thursday, May 27, 2010

Artist Reception Thursday, May 27, from 8-10 p.m.

In her current series Trigger Happy at the Magnolia Gallery, Cathey Miller has turned her illustrator’s eye towards vintage Hollywood starlets dressed as cowgirls wielding guns. Using a limited palette of sepia tones, Miller has painted the cowgirls realistically. Surrounding each actress cowgirl is a flat field of bright color, a graphically striking complement to the rendered figures. The words painted above each subject add a modern twist to the paintings…commands like “Shut It,” “Come Here,” or “Step Off” adds a kitschy sexy twist to the nostalgic cowgirls, and invites the question, what will happen if I disobey Jane Russell?

Cathey Miller graduated from Art Center College of Design in 1985 and worked in New York City as a freelance illustrator for two years. She moved to Texas in 1988 and established her own art studio creating large and small-scale paintings for residential, and commercial clients including Neiman Marcus, Barney and Friends, Fossil, and D Magazine.

Her personal work, which emphasizes portraiture and the female form, has been shown in galleries throughout Texas including solo shows at Houston’s Jung Center, the McKinney Avenue Contemporary, and the Kettle Art Gallery.

Trigger Happy by Cathey Miller

Garden's Edge by Lee Baggs

Artists’ Showplace gallery will host a juried exhibition of work by members of the Dallas-based non-profit organization Associated Creative Artists from May 7-30. A free reception on Friday, May 7, from 6 to 9 p.m., is open to the public and includes wine, hors d’oeurves and live music by Daniel Rodriguez on the Spanish guitar. Approximately 20 artists’ works will be chosen for the exhibition, and awards will be presented.

Artists’ Showplace partner Jane Kahler, past president of the Associated Creative Artists’ board and Annual Awards Show chair, said, “The ACA is dedicated to the preservation, practice and the promotion of conservative art. It encourages and promotes the work of our member artists.”

Artists’ Showplace is located at 15615 Coit Road, Suite 230, in the southwest quadrant of Spanish Village at Coit and Arapaho. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Artists’ Showplace also has workshops held throughout the year given by internationally renowned artists and offers weekly art lessons in its fully equipped classrooms.

What: Exhibition of work by members of Associated Creative Artists

Who: Approximately 20 artists will be chosen by jury for the show.

Where: Artists’ Showplace gallery, 15615 Coit Road, Suite 230, in the elbow of the southwest quadrant of Spanish Village at Coit and Arapaho.

When: May 7-30

Reception: Friday, May 7, 6-9 p.m. – free to the public

The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Contact the gallery at 972-233-1223 or online at www.artistsshowplace.com.

Garden's Edge by Lee Baggs