Artists in New Stories: New Voices. From left: Jessica Fuentes, Letitia Huckaby, Sedrick Huckaby, Angela Faz, Raul Rodriguez, Jin-Ya Huang, Ciara Bryant, Bernardo Vallarino, Jeff Gibbons and Nick Bontrager.
Fort Worth Public Art’s upcoming video installations on Pioneer Tower at Will Rogers Coliseum will now be accompanied by a new exhibition at the base of the structure. The Arts Council of Fort Worth and Dallas-based AURORA — the public arts, technology and community organization — are partnering on the exhibition titled New Stories: New Futures. The Pioneer Tower installation, which we featured as a top pick amongst upcoming spring show in Texas, was curated by DooEun Choi, and features work by international artists Refik Anadol and Quayola.
Rendering of Refik Anadol’s video installation “Pioneer Tower Dreams.”
New Stories: New Futures curator Dr. Lauren Cross selected ten artists for the show, including the artist couple Sedrick and Letitia Huckaby, and had this to say when contacted by Glasstire about the artists and works she selected:
“While engaging in the curatorial research for the exhibition, I became inspired by the Pioneer Tower Project and its ambitions to tell stories that represent all of Fort Worth. I was interested in how I might translate that similar idea at a local-level within the exhibition and feature artists who use diverse approaches as a reflection of their lived experiences and their art. These are also conversations that I have had the opportunity to be a part of with other artists and citizens in Fort Worth for a number of years so I knew there was a community of people who were interested in exploring stories about our communities in different ways.
“All of the artists chosen for the exhibition are artists who have very strong artistic voices that tell their own unique experiences and that challenge us to open up and consider realities that might not look like our own. I was intentional about bringing artists together from diverse backgrounds, experiences, and making to be in conversation with one another. Curating from a critical, post-colonial, and cross-cultural approach has always been the hallmark of my style. Too often we are restricted from communicating with one another across differences and I believe that exhibitions are where interconnections can happen. New Stories, New Futures is the culmination of a culturally-interrelated approach, and is especially celebratory of the artists I have come to know both in Fort Worth and within the North Texas region. The featured artists share stories in their work of people, themselves, and experiences that are often hidden or overlooked.”
The complete list of artists on in the New Stories:New Futures exhibition is Nick Bontrager, Ciara Elle Bryant, Angela Faz, Jessica Fuentes, Jeff Gibbons, Jin-Ya Huang, Letitia and Sedrick Huckaby, Raul Rodriguez, and Bernardo Vallarino.
Glasstire contacted some of the artists in New Stories for a sneak peek into what to expect from the show next month.
Preliminary sketches by Angela Faz.
Angela Faz sent us a preliminary sketch and some of her thoughts about what she is working on. She writes: “This new site-specific installation builds on my work with the Future Monuments project called “Welcome to the Great Arkikosa” [the native American name for what is now called the Trinity River], where I invited the viewer to a not-so-distant future destination in Dallas along the Arkikosa in Dallas. It explores the memory of the Arkikosa and its tributaries and was inspired by Toni Morrison’s quote ‘All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.’ The river connects us to the past, present, and future. This projection aims to activate the river’s spirit through printmaking animations, sound, and vibrant pops of color to invite the viewer to engage with the river and its history.”
A work in progress by artist Jessica Fuentes for the upcoming exhibition New Stories, New Futures.
Jessica Fuentes, in an email to Glasstire about what she is planning for the exhibition, writes, “I’m beyond excited about being a part of the New Futures exhibition and it feels like a dream to be exhibited beside artists like the Huckabys, Ciara Bryant, Nick Bontrager, and Angela Faz. Of course, I’m thrilled to have Raul and Bernardo as a part of the project too, as in a lot of ways I feel we have come up together. I am in the early stages of putting a new video piece together that will be a part of my newest series, under the southern cross. In a 2016 solo exhibition at Gallery 76102 I had video projected on an installation of white furniture. Since then I have wanted to get back to that work, so the video I’m creating is also a next step from that piece.”
About his work in the exhibition, Jeff Gibbons writes to Glasstire: “The installation will be directly related to my recent drive around the country, the serendipitous and interconnectedness of everything, and how safety/comfort relates to coping and happiness. How a lack of control over the dangers of living is amplified tenfold when we don’t have enough money to protect ourselves. And just how delicate, beautiful, and terrifying it is to move through life in the company of people who want to hurt you for their own gains, and people who would give everything to you out of love.”
The short-run exhibition will be free to the public and on view on the evenings of August 20 and 21 between 9PM and 1AM. Reservations are required for the free tickets (the price of admission is automatically discounted to $0.00 at checkout), which can be obtained here.
For more on Fort Worth’s Public Art program, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary year, please go here.
