Fall is underway and art spaces across East Texas have begun to debut their new exhibitions. From Wichita Falls to Beaumont, read about shows that have recently opened or that will be opening soon.
Forward Facing: A Look at Contemporary Portraiture at the Tyler Museum of Art
Last month, the Tyler Museum of Art opened Forward Facing: A Look at Contemporary Portraiture featuring Texas-based artists Raul Rene Gonzalez, Guadalupe Hernandez, Delita Martin, and Yasuyo Maruyama. Though portraiture has been a significant genre throughout art history, these four artists each bring their own unique take on the form.
San Antonio-based Raul Rene Gonzalez’s work addresses the balance between work and family, highlighting artists who are caregivers. Houston-based Guadalupe Hernandez also focuses on family and labor but uses a paper-cutting technique inspired by the tradition of papel picado. Delita Martin, who is based in Huffman, focuses on the representation of Black women. Yasuyo Maruyama, in Wichita Falls, creates more straightforward portraits that walk a line between photorealism and soft, ethereal depictions.
Forward Facing: A Look at Contemporary Portraiture will be on view through December 1, 2024.
The Stafford Collection at the Museum of East Texas
Also in August, the Museum of East Texas opened an exhibition featuring 146 paintings by 48 artists. The Stafford Collection showcases works from the private collection of Lufkinite Harry Stafford and family. The collection spans centuries and various subject matters. Some artists included in the exhibition are Frank Moss Bennett, Ricardo López Cabrera, Nancy Glazier, Andrew Orr, and Jie-Wie Zhou.
The Stafford Collection is on view through October 18, 2024.
Juan de Dios Mora
Earlier this month the Texarkana Regional Arts & Humanities Council (TRAHC) opened Juan de Dios Mora: Y A Darle Gas. Having grown up in Laredo, the San Antonio-based printmaker makes work about the economic, social, and cultural issues of life on the border.
A statement on the TRAHC website explained, “Using a surrealistic approach, Mora portrays characters interacting with customized devices and vehicles that are created to facilitate the daily life, duties, responsibilities, obligations, and entertaining events of the operators. Though ramshackle, decked out, or shabby in appearance, the structure of each device shows the ingenuity and capability of the characters and their will to survive. Mora’s intention is to make a social comment on a culture that frequently has to rely on their surroundings to survive.”
Juan De Dios Mora: Y A Darle Gas will be on view through November 16, 2024.
Nikita Coulombe, “Your Time Will Come,” oil on canvas, 40 x 40 x 2 inches.
Also this month, the Wichita Falls Museum of Art (WFMA) opened Birds in Art 2023, an exhibition that debuted at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wisconsin last year. The annual show brings together contemporary interpretations of birds and related subject matter. Throughout the fall, WFMA will host events around the exhibition, including an evening of talks, a mosaic website, and story time in the galleries.
Birds in Art 2023 will be on view through December 7, 2024
William Downs: Truth in Body at the Martin Museum of Art
Later this month the Martin Museum of Art in Waco will debut William Downs: Truth in Body, a solo exhibition by an Atlanta-based artist.
In a statement, Mr. Downs said, “I want my work to speak the truth. With this, I find pleasure in admiring and studying human behavior. Drawing while traveling, from everyday life, and from dreams, keeping a visual record of the interactions I observe between others and within my own psychology. By using the figure as a foundation, I build bodies and landscapes with lines and layering of lines.”
William Downs: Truth in Body will be on view from September 17, ,through December 22, 2024. An opening reception will be held on Tuesday, September 17, from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Harry Ahysen
In October, the Art Museum of Southeast Texas will present Harry Ahysen: Devices for Study, the first posthumous retrospective of the artist’s work. Born in Port Arthur, Mr. Ahysen spent most of his life in Texas. He served as a professor at Sam Houston State University and was named the State Artist of Texas in 1980. The exhibition will feature landscapes and seascapes from private collections and institutions across Texas.
Harry Ahysen: Devices for Study will be on view from October 5, through December 8, 2024. An opening reception will be held on Friday, October 11, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
