By Chip Chandler — Digital Content Producer
New art exhibitions at Cerulean and West Texas A&M University top this roundup of arts news.
Sculptures by Patrick Martin
Everyday objects take on new forms and meanings in a new exhibition of glass sculptures by artist Patrick Martin.
The exhibition is on view through Oct. 3 in Mary Moody Northen Hall Gallery at West Texas A&M University. A reception and lecture will take place from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday.
"A lot of my work has sociopolitical themes based on current events — racism, the proliferation of violence, especially gun violence," Martin said. "There's even one piece about the Iraq War and America's treatment of war prisoners and how we torture and capture prisoners and take them around the world."
Martin, who studied history and economics in college, said he has always been drawn to social issues, and his glassworks (made with glass blowing, cold working and glass gluing) reflect those interests.
"It's really about what makes me tick," Martin said. "A lot of these themes are issues I've been working on for a long time because they keep recurring. Nothing seems to make them go away."
On Edge, Part 1
Artists Sarah Atlee, Fritz Danner, Nic Noblique and Victoria Taylor-Gore will push boundaries in a new show opening Friday at Cerulean Gallery.
On Edge, Part 1 features "rich, dark pallets, hard lines and rough edges that, overall, reflect an intensity in each body of work," gallery founder Caroline Kneese said in a news release.
"Everything will be very edgy, somewhat dark, and heavy visually and literally," Kneese said.
The artists, all Texas based, work in gouche on paper, oils, acrylic on canvas, mixed media and powder-coated steel.
Atlee, an Austin artist, reimagines still lifes for the digital age with her vibrant acrylics. Danner, who works in Amarillo, said he enjoys finding unusual patterns and similarities in unrelated objects. Noblique, a sculptor, said he is drawn to rusted patinas and stainless steel in his work. And Taylor-Gore, chair of the Amarillo College Visual Arts and Design department, distorts simplified architectural and landscape forms.
The exhibition will open with a 6 p.m. Friday reception at the gallery, 2762 Duniven Circle. A portion of proceeds of opening-night sales will benefit Panhandle PBS.
George Shackelford: Becoming Monet
The evolution of one of the most influential French impressionists will be explored in the 2016 Ladd Lecture from Amarillo Museum of Art.
In his lecture Becoming Monet, George Shackelford, deputy director of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, will discuss artist Claude Monet's early career, from his first exhibition in 1858 to the initial explosion of impressionism in 1872. Those years are featured in Monet: The Early Years, an exhibition opening Oct. 16 that he has organized for the Kimbell.
The free lecture begins at 7 p.m. Sept. 22 in the Amarillo College Concert Hall Theatre on the Washington Street campus. A pre-lecture cocktail buffet begins at 6 p.m. at the museum; admission is $40.
AMoA will highlight the French Impressionist movement in an upcoming exhibition, Achievement in Art: The Collection of Montgomery H.W. Ritchie, opening Jan. 29.
Call 806-371-5050.
Amarillo Art Institute workshops
A pair of upcoming workshops at Amarillo Art Institute will highlight the changing seasons.
Mike LaFleur will teach participants how to create a Halloween house in clay at a 6 p.m. Sept. 22 workshop at the institute, located inside The Galleries at Sunset Center, 3701 Plains Blvd. Students will return in October to glaze the house. Cost is $75.
Then, painter Lorenzo Chavez will lead a plein air workshop on landscape fundamentals in pastel and oil Oct. 14 to 16 at Palo Duro Canyon.
Chavez has participated in several national invitational and International group exhibitions including the Pastel Society of America in New York, Pastel Society of Spain, Pastel Society of France, Artists of America Show in Denver, Rims to Ruins Exhibition and more.
Cost is $400, and a $100 deposit is required to reserve a spot.
Call 806-354-8802, and check the institute's website for other upcoming classes.
Pastel Poet of the Texas Plains
A film on a pioneering Texas artist will be screened as part of an ongoing joint exhibition between Amarillo Museum of Art and Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum.
Pastel Poet of the Texas Plains will screen at 6 p.m. Sept. 29 at AMoA, 2200 S. Van Buren St.
The film, by director Marla Fields, focuses on Frank Reaugh, one of the state's earliest and most distinguished artists.
Following the screening, Fields will join Michael Grauer, PPHM's associate director of curatorial affairs and curator of art and Western heritage, and Alex Gregory, AMoA curator of art, for a roundtable discussion. Grauer also will sign copies of his biography of Reaugh.
Admission is $10 or free for AMoA and PPHM members, West Texas A&M University faculty and staff, and Amarillo College faculty and staff. Seating is limited, and reservations can be made here.
Chip Chandler is a digital content producer for Panhandle PBS. He can be contacted at Chip.Chandler@actx.edu, at @chipchandler1 on Twitter and at www.facebook.com/chipchandlerwriter on Facebook.
