The Catholic Foundation is pleased to announce the Fifth Annual Catholic Foundation Plaza Artists Competition and invites all professional North Texas artists to submit their artwork for consideration. The deadline for entries is 3:00 p.m., Thursday, September 2, 2010.

The winning work will be selected by a panel comprised of highly respected members of the local arts community and will be announced and publicly unveiled in October. The winner will receive a $2,500 stipend and have their artwork displayed on a 28-foot-long by 9-foot-wide wall in The Catholic Foundation Plaza, located in the heart of the Dallas Arts District. Honorable mentions will receive $250 each.

“The Dallas Arts District has grown immensely in size and reach over the past year. We recognize the worth in The Catholic Foundation Plaza’s bold presence and ability to impact the Dallas arts community,” said Edwin M. Schaffler, President and CEO of The Catholic Foundation. “In this competition’s fifth year, we are more excited than ever to invite local members of the arts community to submit their work to be showcased on the Plaza Art Wall, which is such a wonderful, public showcase of our local talent.”

The Catholic Foundation Plaza is a 3,900-square-foot public space on the grounds of the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, directly across from the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. Dedicated in 2006, the Plaza was a gift from The Catholic Foundation to the Dallas community to commemorate the Foundation’s 50th anniversary. The Art Wall currently displays last year’s winning piece entitled “Music on Parade” by David Zvanut.

Professional artists living in the North Texas area are invited to submit one original work of art. The winning work will be photographed and installed on the wass and displayed there for one year. The work must be in keeping with the location of the Plaza on the Cathedral grounds but does not require a religious theme.

This year’s Selection Committee includes one representative from The Catholic Foundation and one representative from the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe; Cindy M. Gummer, owner of The Enchanted Galleries; Katherine Wagner, CEO of the Business Council for the Arts; Patricia B. Meadows, Art Connections; David C. Hickman, sculptor; Pamela Nelson, Dallas artist; Gary Skotnicki of Architexas, the architectural firm and designer of the Plaza; and David Zvanut, the 2009 competition winner.

For the complete Request for Proposal with all competition details please contact Linda Scheets at 972.661.9792 or lscheets@catholicfoundation.com. For additional information please visit www.catholicfoundation.com.

Chartered in 1955 by a group of dedicated Catholic laymen, The Catholic Foundation is a donor-focused community foundation that guides benefactors in compassionate charitable giving endeavors, utilizing extensive expertise to carry out the various philanthropic goals of its donors. The Foundation’s planned giving programs connects donors directly with organizations they wish to support within the Diocese of Dallas and elsewhere, whether that is a home parish, Catholic school or a community-based charity. Thanks to the generosity of donors both past and present, The Foundation has provided approximately $24 million to local organizations through hundreds of grants over the past 54 years, and donor-advised funds maintained at the Foundation have accounted for even more grants amounting to millions of dollars. For additional information about The Catholic Foundation, call 972.661.9792.

Tour open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Reception 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

On November 21st, Dallas artists Cathey Miller, Diane Sikes, Jonathan Brooks, Nicole Arendt, Oliver Bradley, Patrick Dowdy, Stephen Hartzler, and VET will be exhibiting new work in a group show entitled FUNCTION, curated by Nicole Cullum Horn and Scott Horn, and produced by Herschel Alan Weisfeld and Sarah Jane Semrad. The event will be held at the CorinthPark warehouse located at 1837 Corinth at Park. It is a part of the Cedars Open Studios Tour and will be open during the day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the tour and again from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. for an artist’s reception on Saturday, November 21, 2009. More information is available at www.corinthpark.org.

FUNCTION is an opportunity for artists to create large-scale or experimental work in an alternative space. We will focus on creating a night of visual art, sound, and spectacle that will be worth remembering. Playing on the many aspects of the word function; the event will be both a celebration, and a chance to open windows onto the many ways art permeates our lives. Be it the physical reality of a geometric space, the metaphysical wonder of a painted surface, or the practical relationship to cultural and economic life, the viewer will come away with a broader sense of art’s function. Complimentary beer and wine will be served, and Ishi, Blixaboy, and special guests will provide the soundtrack for the evening. Admission to the show is free and the art is open to the public for viewing for one day only; private showings can be arranged after the event.

About the Artists

Cathey Miller is a 1985 graduate of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena CA. Upon graduation, she moved to New York City where she worked as an illustrator. In 1988 she moved to Dallas and established her own art studio that catered to the design industry, branching out later into theatrical backdrops, and painting for film and television. Since 2001, the subject of Miller’s personal artwork has been the mythical Planet of Cathedonia, which appeared to her during an extended nervous breakdown. Her paintings are portrait-based explorations into a symbol rich outer space environment. These images are metaphoric, and communicate cathedonian ideals of truth, beauty, desire, and romantic heroism.

