500 MAIN Spring 2015 Newsletter WILL-AMELIA STERNS PRICE: Mike’s Road to Taos (April 25, 2015 – September 6, 2015) Opening Reception: Friday, May 1 The Art Museum of Southeast Texas is honored to present, Will-Amelia Sterns Price: Mike’s Road to Taos, a retrospective exhibition of Sterns Price’s oeuvre (b. 1907 – d. 1995), giving attention, in particular, to her time in Taos and the lasting influence the “Land of Enchantment” left on the artist. Sterns Price was an artist in every sense of the word, Will-Amelia Sterns Price, The Gorge, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches, 1983, Collection of Gregg K. Price seamlessly moving throughout her career between subjects and styles, striving for a heightened sense of naturalism in her landscapes and focusing on the lyrical play of light and shadow over the arid desert moun- tains. These principles were instilled in her the summer of 1934 in Taos, when she studied under lauded artist of the Southwest, Walter Ufer. Sterns Price devoted the rest of her life to creating art, and cites her time in Taos (where she lived from 1967 – 1986) as her most formative years. This exhibition celebrates the life of Sterns Price, a truly modern woman who forged her way not only in the Taos art community, but also made a career for herself in Beaumont, founding the Beaumont Art League (1943) and co-founding the Beaumont Art Museum (1950, now AMSET). In conjunction with this exhibition, AMSET has published a full color catalogue featuring accounts of Sterns Price’s life written by her grandson, Stanley K. Price, as well as letters by Sterns Price, viv- idly capturing her life as an artist and the influence of Taos and Ufer on her career. This catalogue and exhibition serves as the most comprehensive examination to date of the artist’s life, high- lighting her importance to early Texas art and impact on the current artistic climate of Southeast Texas. ABSTRACTION: Selections from the Permanent Collection (April 25, 2015 – September 6, 2015) Opening Reception: Friday, May 1 This exhibition highlights the strength and diversity of the museum’s permanent collection with a focus on abstract works donated to and acquired by the museum over the years. From Texas modernists, such as Arthur Turner and Dorothy Hood, to abstract works by contemporary artists, such as Beili Liu and Dan Rizzie, AMSET strives to collect and exhibit significant works showcasing the breadth and originality of Texas art. The abstract works featured in this exhibition not only highlight the variety of AMSET’s collecting scope, but also laud the prowess of Lone Star artists, constantly Richard Stout, Seiche #2, acrylic on canvas, 50 x 50 inches, 1956, striving for a heightened Gift of John Millington, PC 2000.02.02 sense of originality and sophistication in their work. Through their fresh vision and exploration of ideas, the featured artists come together in their varied approaches, collectively showing the prowess and vitality of abstraction in our great state. Café Arts LEONARDO CASTILLO: Revelations (March 26 - May 31, 2015) A native of Mexico City, Beaumont resident Leonardo Castillo began drawing at a young age and cites the work of Mexican muralist Jose Clemente Orozco as one of his earliest influences. In 2002, Castillo enrolled at the National School of Arts in Xochimilco-Mexico, where he fervently pursued his artist career, taking classes in numerous fields including painting, metal sculpture and ceramics. In this exhibition, Castillo includes recent art from the past couple of years, featuring the depth and variety of his artistic approach. While most of the works in this exhibition are made with acrylics, many include other media, such as cardboard, and show his ability to incorporate texture and collage into his work. Castillo’s abstract expressionist style is vibrant and whimsical, showing his bravura and ability to express ideas with color and line. Leonardo Castillo, The Protector, mixed media, 30 x 24 inches , 2015, Loan Courtesy of the Artist *FALL PREVIEW* ORNA FEINSTEIN: Now and Zen - Fifteen Years of Contemporary Printmaking (September 25 - November 29, 2015) Opening Reception: Friday, September 25 This fall, AMSET will launch a dynamic exhibition season featuring recent works by two contemporary artists known for their highly original and spirited abstract art. Orna Feinstein, who currently resides and works in Houston, received her BFA from the University of Houston in 2008. Feinstein specializes in monoprints, sculptures and site-specific installations, and in this exhibition, will be sharing work from the last fifteen years of her career with Southeast Texas audiences. Her artworks are vivid and dimensional, engaging the viewer’s senses as shapes and lines shift before us, integrating two and three dimensions through her amalgamation of colors, lines, shapes and textures. Orna Feinstein, Twisted, 3D monoprint on Feinstein will also work