January 7 - March 9, 2023
From the Art Museum of Southeast Texas:
“The Art Museum of Southeast Texas (AMSET) will present James C. Watkins: Reflections Made of Memories on view January 7 through March 19, 2023. James C. Watkins (b. 1951) is a ceramicist living in Lubbock, Texas. His career in the arts spans over 40 years. He is well-known for his unique and pioneering firing techniques, as well as his mastery of building large double-walled vessels. His ceramic pieces are inspired by his experiences growing up in the rural south. It was here, he assisted his mother and grandmother in their cleaning and food-making endeavors by keeping the fire burning under their cast-iron pots. Lubbock’s agricultural industries, particularly in cotton-growing, also inspire Watkins. In 1973, Watkins graduated from Kansas City Art Institute with a BFA in Ceramics and Drawing. He went on to earn an MFA in Ceramics from Indiana University-Bloomington in 1977. Watkins is currently the Paul Whitfield Horn Professor Emeritus in the College of Architecture at Texas Tech University (Lubbock, Texas), where he taught Architectural Ceramics and Architectural Drawing for over thirty years. His work has been exhibited in 40 solo exhibitions and 164 group exhibitions. In 2019, he received the Texas Master Award from the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. This retrospective will include new artwork, demonstrating many of Watkins’ innovative and pioneering firing techniques and processes. A free Family Arts Day will take place in conjunction with this exhibition on Saturday, February 11, 2023 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Join us for the opening reception of James C. Watkins: Reflections Made of Memories on Friday, January 13, 2023, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. Drinks and light refreshments will be served, with a brief gallery talk at 7:15 p.m. with the artist and his essayist Joshua Green, Executive Director of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts. For more information on this exhibition, visit www.amset.org or call (409) 832-3432. This exhibition is generously funded, in part, by the Texas Commission on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Wesley W. Washburn, M.D. and Lulu L. Smith, M.D. Endowment Fund, the C. Homer and Edith Fuller Chambers Charitable Foundation, the City of Beaumont, and the members of the Art Museum of Southeast Texas. Additional support provided by Mr. & Mrs. James E. Payne. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.”
500 Main Street
Beaumont, 77701 TX
(409) 832-3432
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