Big and Bright: New Work From Texas - Press Release

Thursday, January 26 at 11:00am at Southwestern College, Chula Vista, CA

"Big and Bright: New Work from Texas" January 26, 2012- February 21, 2012 Southwestern College Art Gallery Opening Receptions Thursday January 26 11-1 & 6-8 SWC Art Gallery Artist Talks Sponsored by the SWC Foundation Thursday January 26 12 PM featuring Matthew Bourbon & Vincent Falsetta .

The Southwestern College Art Gallery presents "Big and Bright: New Work from Texas", curated by Jessica McCambly . With the title taken from the song, “Deep in the Heart of Texas”, this exhibition is a regional survey that highlights the diverse range of work being created in Texas today. Despite the massive size of the state of Texas, there is a close community that exists amongst the artists who live and work across the state. They know each other.. or of each other.. and are usually fans of each other. The strength of this community of artists and the scene that they contribute to seems to defy the obvious geography that physically isolates them from the LA/NY art centers. With the presence of strong academic programs along with the support of regional cultural institutions, artist-run spaces, commercial galleries and virtual, cultural outlets that bridge the distance, these artists work and interact within unique and fertile conditions. This, along with the prevailing ethos, results in a vibrant and important art scene filled with complex and distinct work that stretches across Texas.  

  

Featuring work by: 

John Adelman * Susan Barnett * Iris Bechtol * Christine Bisetto * Paul Booker * Matthew Bourbon * Candace Briceno * Jim Burton * Rodolfo Choperena * Matt Clark * Shelby Cunningham * C.J. Davis * Eric Eley * Vincent Falsetta * Thomas Feulmer * Garland Fielder * Anna Fritzel-Shows * John Frost * Lily Hanson * Stephen Lapthisophon * Annette Lawrence * Dameon Lester * M * Margaret Meehan * Renee Nunez * Kim Cadmus Owens * Harmony Padgett * John Pomara * Ryder Richards * Rusty Scruby * Noah Simblist * Charlotte Smith * Terri Thornton * David Willburn * Sarah WIlliams

 

Curated by:

Jessica McCambly A graduate of the University of North Texas, College of Visual Arts and Design and former Texas artist, Curator Jessica McCambly is an artist currently living and working in San Diego, California. She also serves as Assistant Professor of Art at Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa, California.   

Four Houston Gallery Shows for Oct-Nov

Genius-Loci-Villa, 70" x 70" x 8"

McMurtrey Gallery presents a solo exhibition of Texas artist Beverly Penn.  Penn casts from local flowers and plants to create lush bronze sculptures that reflect the Texas landscape.

detail

Twin,70" x 70" x 6"

Several of Penn's sculptures span almost 9 feet and feel almost as big as Texas itself. Penn recently had a solo exhibition at the Grace Museum in Abilene, Texas.

McMurtrey recently converted the former frame gallery into a new 'micro space' gallery.  Jean Wetta's oil paintings were on exhibit.

New York, New York, oil on multi-media board, 11" x 28" x 1"

Light on the Far Field, oil on multi-media board, 11" x 28" x 1" 

 

There were five of these lush little Jean Wetta paintings in the mircro space.

Sarah Williams, La Plata Winter, oil on canvas, 12" x 12", 2011

McMurtrey had this little Sarah Williams painting up in the back room.  I love the way she captures light in night time landscapes.  Williams currently has a solo exhibition up at the Galveston Art Center that I wish I had the time to run down to see.  Both Beverly Penn and Jean Wetta's exhibits are up through November 23.

I stopped in at John Cleary Gallery to see the Susan Burnstine photographs.  I didn't take pictures because a) I don't like to photograph photography for the possible copyright infringements, and b) the glass on the frames usually makes it too difficult anyway.  These are lovely atmospheric black and white photos of city scenes in New York and Chicago.  The black and white photography and the effects blur our vision creating dreamlike images.  Many of the photos were shot so that the horizon line is very low leaving us with the jagged edge of the top of the skyline verging on disquieting cloudscapes. This exhibition is up through November 26.

Kari Russell-Pool and Marc Petrovic, Banded Vessel Series - Flower Diatom, blown glass and lampwork, 17" x 10.5" 

Kari Russell-Pool, Tea Party, lampwork glass, 8" x 15" x 7.5"

Kari Russell-Pool, Aromatic Amphora #3, lampwork glass

Hooks-Epstein Gallery is currently exhibiting assemblage works by Ward Sanders through November 23.  In the back room of the gallery I found these three blown and lampwork glass vessels created by Kari Russell-Pool.  I could find no other information on Russell-Pool other than she lives and works in Connecticut and she also shows at a glass gallery in Nantucket, Ma.

Goldesberry Gallery presents works by Holly Wilson through November 26. 

Holly Wilson, Almost There, bronze, wood, sterling silver

Holly Wilson, On a Limb, bronze, wood, sterling silver

Wilson casts the birds on these sculptures from silver to represent the precious aspect of burdens in our lives, or as Wilson explains "birdens".

Goldesberry also represents a large group of ceramic artists.  I don't find many galleries in the south and southeastern US states that exhibit fine crafts such as ceramics, glass, or wood like I have found in many galleries in the northwestern states.

Diana Kersey, Platypus Jar, ceramic

This vessel caught my eye in the backroom ceramics gallery at Goldesberry.  Diana Kersey lives and works in San Antonio, but I see that she received her MFA in ceramics at Washington State University.

Susan Giller, Standing Raku Cats, raku ceramics

I recognized Susan Giller's raku cats almost immediately even though they were standing on a lower shelf.  I visited Giller's studio a few weeks ago along the White Rock Lake Artists Studio Tour and she had a few of these sculptures out.

drawings, sketches, and sculptures in Giller's studio - notice the raku cats at bottom right

Heather Gorham on the left also visiting the studio of Susan Giller who is dressed in black to the right of Heather.