Saturday, February 26, 2011

COEVOLUATIONARY EXTINCTION: SKETCH FOR A FAIRY TALE

Plush Gallery installation by Claudia Borgna
(in collaboration w/U.T. Dallas' CentralTrak residency program)

Kids from Commerce

PLUSH GALLERY
Val Curry * Ambrea Dean * Eric de Llamas * Sam England * Daniel Kurt
(w/a special video documentary by Matthew Armstrong)

February 26 - March 26, 2011
opening reception Saturday 02/26 6-9 pm




Val Curry 'becky', 2011, enamel on wood/plastic

 Sam England, 'Santa', 2010-11, detail

Daniel Kurt, 'Hares in the Pea Patch' and 'Jealous Again'


Plush Gallery presents a group exhibition of current students from Texas A&M at Commerce, entitled "Kids from Commerce". Featuring undergraduate members of the campus Art Club, the exhibition highlights painting, mixed media, and sculpture.
Long known as a breeding ground for emerging contemporary artists, the university has turned out such notable figures as Gary Panter, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Robyn O'Neill, Lawrence Lee, Martin Delabano, Greg Metz, and John Pomara, among many others. The current crop of young artists is a testimony to the free-wheeling experimental nature of the school.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Iron Sides at Collin County Community College

I made my first trip to the Collin County Community College Art Gallery to see Luke Sides exhibition "Iron Sides". Sides is the college's Professor of Art/ Sculpture and Chair of the Art department. I am glad I made the 70 mile round-trip to see the wide-range of Sides work. The work ran the gamut in materials and subject matter.  



 My favorite - "Ding Dong", 2010.  Have the pop art influence happening in this photo.

Iron Boar, 2010

Sunday, February 20, 2011

NEST

Featuring Michael Mazurek and Jesse Morgan Barnett
at Bows and Arrows
February 19-March 23, 2011
...
Bows and Arrows presents “Nest” featuring Michael Mazurek and Jesse Morgan Barnett, curated by Anne Lawrence, opening Saturday, February 19, 2011, 6-9 p.m. The exhibition will include site-specific installations by each artist.

“Nest” centers on the question how do artists respond to having a child? While feminist and conceptual artist Mary Kelly’s seminal “Post-Partum Documents” tracked the evidence of the child with forensic precision creating a subtle narrative of the mother’s relationship with the growing child, Mazurek and Barnett, both fathers, are each known for their elaborate constructions and installations; thus turning away from the processes of the body towards the process of making and building.

By changing the physical space of the room, they are reordering the spatial experience. New parents, like other animals, are hit with a powerful urge to create a safe place for the birth and infancy of their offspring. This need to “nest” goes beyond cleaning clutter and nursery decorating often giving way to a process of self-reflection and evaluation of the pre-child state. There is a need to put the house in order, literally and metaphorically.

Michael Mazurek

After the birth of his first child, Mazurek was motivated to make a dramatic change. Quitting his full-time job he enrolled in graduate school, first in architecture, then fine arts. Mazurek’s work has shown a strong inclination toward building and construction evolving into complex, even chaotic, structures of ever increasing size, with strong references to architecture and theatrical stage-setting. Mazurek stated, “I returned to art and chose this path very specifically due to the birth of my daughter. The clarity of that moment still amazes me. She put everything in perspective, practically immediately.”


Jesse Morgan Barnett



Barnett’s work bridges photography, video, installation, and performance. In this exhibition he will present a video and sound-piece laced with a fetal heartbeat along with a site-specific installation. As he explained just a few days before the birth of his son in mid-January, “Coping with both biological and artistic creativity occurring at the same time is challenging and stimulating.”

Mazurek and Barnett will both receive their Master of Fine Arts from University of Texas at Arlington in 2011. Lawrence is expecting her first child sometime in early March. The image on the postcard is of her sonogram taken January 25. Bows and Arrows is located at 1925 Greenville Avenue, Dallas Texas 75206. Open Wednesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. The exhibition will be on view February 19-March 23, 2011.

Contact:
Anne Lawrence, anneelizabethlawrence@gmail.com

Bows and Arrows is part floral emporium, part art gallery, and part craft bazaar run by Alicia and Adam Rico. Voted Best Florist for 2011 by D Home Magazine, they are currently using the space next to the shop as an alternative art annex.

Bows and Arrows
1925 Greenville Avenue, Dallas Texas 75206
Open Wednesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
214-828-2697
info@bowsandarrowsdeluxe.com

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Iron Sides

Showing: February 7 - 26
Reception: Wednesday,
February 16, 4:00 - 7:00 p.m.


A one man show by Collin College Sculpture Professor Luke Sides.


Sides deftly chooses and melds his materials and his subject matter and once synergized, both take on new content and meaning for the viewer. Sides further examines material and content through the exploration of installations and the use of found objects.


THE ARTS gallery
Collin College
Spring Creek Campus
Room A175

Friday, February 11, 2011

Ritual: Part 1 - DRAFT VERSION from Matthew Armstrong on Vimeo.



Ritual will encompass a collaborative project by Ambrea Dean, Sam England, Matthew Armstrong, Chelsea Criss, Val Curry, Catie Hann, and many other East Texas artists. Physically the project is existing as an unlimited art, one that contains 3-D elements and well as 2-D elements, and metaphorically the project emits a feeling of ultimate self-sacrifice.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Future of Museums

Tracy Hicks has been asked to create an installation on the future of natural history museums and the influence of natural history museums on the future of the earth for the May 2011 American Associate of Museums convention in Houston.



The installation will evolve online beginning in March 2011.