That reminds me of when I used to run from the cops by Sergio Garcia

One Hundred and Ten Degrees
TractorBeam Gallery

Last Saturday night was burning hot with the One Hundred and Ten Degrees opening at TractorBeam Gallery downtown. There are 10 artists showcasing their hottest work.

Hot Tip From StealingKitty: If you have ever questioned going to one of these openings for a variety of personal reasons, I urge you to put those reasons to rest.

This opening had a hot bartender serving top shelf alcohol for tips. In contrast, down the street you could get the same drink for about $20 plus tip. Hot bartenders, hot art, electric atmosphere! What more could you ask for in a night on the town.

This show included works from Joshua King, Stephen Hartzler, Fredrik Broden, Shane Pennington, Sergio Garcia, Scogin Mayo, Tony Bones, Zach Saucedo, Jorge Rivas, Steven Wrubel, and Adriane Dutzi. My favorite from the show came from Sergio Garcia. It was a large white piece in what seemed like a wooden frame, it stated “That reminds me of when I used to run from the cops”. I love the moment captured in this piece and the provocation it evokes in my brain. Another notable was Stephen Hartzler. I saw him first at Function at Corinth Park and was drawn to his work there as well. This time he does painting on a mirror of the wing motif he is known for around town. I love it.

Click here to visit StealingKitty’s Flickr gallery for One Hundred and Ten Degrees opening.

In addition, Steve Wrubel’s photograph was inspiring. The piece is beautifully framed. The framing actually costing more than the photo itself, made the whole piece. If you are interested in purchasing, I would definitely have the frame included since it is framed the way a fine photographed should be framed, impeccably. I look forward to checking out more photographs from Steve Wrubel as his style and clarity are amazing

TractorBeam Gallery is part of a kickass design/ad agency. Wondering about the offices had my mind imagining working there and how creative of an environment it must be to go to everyday for your job. I was able to glimpse June Mattingly at a roundtable of other art aficionados. June Mattingly is known for bringing fine art to Dallas from the beginning. We all owe her a bow for sure as she is a pretty cool lady and one with great connections and taste. One Hundred and Ten Degrees was the hottest show of the evening and the art … smoking!

That reminds me of when I used to run from the cops by Sergio Garcia

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.

Manhattan Bridge Looking Up by Berenice Abbott, 1936

American Modern: Abbott, Evans, Bourke-White
Amon Carter Museum
October 2, 2010 through January 2, 2011

On October 2, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art presents American Modern: Abbott, Evans, Bourke-White. This special exhibition explores the work of three of the foremost photographers of the twentieth-century and the golden age of documentary photography in America. American Modern will be on view through January 2, 2011; admission is free.

Featuring more than 140 photographs by Berenice Abbott (1898–1991), Margaret Bourke-White (1906–1971) and Walker Evans (1903–1975), American Modern was co-organized by the Amon Carter Museum of American Art and the Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, Maine. The exhibition is the result of a unique partnership between three curators: Jessica May and Sharon Corwin of the Carter and Colby, respectively, and Terri Weissman, assistant professor of art history at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Together, the three curators present the works of these three artists as case studies of documentary photography during the Great Depression and demonstrate how three factors supported the development of documentary photography during this important period in American history: first, the expansion of mass media; second, a new attitude toward and acceptance of modern art in America; and third, government support for photography during the 1930s.

“This exhibition considers the work of three of the best-loved American photographers in a new light, which is very exciting,” says curator Jessica May. “Abbott, Evans, and Bourke-White are undisputed masters of the medium of photography, but they have never been shown in relation to one another. This exhibition offers viewers an opportunity to see works together that have not been shown as such since the 1930s.”

In addition to vintage photographs from over 20 public and private collections, the exhibition also features rare first-edition copies of select books and periodicals from the 1930s. American Modern, May says, “reminds us that documentary photography was very much a public genre—this was the first generation of photographers that truly anticipated that their work would be seen by a vast audience through magazines and books.”

A scholarly catalogue, published by the University of California Press, accompanies the exhibition. The museum has also prepared a mobile tour of the exhibition, which will be available on the museum’s website or on preloaded iTouch devices available for free loan from the Carter’s Information Desk.

American Modern: Abbott, Evans, Bourke-White and its accompanying publication have been made possible in part by The National Endowment for the Arts, The Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts, and the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation.

The Fort Worth presentation is supported in part by RBC Wealth Management. Promotional support is provided by Star-Telegram, WFAA, and American Airlines.

In conjunction with American Modern: Abbott, Evans, Bourke-White, the Carter will host the following free public programs:

Saturday, October 2, 10:30 a.m.–3 p.m.

Modern Documents: Photography in 1930s America
Amon Carter Museum of American Art Lectures on American Photography

This scholarly symposium featuring six panelists will reflect on the legacy of 1930s documentary photography in conversations about the exhibition American Modern: Abbott, Evans, Bourke-White.

This symposium on American art, culture, and society by distinguished individuals is made possible by a generous gift from the late Anne Burnett Tandy.

Reservations are required. Boxed lunches are available to preorder for $8. Call 817.989.5030 or e-mail education@cartermuseum.org to register.

Sunday, November 14, 1–4 p.m.

Picture This

Family Funday

Explore photography with your family by discussing artworks in the galleries and taking photographs!

Family Fundays are sponsored by The Junior League of Fort Worth, Inc., and Alcon.