Diane Sikes: “I recast found objects to illustrate the transitory nature of memory, thought, and time. The objects are marked, scarred and imperfect with inscrutable elements. The work is the progression of forms and materials that reference an internal journey.” Diane Sikes earned an MFA in Studio arts in 2000 from Memphis College of Art in Memphis, Tennessee. Her undergraduate work was completed at the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee in 1997 where she earned a BFA with an emphasis in sculpture. Recent shows include the Broadway Gallery in New York, the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, Finland, the Contemporary Art Month in San Antonio, Texas and “Parallel Perpendicular” in the Art Corridor Gallery at Tarrant County College. Sikes exhibitions include shows at Plan B Gallery, Gallery 509 and the Brooks Museum of Art in Memphis, Tennessee, the Art Institute Gallery and the Johnson Art Gallery in Kenosha, WI, and at Belvoir Terrace in Lenox, Massachusetts.

Jonathan Brooks is a Texan who transplanted himself to New York City for about ten years to act, create music, and explore every avenue of artistic expression that he could get his hands on. Three years ago, he returned to his homeland of the great Lone Star State and found what he’d been looking for, painting. “Intrigued and amazed by the human form and all of it’s manifestations, as well as human nature and all of it’s dark corners, I try to capture the opinions or thought processes and emotions that are created or provoked inside of me while looking at photographs of the inhabitants of this world.”

Nicole Arendt is a New York based photographer, sculptor and video artist. She earned her M.F.A. from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Tufts University. Her work often inhabits a psychological or dreamlike space where the use of sound, color and iconography provide an entryway into an emotional and conceptual exploration of femininity, sexuality, control and the overwhelming power of the institution. She has exhibited in New York City, England, South Korea, Australia, Berlin, Texas and Boston. She has taught video classes at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and photography classes at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Oliver Bradley is a Dallas based artist working on both private and public works. With a diverse background in Photography, Printmaking, Carpentry and Skatepark Design, Oliver is capable of working on projects of varying scales and complexities. Born in Derby England, Oliver specializes in sculpture using environmentally sensitive materials. He is particularly interested in creating pieces that engage, inform and involve the viewer as participant as much as spectator.

VET: Recent recipient of the National Endowment of the Arts Award, VET worked on a collaborative multi-disciplinary performance and exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art. She is a native Texas artist who incorporates recycling awareness and arts education within her projects and residencies. She received her Bachelors of Arts and Performance at the University of Texas at Dallas. She currently teaches and exhibits throughout the state of Texas. Her affiliations include the Texas Commission on the Arts, North East Texas Library Systems, City of Dallas Neighborhood Touring Program, City of North Richland Hills, Dallas Independent School District, Dallas Museum of Art, Crow Collection of Asian Art, Dallas Children’s Museum, Irving Art Center, Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District, A.R.T.S. for People, Junior Players, Young Audiences North Texas/Big Thought, Young Audiences Houston, Young Audiences Northeast Texas, Youth Services Council, Good Shepard Episcopal School, Booker T. Washington School of Visual and Performing Arts and numerous other local arts organizations.

About the Venue and Producers

Herschel Alan Weisfeld’s “CorinthPark,” located at 1837 Corinth, at Park Avenue in the Cedars is just two blocks from Dallas Heritage Village and is another venture supporting the local artistic/creative community from a bohemian perspective. CorinthPark is a mixed use Creative/Live/Work Space with exhibition areas, studios and workshops as well as housing. This is a balance to “SOTA”, Weisfeld’s ‘State of the Art’ building, which is a mixed use work space within a museum/gallery environment and the Sara Ellen & Samuel Weisfeld Performing Arts and Conference Center which is an award winning performing arts facility in Downtown Dallas. He is also the only two-time award winner in the history of Preservation Dallas for his adaptive reuses of older buildings for which CorinthPark is a prime example. Herschel, an extensive art collector is the former Vice-Chair of the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs and also sat on the City’s Public Art Committee. Details of the show and driving directions are available at www.CorinthPark.org.

Sarah Jane Semrad has owned and operated several entrepreneurial art ventures since 2003 in Dallas including IR Gallery and Pigeon-Stone Project. Currently she board president for The Art Conspiracy and executive director of La Reunion TX, a non-profit artist residency forming in Oak Cliff. Sarah Jane is the original curator for CorinthPark and after curating exhibits the past few years, it was time to mentor more and curate less. FUNCTION is an independently produced art show that further realizes Semrad’s vision of making the art scene in Dallas interesting and accessible.