with the AMSET Plexiglas, metal frame and hardware, 84 x 48 x curatorial department to create a site-specific 26 inches, 2012, Collection of the Artist installation for her exhibition. This instillation will engage the viewer as they are surrounded by Feinstein’s work, making audience participation an integral part of the exhibition experience. This fall 2015, we welcome Hou- *FALL PREVIEW* ston artist Michael Kennaugh for his first solo exhibition at AMSET. Ken- MICHAEL KENNAUGH: naugh currently lives and works in Recent Works Houston, but was born in Casper, Wyoming. He moved to Texas in 1965, (September 25 - November 29, 2015) and graduated from Lamar University in Beaumont with his BFA in 1986 and from the University of North Texas in Denton with his MFA in 1990. Kennaugh is known for his large, painterly abstract canvases with arabesque forms that lyrically sweep across the plane. Firmly grounded in drawing as his foundation, Kennaugh builds on these initial lines and creates shapes through an additive and sub- tractive process. He further develops his compositions with decisive and layered applications of grisaille tones and color hues as demanded by the shapes, yielding a physically invigorating and dynamic creation. This exhibition will feature many new works on canvas, as well as selected drawings and sculptures, which are Michael Kennaugh, Beneath the Waves, oil on canvas, akin to Kennaugh’s paintings in their 40 x 60 inches, 2015, Loan Courtesy of Moody Gallery focus on line, shape and form. Permanent Collection Spotlight DAN RIZZIE - Untitled This handsome collage by Dan Rizzie is a recent acquisition into AMSET’s permanent collection gifted by artist David Bates. Rizzie is known for his collage works featuring vibrant colors, shapes and patterns, often including ref- erences to flora and fauna. This collage, in particular, is visually stimulating in its colorful and bal- anced composition, incorporating bold type text balanced by calli- graphic scribbles, rough and smooth textures in contrast to decorative patterns, and geomet- ric shapes in conjunction with the organic, budding rose jutting out from the lower right hand corner. Although the work is small, it is powerful in its simplicity and en- gages the viewer in its intimacy. Rizzie was born in Poughkeep- sie, New York in 1951, and cur- rently lives and works in New York. He received his BFA from Hendrix College in Conway, Ar- kansas (1973) and his MFA from Southern Methodist University in DAN RIZZIE, Untitled, 1989, mixed media collage, Gift of David Dallas, Texas (1975). His work has Bates been featured in numerous solo and group shows at museums and galleries throughout the nation, including the Dallas Museum of Art in Dallas, the El Paso Museum of Art in El Paso and Flatbed Press in Austin. He has led a prolific career and continues to create and exhibit his work. Numerous museums and institutions throughout the nation hold his work in their permanent collections, including the Dallas Museum of Art and Southern Meth- odist University in Dallas, the Witte Museum in San Antonio, El Paso Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art in New York. AMSET is honored to join ranks with these prestigious institutions and sends our sincerest gratitude to our museum donors for their generous contributions to our permanent collection. Part of our mission at AMSET is to support and acquire works by artists living and working in, or with a connection to, Texas. Dan Rizzie is one of many key artists that spent time in Texas, but is also well-known on a more national scale. We depend on the generous support of our museum patrons and donors to assist in building our collection, and are constantly looking to diversify and strengthen our growing permanent collection. We continue to raise funds through annual gala auctions, grants and contributions. Please contact the museum at 409-832-3432 if you would like more information on how you can help us meet our goals. gARTage Sale 2015 Set for May 15 & 16, 2015 WANTED: YOUR ARTWORK, ARTBOOKS, OFFICE SUPPLIES, OR ANY OTHER HOME-DÉCOR RELATED ITEMS YOU WANT TO DONATE TO AMSET’s gARTage Sale! For your donation you’ll get a $5.00 discount on the gARTage Sale pre-shopping dinner, an itemized receipt, 10% on items you buy (excluding the silent auction) and a good conscious knowing you are contributing to one of your favorite non-profits. All donations support exhibition and education programs and are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. WHO: Chaired by Colleen Burns, Tam Kiehnhoff and Suzanne Garrett WHAT: BARGAINS GALORE – AMSET gARTage Sale WHEN: WE ARE CURRENTLY ACCEPTING DONATIONS - mp WHEN WHEN: 6 p.m., Friday May 15th - Pre sale dinner and Silent Auction – 7 a.m., Saturday, May 16th - Public Sale COST: Dinner is $30 or $25 if you donate to the sale 10% discount to those who donated items (excluding silent auction) *HUGE DISCOUNTS AFTER 10 a.m.