Thursday, November 18, 6 p.m.

Evans in Film

Film Screening and Discussion

Discuss the role of early documentary film in the career of Walker Evans, and view film shorts by Evans and his friends Helen Levitt and Jay Leyda.

Because seating is limited, reservations are required. Call 817.989.5030 or e-mail education@cartermuseum.org to register.

Manhattan Bridge Looking Up by Berenice Abbott, 1936

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.

WASP (photo courtesy of Texas Woman's University)

National Women’s Museum in Dallas, Texas, opens exhibit dedicated to the accomplishment of women in air and space.

The Women’s Museum: An Institute for the Future announces the opening of Dreams of Flight: A Journey through Air and Space on Friday, July 23, 2010, and runs through October 31, 2010. In a special twist, the opening of the exhibit coincides with one of America’s beloved pioneers of flight birthday, Amelia Earhart, born July 24, 1897. Amelia Earhart became the first woman to make a non-stop Trans-Atlantic flight in 1932. In June 1937, Amelia began the infamous final trip that would mark the first around-the-world flight. She and her navigator, Frederick Noonan, completed almost two-thirds of their flight when they were lost at sea.

Amelia Earhart (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University)

Women have broken boundaries in the realm of air and space as pilots, astronauts, astrophysicists and scientists. The more than 40 women featured in Dreams of Flight: A Journey through Air and Space, presented by ExxonMobil, demonstrate remarkable resilience, strength and character in the face of opposition. This exhibition highlights the women, from the earliest pioneers of flight including Amelia Earhart, Bessie Coleman (Texas native), Jaqueline Cochran and Jeana Yeager (Fort Worth, Texas, native), to science and space innovators such as Barbara Askins, Patricia Cowings and Jerrie Cobb.

Dreams of Flight represents the personal sacrifices and professional fortitude of more than 40 women who have made unparalleled contributions to the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in an effort to advance these fields in America.

Dreams of Flight: A Journey through Air and Space will feature items on loan from museums and collections across America, including uniforms, artifacts, images, videos and interactive activities.

The exhibit is broken down into areas where women had the most impact in aeronautics:

• FIRST IN FLIGHT – the first women in America to fly planes, perform aeronautic acrobatics, and pave the way for future women
• FLY GIRLS – During WWII women would given the chance to serve their country and through the development of the WAFS and WFTD, the WASP were created, and became the first women to serve as pilots and fly military aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II.
• TURBULANT TIMES – Although women had been flying since the early 1900s, were still not accepted into aeronautics. The FLATS (or Mercury 13) went through rigorous training to be accepted into NASA
• LIFT OFF – Women began to make their mark in aeronautics and space flight, as well as commercial flight and unique piloting careers. Women worked as both pilots, astronauts, and in supporting roles such as scientists, engineers, and on ground commanders.

“It is appropriate that our 10th Year Anniversary features women for whom the sky was NOT the limit,” said Wanda Brice, CEO of The Women’s Museum. “Like those adventurous flying women, the women who dreamed of and made happen The Women’s Museum, saw the possibilities and flung themselves into the project. The contributions of women to the fields of air and space are too often overlooked. This year, they will be celebrated by all the visitors to the now well-established Women’s Museum: An Institute for the Future.”

In conjunction with Dreams of Flight, the Museum opens two exhibits Fly Girls and Women and Flight. Fly Girls is a traveling exhibit created by Texas Woman’s University (TWU). Texas Woman’s University completed the exhibit, FlyGirls, in 2000 for the WASP Reunion, which was held, in part, on the TWU campus in Denton, Texas. The exhibit consists of nine cloth panels that share the history of America’s Fly Girls.

Women and Flight, images by Carolyn Russo, is an exhibit of selected images from the Women and Flight collection, which originally toured as a SITES traveling exhibition and was created by photographer Carolyn Russo. Photographs include images of Jean Ross Howard-Phelan, Shannon Lucid, Patty Wagstaff, Susan Still, Eileen Collins, and many others.

The Women’s Museum, celebrating a decade of empowering women in association with the Smithsonian Institution, is the nation’s only comprehensive women’s history museum that chronicles the lives of American women through interactive exhibits. The Women’s Museum is supported, in part, by the City of Dallas, Office of Cultural Affairs. Museum hours are Tuesday through Sunday, noon to 5:00 p.m. (closed Mondays). For more information, please visit www.thewomensmuseum.org.

Presenting Sponsor

ExxonMobil is committed to advancing U.S. math and science education and does so by supporting a wide variety of educational initiatives. This outreach includes programs that seek to improve education and career opportunities for minorities and women, particularly within the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Lending Institutions: The Women’s Museum collaborated with other institutions to bring exciting and interesting artifacts and images in for this exhibit. The lending institutions include: the Gee Library Special Collections, Texas A & M University-Commerce; The Women’s Collection of the Blagg-Huey Library at Texas Woman’s University; Johnson Space Center; National Air and Space Museum; Wings Across America; Patty Waggstaff; and many others.

Sally Ride (NASA)

In celebration of the centennial of the Mexican Revolution in 2010, the Mildred Hawn Gallery in Southern Methodist University’s Hamon Arts Library is featuring an exhibit of historic books and portfolios from Mexico, on view through August 29. The items are part of the Stanley Marcus Collection at SMU’s DeGolyer Library. Marcus, from the family of the founders of the exclusive Neiman Marcus store, was a passionate book collector who assembled a truly remarkable private library, numbering about 8,000 volumes and ranging across the centuries.