Nicole Cullum Horn curates the Magnolia Gallery with Scott Horn, and has previously co-curated the Sozo and Zeo galleries in conjunction with Pigeon-Stone Project. She is involved with the Art Chicas Unidas 2009 art installation show that promotes a mentor-apprentice relationship with the Girls Scouts of America. Nicole is currently working on a series of paintings that explore anthropomorphism and human beings’ tendency to impose emotions on nature.

Scott Horn is a Dallas based artist, event planner, and co-curator of the Magnolia Gallery. Past affiliations include Sozo Gallery, Art Conspiracy, La Reunion, and Red Balloon To Do in Lawrence, KS. Horn earned a BFA in scenography from KU in 2004, and moved to Dallas the same year. “Using wire sculpture, found objects, and other materials, I attempt to elevate and bring attention to every day objects, manufactured and natural.”

From left to right, Mandy Fason as Ursula Loyer, Cody Lucas as Vincent van Gogh and Jessica Severance as Eugenie Loyer in Vincent in Brixton. Photo credit: Amanda Breaz/UNT

Vincent in Brixton
University of North Texas Department of Dance and Theatre
Opens Friday, Nov. 6, 2009, at 8 p.m.

A young Vincent van Gogh arrives at a boarding house run by a widow in the London suburb of Brixton, where he falls in love with the landlady’s daughter.

Vincent in Brixton by award-winning playwright Nicholas Wright explores the early years of van Gogh’s life, as the artist-to-be works for a European art dealer and deals with his tormented feelings.

The University of North Texas Department of Dance and Theatre presents the theatrical portrait of the famed painter in a production directed by Marjorie Hayes, a UNT associate professor and a respected director around the world.

Wright’s play delves into the influence of the widow Ursula Loyer and her daughter, Eugenie, on van Gogh’s life as he pursues his love of art and begins a career that will make him one of the world’s most recognized painters after his death.

“Everyone knows van Gogh’s story of his later years — the manic-depressive episodes, the slicing of his ear, his lurid affairs, his suicide at 37,” Hayes said. “And who doesn’t recognize his paintings Sunflowers, Starry Night and Chair? But Vincent in Brixton is the story of a time before his painting possessed his life — a story about an aimless young man in whom no one saw potential except one woman. This relationship becomes the soulful, life-defining experience that catapults Vincent onto his path to become the world’s most iconographic image maker. The play asks us to recognize the potential genius of the young people around us.”

The production will take place at 8 p.m. Nov. 6-7 (Friday-Saturday), 2:30 p.m. Nov. 8 (Sunday) and 8 p.m. Nov. 11-14 (Wednesday – Saturday) in the Studio Theatre in the RTFP Building, corner of Welch and Chestnut streets. Tickets are $10 for the general public and $7.50 for students, UNT faculty and staff and seniors. Call the box office at 940-565-2428 or Metro 817-267-3731, ext. 2428. Box office hours are 1 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Technical director Mario Tooch, a UNT theatre faculty member, is providing a fully operating 19th-century kitchen along with scenic designer Michael Sullivan, a guest artist.

“What’s been important for us in the scene shop in supporting Michael’s scenic design is the texture of the set — to build walls with real bead board and moldings, to make a brick hearth that feels like real brick and to add a lot of close details,” Tooch said. “We also had to take on the challenge of building what looks like a cast iron fireplace on which to cook a real dinner during the play. We rounded out the kitchen with the authentic hand-pumped water in the sink.”

The play — which earned the 2003 Olivier Award for Best New Play — premiered in London at the Royal National Theatre before moving to Broadway.

About Marjorie Hayes

Hayes, who has directed extensively in the United States and Europe, earned a U.S. Senior Fulbright Fellowship to Poland in 1998. The major Czech theatre journal “Divadelni Noviny” nominated her production of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost in Czech Republic as Best Theatre Production of 1999. Locally, her production of The Food Chain at the Circle Theatre in Fort Worth was named as one of the “Top Ten Productions of 2000″ by The Dallas Morning News. Hayes also received the Austin Circle of Critics Award for Best Director–Drama in 1995.

About Vincent in Brixton

What: Vincent in Brixton — Presented by the University of North Texas Department of Dance and Theatre. Written by Nicholas Wright. Directed by Marjorie Hayes, UNT associate professor.

When: 8 p.m. Nov. 6-7 (Friday-Saturday)
2:30 p.m. Nov. 8 (Sunday)
8 p.m. Nov. 11-14 (Wednesday – Saturday)

Where: Studio Theatre in the RTFP Building, corner of Welch and Chestnut streets

Cost: $10 for general public; $7.50 for students, UNT faculty/staff and seniors

Contact: 940-565-2428 or Metro 817-267-3731, ext. 2428. Box office hours are 1-5 p.m. Monday-Friday.