The exhibit includes a portfolio of drawings and color prints from prominent Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo, dated 1949-1950 and depicting animals and abstractions. They’re accompanied by photos and letters between Marcus and Tamayo. “The Fight for Liberty,” a 1944 lithograph of a mural by Jose Clemente Orozco, is also highlighted, along with a book featuring Diego Rivera’s mural of the Mexican Revolution. Portraits of the artists themselves – Tamayo, Rivera and Orozco – are displayed in the portfolio “Drawings of 13 Mexican Painters” by Carlos Orozco Romero (1939). Also featured is a portfolio of black and white woodcut-style prints by Jose Guadalupe Posada depicting revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata, calaveras and more.

Other cases in the exhibit include depictions of historical monuments and daily life. Vibrant silkscreened prints from the 1947 portfolio “Mexico in Color” by Elma Pratt show a man carrying flowers on a bamboo pole, women with baskets of corn balanced on their heads, and a colorful altar scene. Ancient monuments from Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan are the subject of a book by Frederick Catherwood, dated 1965. Also featured are black and white photographs taken by Marcus himself during visits to Mexico in the 1930s, in an album titled “This Is Mexico.”

The Hawn Gallery is on the first floor of the Hamon Arts Library, 6100 Hillcrest Ave. on the campus of SMU. The gallery is open during regular library hours. Summer hours, through Aug. 24, are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mon. – Fri. and 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thurs.; the library is closed Sat. and Sun. Regular hours begin Wed., August 25, and are 8 a.m. to midnight Mon. through Thurs.; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fri.; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sat.; and 1 p.m. to midnight Sun. Admission is FREE. For more information, please call 214.768.2661.

The celebration of the Mexican centennial will continue in the fall with the exhibit “Mexico: Porfiriato to Revolution, 1876-1920,” from Sept.7-Dec. 17 at SMU’s DeGolyer Library, 6404 Hyer Lane. It will feature photographs, manuscripts and printed materials from Mexico including pictures of the fighting and carnage of the Mexican Revolution, Porfirio Diaz and other government leaders, native peoples, railroads, mining, agriculture, and the Mexican 1910 Centennial celebration. There will also be loan materials from Elmer Powell’s extensive Mexican Revolution collection.

Panel with a seated ruler in a watery cave (Cancuen Panel 3), 795, Cancuen, Guatemala. Limestone, 22 5/8 x 26 1/4 x 3 in. (57.5 x 66.5 x 7.6 cm). Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes—Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala City. Courtesy Peabody Essex Museum, photograph © 2009 Jorge Pérez de Lara

Fiery Pool: The Maya and the Mythic Sea
Kimbell Art Museum
August 29, 2010 through January 2, 2011

Rarely does an exhibition offer an entirely fresh way of viewing the art of a great civilization. Fiery Pool: The Maya and the Mythic Sea at the Kimbell Art Museum does exactly that––by revealing and interpreting the importance of water to the ancient Maya. Shark teeth, stingray spines, sea creatures and waterfowl appear in works of stone and clay; supernatural crocodiles breathe forth rain; cosmic battles take place between mythic beasts and deities—all part of a new and vivid picture of the Maya worldview.

Over 90 works, many recently excavated and never before seen in the United States, offer exciting insights into the culture of the ancient Maya, focusing on the sea as a defining feature of the spiritual realm and the inspiration for powerful visual imagery. Surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, denizens of Maya cities responded to the oceanic, inland and atmospheric waters that shaped their existence.

“In 1986, the Kimbell Art Museum’s landmark exhibition The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art shed new light on the importance of dynastic lineage and blood sacrifice to the Maya,” commented Eric Lee, director of the Kimbell Art Museum. “Recent archaeological discoveries and the deciphering of the Maya glyph for water have led to a new, broader understanding of the expansive influence that water in all its myriad forms had on both the daily life and spiritual beliefs of the Maya people. This exhibition is the next important chapter in Maya research, and I am thrilled that the Kimbell Art Museum will showcase it.”

At the height of its achievement, between 300 and 900 AD, the Maya civilization spanned hundreds of cities across Mexico and Central America. With a culture highly advanced in mathematics, astronomy, architecture and art, the Maya practiced a complex religion and used a refined pictorial writing system composed of more than 800 glyphs. The interpretation of this language has played a role in the understanding of Maya culture. While 90% of glyphs are now understood, it was only in the late 1980s that a glyph for the sea had been identified. Until this key glyph had been unlocked, the importance of the sea in Maya culture had not been fully studied or appreciated. The identification of this glyph, translated literally as “fiery pool,” was part of a growing awareness of the centrality of the sea in Maya life, which has culminated in this exhibition and its companion book.

The exhibition reflects the broad range of media used by Maya artists: massive, carved stone monuments and delicate hieroglyphs, exquisite painted pottery vessels, charming sculpted human and animal figurines, and a lavish assortment of precious goods crafted from jade, gold and turquoise.

“Not only does this exhibition provide a new understanding of the sacredness of the sea in Maya thought and culture,” remarked Jennifer Casler Price, curator for Asian and non-Western Art at the Kimbell Art Museum, “but the objects presented here are stunning examples of the highest caliber of art, from the monumental to the minute, that the Maya ever produced.”

Surrounded by the sea in all directions, the ancient Maya viewed their world as inextricably tied to water, an idea that is explored in the first section of the exhibition, Water and Cosmos. More than a necessity to sustain life, water was the vital medium from which the world emerged, gods arose and ancestors communicated.

A limestone panel from Cancuen, Guatemala, is an exceptional example of Maya sculpture, depicting a ruler known as Tajchanahk, “Torch‐Sky‐Turtle,” seated on a water-lily throne in the royal court while simultaneously inhabiting the watery realm. A bubbling stream delineates the space, with stylized foliage anchoring the corners. For the Maya, the realms of earth, sea, sky and cosmos may have been perceived as flowing into each other rather than as distinct territories of being.

The world of the Maya brims with animal life—animated, realistic and supernatural all at once. The objects in the second section, Creatures of the Fiery Pool, portray a wide array of fish, frogs, birds and mythic beasts inhabiting the sea and conveying spiritual concepts. An effigy of a Caribbean spiny lobster is the only known Maya representation of the creature, excavated in 2007 from one of the oldest sites in Belize. It dates from the turbulent early colonial period, when traditional Maya life was disturbed by the incursion of Spanish soldiers and missionaries. A plugged cavity bearing a stingray spine, three shark teeth and two blades of microcrystalline quartz hints at blood sacrifice. The head emerging from the mouth may be that of a Maya deity.

The section Navigating the Cosmos explores water as a source of material wealth and spiritual power. All bodies of water––rivers, cenotes (deep, inland pools) and the sea––were united, and all could be traversed to a cosmic realm. A magnificent head of a deity with characteristics of the Sun God––a Belize national treasure––is one of the most exquisite works discovered in the Maya world. Weighing nearly ten pounds, it was created from a single piece of jadeite, the color of which was directly associated with the sea. It was found in the tomb of an elderly man, likely cradled in his arm upon burial at the sacred site of Altun Ha.

The final section of the exhibition, Birth to Rebirth, addresses the cyclical motion of the cosmos as the Maya pictured it. The sun rose in the morning from the Caribbean in the east, bearing the features of a shark as it began to traverse the sky. Cosmic crocodiles exhaled storms and battled with gods of the underworld. An elaborate ceramic incense burner from Palenque, Mexico, portrays a deity central to a creation myth. Water-curls on his cheeks and ear ornaments, which link him to the rain god (Chahk), speak of his connection to the watery world. A shark serves as his headdress, topped by a toothy crocodile. From this censer, ritual smoke curled through the city of Palenque, suffusing it with scent and mystery.

The exhibition is organized by the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, and is made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Because democracy demands wisdom. Additional support is provided by ECHO (Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations), a program of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement. The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. It is co-curated by Daniel Finamore, Russell W. Knight Curator of Maritime Art and History at the Peabody Essex Museum, and Stephen D. Houston, Dupee Family Professor of Social Science and Professor of Archaeology at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. The richly illustrated catalogue is published by Yale University Press, New Haven and London, in association with the Peabody Essex Museum. It is available in the Exhibition Shop ($65 hard cover; $39.95 soft cover).

Kimbell Art Museum hours: Tuesday–Thursday and Saturdays, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Fridays, noon–8 p.m.; Sundays, noon–5 p.m.; closed Mondays. For general information, call 817-332-8451. Web site: www.kimbellart.org. Address: 3333 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, TX 76107.

*Admission to view the Museum’s permanent collection is always FREE.

** Admission to Fiery Pool: The Maya and the Mythic Sea is $12 for adults; $10 for seniors age 60 and over, military personnel and students with an ID; $8 for children ages 6–11; and FREE for children under 6 and Museum members. Admission is half-price on Tuesdays and after 5 p.m. on Fridays. Admission to the exhibition is FREE to all every Wednesday and Thursday from 2:30 to 5:00 p.m. (Free hours are unique to the Fiery Pool exhibition and may not be available during other Kimbell exhibitions. Check the Web site for details.)

***Acoustiguide audio tours of the exhibition are available in English and Spanish.

Panel with a seated ruler in a watery cave (Cancuen Panel 3), 795, Cancuen, Guatemala. Limestone, 22 5/8 x 26 1/4 x 3 in. (57.5 x 66.5 x 7.6 cm). Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes—Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala City. Courtesy Peabody Essex Museum, photograph © 2009 Jorge Pérez de Lara

Renato (René) Mazza

Renato (René) Mazza will be featured at the Mary Tomás Studio Gallery on July 31, 2010, from 6 to 9 p.m. The preview will be on Friday, July 30, from 6 to 8 p.m. The Mary Tomás Studio Gallery is located in the Design District in building 1080 at 1110 Dragon St., Dallas, Texas 75207.

The show titled “Celebrating Noted Portrait Painter and Sculptor 20th Century Artist Renato Mazza” encompasses a collection of portraits and busts of many well-known public figures in the Dallas area and around the world. Included are elected officials, such as a former Dallas mayor, Texas governor and lieutenant governor, along with celebrities, oil giants and philanthropists.

Mary Tomás, artist and curator, recognized the significance of Mazza’s impact on the Dallas art community. “As a Dallas gallery owner, I think it is important to recognize noted artists while they are still living and give an opportunity for collectors and friends to see work that was previously out of the public eye,” said Tomás. “Artists of today are building reputations on the shoulders of great artists like Renato Mazza.”