From left to right, Mandy Fason as Ursula Loyer, Cody Lucas as Vincent van Gogh and Jessica Severance as Eugenie Loyer in Vincent in Brixton. Photo credit: Amanda Breaz/UNT

Crowd at The MAC Members Exhibit, 2009 (photo by Mr. Holga)

The McKinney Avenue Contemporary (MAC) held the opening reception for their annual Membership Exhibit this past Saturday, Aug. 1, 2009, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The MAC is celebrating fifteen years and so the theme for the reception and art was also fifteen. The exhibit displays works from 174 artists which will be available for viewing through Aug. 29.

The opening reception was a Quinceanera party with birthday cake and other Mexican finger foods. The MAC female staff dressed in evening gowns. The male staff wore Cuban shirts with neckerchiefs. One very dapper looking gent wore a white fedora and three-piece suit with a cane and dark sunglasses. Not sure if he was part of the staff.

The art was supposed to continue the theme of fifteen and while some artists can obviously count, others just submitted a work. Most of the art was mixed-media but also included painting, photography and sculpture.

The beauty of an exhibit like this is that you never know what you are going to get. And true to form there were some very far-out works right next to some down-to-earth pieces. Some mixed-media materials included wish bones, fuses, doll parts, yarn, action figures and tissues. Most of the works are for sale up to $5,000.

Be sure to check out The MAC Membership Exhibit 2009 before it closes Aug. 29.

Dearly Departed, 1994 by M.C. Roman, 2009

I am not a whiner, but …

Everything I said above is true. The MAC put on a very nice opening reception and I highly recommend the exhibit, especially because my work is on display.

But I do have some complaints.

The first being that I put over fifteen hours into carving the largest linoleum block print of my life and I don’t think the audience got it. My print was of fifteen dead celebrities form 1994, which was fifteen years ago. I should get extra points for a double fifteen.

The problem was that most of the people on my block print have long since been forgotten. Some of the depicted were old anyways and probably considered deceased long before the 90s.

Okay, I can get past this.

What I can’t get past is that my work was floored. That means it was hung too low to be fully appreciated. The children attending the opening had a great view, but most of them weren’t born fifteen years ago. It would have been nice to see my work without stooping or squatting, which is something you do while camping.

It’s okay. Breath in. Breath out.

This was the first time my art has been exhibited in Dallas. I can learn from my mistakes. No, really I can. I’ll just have to depict departed souls who are a little fresher next time.

Full Disclosure

Michael Roman submitted Dearly Departed, 1994, a 9 x 12 inch linoleum block print, to this exhibit. As an avid reader of Dallas Art News, you should feel compelled to find out where you can obtain a print for your art collection. Cheers!

Phallus Shurzzz by Mary Benedicto

Quince Velas by Nancy Ferro

Coats and Fuses by Scott Johnson

Quincenera Alter by Liz London

Paisley Day #2 by Steve Prachyl

Inspired by photography? Have a secret pickle recipe? Good with a sewing machine? If so, consider submitting your original creation in one of the numerous State Fair of Texas creative arts competitions – quickly. Registration for the 2009 contests is well under way. The final date to submit entry forms and fees for this year’s events has been set as July 31 by 5:00 pm. Registration will not be accepted after this date.

The State Fair is pleased to offer more than 1100 categories in 12 departments to be entered and judged before the fair begins. Departments include: art, ceramics, dolls, food, hobby collections, needlework, and scale modeling. Entries for these departments may be dropped off at the creative arts building August 14, 15, or 16, during normal business hours. Only one entry per person may be submitted in each category.

During the fair, 24 contests judge the skill and creativity of Texans who think they have what it takes to bring the blue ribbon home. From the “glue-a-shoe” contest, in which entrants decorate an old heel or running shoe with ornate objects, to the “guess what’s cook’n” contest sponsored by Central Market, where amateur chefs are provided with a mystery bag full of ingredients to create any culinary dish possible, each day brings an exciting competition fairgoers will surely enjoy. Cash prizes are awarded in certain competitions.

For more information and to download a copy of the 2009 creative arts competition handbook, visit us at www.bigtex.com/creativearts/competitionhandbook . The State Fair of Texas runs September 25 thru October 18.

The name will be Summer Place Park and admission will be $30.The expansion will cost the State Fair of Texas an estimated $20 million. That’s a lot of corny-dogs between now and 2013, when the new facility will open.

Tell Dallas Art News what you think about Summer Place Park. Please comment on this post.