Mazza is a self-taught artist, sculptor, teacher, appraiser and former Dallas Italian Consul. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Venice, a law degree from the University of Padua and became a student at the Academy of Arts in Venice.

He came to the United States in 1938 and joined the U.S. Army in 1943, where he continued his art career by painting a mural of the Iwo Jima American flag raising and teaching art to soldiers. After serving his new country, he traveled to New York, Boston and California before setting up his studio in Dallas in 1947.

Also featured, will be artists Roy Tomboli, bronze sculptor and photographic printer, and Mary Tomás with a retrospective look at her paintings. Friend and professional framer, Caesar Amaya with Gallery Central, has offered his services to frame a select group of Mazza’s paintings for the show.

For more information, contact Dykeman Associates at (214) 528-2991 or adykeman@airmail.net.

I Am Woman (poster by Stealing Kitty)

I AM WOMAN
RISING Gallery
July 15, 2010 – July 31, 2010

Opening reception is Thursday, July 15, 2010, from 6 to 10 p.m.

RISING Gallery is proud to host a two week art exhibition here at the gallery titled I AM WOMAN. All proceeds from this exhibition will benefit Alley’s House, a wonderful non-profit Dallas organization. The mission of Alley’s House is to empower teen mothers and their children to achieve independence through support services, education and mentoring. Alley’s House strives to break the generational, economic, and social impact of teen pregnancy within the community. Please visit www.alleyshouse.org for more information.

Each participating artist will be given a 24 x 24 inch pre-stretched canvas to create an
art piece based on femininity and the following attitudes:

FEMININITY referring to qualities uniquely attributed to women.
LOVE that drives the Artist to create.
BEAUTY in artistic creation and output.
PASSION imbued within the art.
POWER latent within the work, demanding respect.
I AM WOMAN

Artists participating in the exhibition include:

• Cathey Miller
• Renee Vandevere
• Bonny Leibowitz
• Laura Elia
• Kate Wickham
• Carmen Menza
• Melissa Preston
• Maureen Womack
• Suzy Mortiz-Rawdin
• Andrea Reich Fender
• Michelle De Metz
• Kathleen Wilke
• Jennifer Morgan
• Sonia Semone
• Jessica Lee
• Karen Garrett
• Sue Ellen Davis
• Treva Gilkey

Alcohol sponsored by Absolute. The canvases sponsored by Betsy Walker “Course of a Different Color”. Venue donated by RISING Gallery.

I Am Woman (poster by Stealing Kitty)

Oscar Alvarez: Other Worlds
On view: July 14 – September 11, 2010

Opening Reception: Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 from 6 – 8 p.m. and is free to the public.

Born in 1975 in Brownsville, Texas, Alvarez has developed over the last decade a signature style based on dream images and the subconscious. His palette is a sophisticated blend of bright circus colors and the muted hues of stormy weather. This constant dichotomy between light and dark in color as well as subject matter creates something both otherworldly and lifelike. Amusing clowns, giraffes, bumblebees, and balloons float past somber monsters and flames that speak of illness and death. In the unpredictable patterns of life, he hints at the mysteries of the afterlife. Continually searching through his canvases, Alvarez draws from deep within his imagination.

Summer Art Camp Exhibition
On view: July 14 – September 11, 2010

Opening Reception: Saturday, July 24th, 2010 from 1 – 3 p.m. and is free to the public.

In keeping with our mission to contribute to the art education and cultural enrichment of the community, the Summer Art Camp Exhibition showcases art works created during our summer classes. Our young artists can leave the museum instilled with a sense of pride for the works created and displayed. Join us on July 24th from 1-3 PM to see a parade of smiling faces.

BMFA Summer Art Camp

Sessions through Aug 6
For ages 5 – 17

Kids will learn the fundamentals of drawing, sculpture, foil embossing, portraiture, painting, watercolors, tempera, acrylics, art appreciation and much more. All classes meet Monday through Friday from 9 to 11 a.m. for the morning session or from 1 to 3 p.m. for the afternoon session. The five-course session is $80, payable at the first class or in advance via our website.

Camp 6: July 12-16
Camp 7: July 19-23
Camp 8: July 26-30
Camp 9: Aug 2-6

For more information, contact Linda Marin at lmarin@brownsvillemfa.org

Growing Up Twins: Two Sides to Every Story (Photo courtesy of Paula Selzer)

We Used to Swim Here
Bath House Cultural Center
July 10-November 20, 2010

Opening Reception with the Artists: Saturday, July 10, 2010, from 7-9 p.m.
Free and open to the public

The Bath House Cultural Center and the White Rock Lake Museum present We Used to Swim Here, an exhibition of historical photographs dating to the time when swimming was allowed at Dallas’ White Rock Lake. The exhibition will be on display at the White Rock Lake Museum (housed inside the Bath House Cultural Center) from July 10 to November 20, 2010.

An opening reception for the public will be held on Saturday, July 10, 2010 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Both the exhibition and the reception are free and open to the public.

About the Exhibition

The nickname used to describe White Rock Lake in the early part of the 20th Century as being “the people’s playground” still appears to be just as fitting today as it was back then. Nowadays, White Rock Lake is still considered one of the main scenic, recreational, and ecological jewels of Dallas that attracts many visitors each year. Since the damming of White Rock Creek and the subsequent forming of the Lake almost one hundred years ago, the natural setting of this destination has been considered a true oasis in the middle of the city.

From the forming of the lake and up until the 1950s, the lake became a major center of recreation as the City offered amenities that included a boathouse, a bath house, and a bathing beach. The availability of these facilities led to activities such as fishing, sail boating, camping, and swimming. The popular spot provided its scenic beauty, cooling breezes, and recreational opportunities to those who escaped their homes without air conditioning in search for a good time with their families and friends.

The exhibition We Used to Swim Here includes archival photographs that document the period of history of White Rock Lake when swimming was allowed. The images were compiled by the exhibition curator, Enrique Fernández Cervantes, from submissions that were turned in by lake area residents who browsed through old scrapbooks, photo albums and slide carrousels in order to locate photographs of family outings at the lake during that bygone era of Dallas. Grandparents picnicking by the Bath House, aunts wearing rented swimsuits, and other images of a joyful time, are part of this show that looks back at the past.

The main contributors to the exhibition include the Texas/Dallas History and Archives Division of the Dallas Public Library, as well as longtime Dallas residents Nancy Cole, Judith Haralson Wolfe, Peggy Morgan, and Paula Selzer, whose short documentary film Growing Up Twins: Two Sides to Every Story features an interview with Adelyn Hancock and Carolyn Selzer describing their memories of swimming at White Rock Lake. A screening of Ms. Selzer’s documentary is scheduled for the Fall.

About the White Rock Lake Museum

The Bath House Cultural Center is the home of the White Rock Lake Museum. The museum’s mission is to preserve and present the human and natural history of White Rock Lake Park and its surrounding environment. The White Rock Lake Museum was inaugurated in September of 2004. Please visit the museum’s website at www.whiterocklakemuseum.org.

Please visit www.bathhousecultural.com for more information.

Growing Up Twins: Two Sides to Every Story (Photo courtesy of Paula Selzer)

Nature Takes Over by Kathryn Paige

Austin Art Space announced the selection of artwork to be featured in its second annual juried awards show and exhibit focused on everything Texas, entitled ‘What Texas Means to Me’ running July 2 – August 28, 2010. The show’s theme is built entirely upon artists’ impressions of any aspect of Texas’ past, present or future. And, those inspirations proved to be wide-ranging from abstract and contemporary to representational and traditional. Pastel, oil, watercolor, acrylic, collage, mixed media, photography and sculpture are among the media included.

The final 40 art pieces were chosen from over 150 entries from artists as near as Austin and Georgetown to Dallas, Houston, and Lubbock to as far away as Missouri, Arizona, Maryland and South Africa. In all, works by 35 different artists were selected for presentation.

The juror for this year’s show was well-known Austin artist Phillip Wade. A graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, with a MFA in Painting from the University of Texas, he currently mentors and teaches at the Austin Museum of Art. His work resides in several galleries and innumerable collections around the country including the Driskill Hotel, Mr. and Mrs. Ben Bentsen, and actress Diane Ladd.

Valerie Walden, co-founder and director of Austin Art Space commented, “This awards show gets better every year. The range of styles is impressive, and the breadth and depth of the interpretations are inspiring. We have introspective examination and liberal symbolism contrasted against more traditional representations from across Texas, from out of state and from another hemisphere. We are exceedingly pleased with the quality of the work submitted. At least 300 people attended the opening reception last year. We expect a Texas-sized turnout this year, too.”

All patrons are invited to attend the Artists’ Reception on Saturday, July 10, 2010 from 6:00pm-9:00pm. Wine and hors d’oeuvres will be served and many of the artists are expected to be on hand to discuss their work. Mr. Wade will award first and second prizes along with honorable mentions at that time. Many of the pieces will be offered for sale. The exhibit continues during regular gallery hours, ending on Saturday, August 28.

About the Selected Artwork

A preview of selections is at http://austinartspace.com/TexasExhibit2010.aspx. At the bottom of the page click on “Preview Artwork”.

About the Participating Artists

The artists selected to participate in the 2nd Annual “What Texas Means to Me” Awards Show are:

• Theresa Bayer, Austin, TX
• Jeffrey Brailas, Houston, TX
• Sharon Byars, Austin, TX
• Sandi Carlton, Leander, TX
• Bob Coffee, Austin, TX
• Janie Coleman, Austin, TX
• Cecilla De Jesus, Dallas, TX
• Gary Deininger, Silver Springs, MD
• Mariko Frost, Wylie, TX
• Christine Gilbert, Austin, TX
• Pia Greenberg, Friendswood, TX
• Renee Harvey, Austin, TX
• Kay Hughes, Austin, TX
• Betty Jameson, Austin, TX
• Leslie Kell, Manchaca, TX
• Eve Larson, Austin, TX
• Layla Luna, Mesa, AZ
• Robert McArthur, Austin, TX
• Fran McDonald Berry, Austin, TX
• Nancy Michalewicz, Austin, TX
• Jannise Mora, San Antonio, TX
• Cindy Morawski, San Antonio, TX
• Armin Muhsam, Maryville, MO
• Makiwa Mutomba, Pretoria, South Africa
• Kathryn Paige, Round Rock, TX
• Silvia PintoSouza, Houston, TX
• Marilyn Rea Nasky, Volente, TX
• Sandra Reiff, Austin, TX
• Debbi Smith Rourke, Austin, TX
• Ellen Russell, Austin, TX
• David Schulze, Dallas, TX
• Susanne Slay-Westbrook, Austin, TX
• Catherine Small, Austin, TX
• Kenneth Verdugo, Lewisville, TX
• Rom Welborn, Austin, TX

About Austin Art Space Gallery & Studios

Austin Art Space opened in November 2008 as a cooperative space for established and emerging artists to create, collaborate and present their work. There are nine artists-in-residence at the studios. The gallery presents the work of these artists and hosts juried shows, as well as solo and group exhibitions by other artists. The gallery is available for rental for public and private exhibits and receptions. Austin Art Space is located in a free-standing shopping center behind Northcross Mall. The public gallery is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday 11am – 6pm, or by appointment. Operating as a collective, the working studios are open Monday through Thursday whenever artists are on the premises. More information at www.austinartspace.com, austinartspacegallery@gmail.com, or 512.771.2868.

Nature Takes Over by Kathryn Paige

Spring Blooms by Michelle Johnson

Artists’ Showplace gallery will host an exhibition of juried artwork from July 9 – 30, 2010. A free reception on Friday, July 9, 2010, from 6 to 9 p.m., is open to the public and includes wine and hors d’oeurves. The exhibition, titled Vertu (Latin for “a love or knowledge of fine art”) is sponsored by Collage, the arts ministry of Plano’s Chase Oaks Church, and submissions were open to the community. Juror Marie Renfro, nationally known artist from Allen, Texas, chose the works in the exhibition. A “People’s Choice” vote will be taken at the July 9 reception, with a cash prize awarded to the winner.

Also at the July 9 Artists’ Showplace reception, a book signing of Grace Will Lead Me Home, Albert Cheng’s Story by Del Hayes will feature both Mr. Cheng and Mr. Hayes. The book tells the compelling story of Mr. Cheng’s life as a survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. All book sales at the reception will benefit HANDS for Cambodia, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing health care, health education, clean water, and community development to those in need in Cambodia.

Both the Vertu exhibition and Grace Will Lead Me Home, Albert Cheng’s Story have connections to Artists’ Showplace managing owners. One of the gallery’s owners, Herb Reed, painted the original artwork used for the cover of the book. And Teta Smith, the gallery’s managing owner, is an active member of Collage.

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: Vertu, a juried exhibition of work sponsored by Chase Oaks Church Collage arts ministry.
Where: Artists’ Showplace gallery, 15615 Coit Road, Suite 230, in the elbow of the southwest quadrant of Spanish Village at Coit and Arapaho.

When: July 9-30, 2010

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

Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Phone number: 972-233-1223.
www.artistsshowplace.com

Spring Blooms by Michelle Johnson

Gustav Stickley Inlaid Chair

Gustav Stickley and the American Arts & Crafts Movement
Dallas Museum of Art
Opens February 13, 2011

Gustav Stickley and the American Arts & Crafts Movement is the first nationally touring exhibition to offer a comprehensive examination of the work of one of the leading figures of the American Arts and Crafts movement, Gustav Stickley. Organized by the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA), the exhibition will examine Stickley’s contributions to the American Arts and Crafts movement during his most productive and creative period, from 1900 to 1913. Ranging from furniture to metalware to embroidered textiles, the majority of the objects on view are from private collections and three-quarters have never been seen before by the public.

The exhibition will provide new insights into the artistic, commercial, and social context of Stickley’s entry into the Arts and Crafts realm, the ideological development of his enterprise and the formation of the Craftsman home and lifestyle. It will also illuminate the vibrant identity of the “Craftsman” that Stickley developed and furthered through the creation and promotion of his furniture and household goods. A major highlight of the exhibition is the re-creation of a dining room arranged and furnished by Stickley that was originally designed for his 1903 Arts and Crafts Exhibition in Syracuse, New York.

Curated by Kevin W. Tucker, The Margot B. Perot Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the Dallas Museum of Art, Gustav Stickley and the American Arts & Crafts Movement will premiere at the Newark Museum of Art on September 15, 2010, to coincide with the 100th birthday of Stickley’s home, Craftsman Farms, in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey. The exhibition will subsequently open at the Dallas Museum of Art on February 13, 2011, and at the San Diego Museum of Art on June 18, 2011.

“Until now, no one exhibition has brought forth such a comprehensive study of the most exceptional work of Stickley’s career, nor explored the aesthetic and meaning of these objects as lenses on the era and the American Arts and Crafts movement,” said Bonnie Pitman, The Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art. “Gustav Stickley and the American Arts & Crafts Movement will provide new perspective on design, production, and dissemination of his firm’s work. The exhibition will also provide a deeper understanding of the remarkable legacy of his artistic enterprise in transforming the vision of the ideal household of the early 20th century.”

Stickley (1858–1942) was one of the leading figures in the Arts and Crafts movement in the United States. Stickley, unlike his predecessors in the English movement, began his career as a furniture factory owner, and only began to discover the precepts and stylings of the movement in the late 1890s. Balancing the core principles of the movement, with its emphasis upon the functional and handmade, and integrating it within a factory production system, Stickley’s firm made Arts and Crafts furniture, metalwork, and textiles widely available at a reasonable cost through retailers across the United States. Between 1900 and 1913, his most creative period and the era that is the focus of the exhibition, Stickley published The Craftsman magazine (1901–1916), which became a leading national journal of the movement’s ideals.

“During these years, Stickley’s firm produced works that embodied a bold new simplicity, forthrightness, and stability in the face of tumultuous times,” said Kevin W. Tucker, The Margot B. Perot Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the Dallas Museum of Art. “Not content simply to create these items, Stickley and his employees shaped and promoted the ideological framework of the Arts and Crafts movement where these beautiful, useful, and simple objects were presented as integral to a better way of living.”

This exhibition will include more than one hundred works produced by Stickley’s designers and workshops, including furniture, metalwork, lighting, and textiles, along with architectural drawings and related designs. One of the exhibition’s highlights will be the re-creation of the dining room first displayed in the 1903 Arts and Crafts Exhibition organized by Stickley and exhibited in his Syracuse Craftsman Building. The model dining room was a sensation, attracting the attention and admiration of many visitors. A period photograph of the original room corroborates the acclaim, showing a beautifully orchestrated setting that includes oak and burlap wall coverings, a Donegal carpet with stylized floral motifs, and refined Grueby Pottery vessels on the table and sideboard. One of the masterpieces on display in the re-creation will be a linen chest, now part of the DMA’s collections, made especially for the room, along with a selection of related furnishings that have not been reunited since 1903. The massive linen chest with its low profile, refined lines, and simple wrought-iron fittings is a stunning example of Stickley’s designers at the height of their creative powers.

Other highlights in the show include:

• An armoire, c. 1907–1912, which Stickley kept for his private use in the decades after he sold his business. Even after he left the business, Stickley continued to experiment with different varnishes, which can still be seen as a patchwork of colors on the undersides of the drawers in the armoire. The piece is a personal testament to his enduring creative spirit and energy.
• A chalet table, c. 1900, represents Stickley’s break from the ornamental language of the past century. The boldly simple design is among his firm’s most seemingly prescient designs.
• A unique three-fold leather screen, c. 1902–1905, with tooled floral ornamentation. While Stickley’s firm, under the name United Crafts (c. 1901–1903), reputedly produced a selection of furnishings with decorated leather surfaces, this is the only known, surviving example.
• A rare armchair, c. 1903, with copper and wood inlay reflects Stickley’s brief foray into decorated Arts and Crafts furniture influenced by the work of progressive British and Scottish designers. The form of the sled-footed chair is equally influenced by European sources, yet its elegant realization is distinctly American in character.

About Gustav Stickley

Born in 1858 in Osceola, Wisconsin, Gustav Stickley was a leading figure of the American Arts and Crafts movement. Apprenticed as a stone mason as a young man, Stickley moved as a teenager with his family to Pennsylvania, where he began to learn furniture making at his uncle’s chair factory. He opened his first furniture company in 1888, partnering with Elgin Simonds to form the Stickley & Simonds Company. A decade later—following his travels to Europe, where he was exposed to progressive furniture designs, including those produced by Liberty of London—Stickley assumed control of the firm, renaming it the Gustav Stickley Company. In 1901, the year following his introduction of a new line of Arts and Crafts furniture, the firm was renamed the United Crafts. It was renamed again as Craftsman Workshops in 1903, with the expansion into metalwork, textiles, and home design, and remained so until its dissolution in 1916.

Stickley’s innovative and affordable wares quickly earned him critical and commercial success. His firm’s designs were exhibited at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, and included in a pavilion at the 1904 St. Louis Exposition, where they were seen by thousands of fairgoers. Stickley’s retail network, which eventually included over 100 stores across the United States, sold thousands of pieces of furniture each year, popularizing Stickley’s creations as exemplars of the Arts and Crafts movement; however, by 1915 he was unable to maintain the successes of his prior years, and the firm entered bankruptcy. Following a brief and unsuccessful collaboration with his brothers, he retired from the furniture industry. Stickley died in 1942 in Syracuse, New York.

Exhibition Organization and Tour

Gustav Stickley and the American Arts & Crafts Movement was organized by the Dallas Museum of Art and curated by Kevin W. Tucker, The Margot B. Perot Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the Dallas Museum of Art.

The exhibition tour will include:

• Newark Museum (September 15, 2010–January 2, 2011)
• Dallas Museum of Art (February 13–May 8, 2011)
• San Diego Museum of Art (June 18–September 11, 2011)

This exhibition is supported by a generous grant from the Henry Luce Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Publication of the exhibition catalogue is underwritten by the Henry Luce Foundation, the Windgate Charitable Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Exhibition Catalogue

The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated 272-page catalogue, Gustav Stickley and the American Arts & Crafts Movement, by Kevin W. Tucker, The Margot B. Perot Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the Dallas Museum of Art, with essays and contributions by Beverly K. Brandt, David Cathers, Joseph Cunningham, and Beth Ann and Tommy McPherson and an introduction by Bonnie Pitman, The Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art.

Published by Yale University Press, the catalogue explores Stickley’s work and his dual roles as a visionary business leader and enthusiastic proselytizer of design reform. The full range of Stickley’s workshops is illuminated, including more than 100 objects of furniture, metalwork, and textiles, as well as architectural drawings and related designs, many of which are previously unpublished. Essays by distinguished contributors provide diverse viewpoints on the Arts and Crafts movement and Stickley’s evolving role as tastemaker, and the often contradictory messages conveyed through the construction and promotion of his designers’ works.

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.

Gustav Stickley Inlaid Chair

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