Promoting the Arts West of the Pecos

n January 2010 at the Art Museum:   "Nashville Portraits by Jim McGuire" opens on Thursday, January 21^st .  It will run through March 14, 2010 in the South Wing Galleries.

On January 22^nd, an exhibit in the Contemporary Series opens of Jean Cappadonna-Nichols' ceramic sculptures, and it will be on display through March 21^st.

On January 29^th an exhibit of newly acquired photographs by Burton Pritzker for the Museum's permanent collection opens concurrent with the publication by the Museum of a book featuring this new series of photos.  The exhibit will run through February 28, 2010.   Admission is free to the Art Museum and it is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10am till 5pm and on Sundays from 2pm till 5pm.   The Sculpture Park is open 24/7 and a Walking Guide may be picked up inside the Art Museum during regular hours.

 

The Blakemore Planetarium is showing a new Sky Show during January and February.  It is "The Zula Patrol: Under the Weather".  Showings occur on Tuesdays through Fridays at 4:15pm and on Friday evenings at 7:15pm and 8:30pm.  On Saturdays the Sky Shows run at 1:15pm and at 3:45pm.  (The Planetarium is closed on Sunday afternoons, unlike the Art Museum and Children's Museum).   Admission is $6 for adults and $4 for children 12 to 3 to the Sky Shows which includes the Exhibit Area.  General admission to the Exhibits without the Sky Show is $3.

 

The Children's Museum has extended its current exhibit "The Nature of Holography" through January 24^th.   A new exhibit will open there on Friday, January 29^th.  It is "Brain Teasers 2" and will run through May 9^th (Mother's Day).  Hours are Tuesdays through Saturdays 10am till 5pm, and Sundays from 2:00 till 5:00pm.  Closed on Mondays.  Admission is $3 per person over the age of one year

 

The Museum of the Southwest is located at 1705 W. Missouri Avenue, Midland, TX 79701   Contact by phone at (432) 683-2882   Or visit the website at:  www.museumsw.org

High Desert Sketches
Alpine Avalanche
George A. Covington
January 14, 2010

 

Kick over a cactus in our little part of the High Chihuahua Desert and you'll hear the scream of an interrupted artist. Try picking up an arrowhead and hear the cry of an injured archeologist. This is a land that lends itself both to artists and archeologists and in some the two professions are merged. Tim Roberts, of Fort Davis, is one of those people.

Mr.  Roberts will demonstrate one of his favorite artistic mediums at a public meeting of the Big Bend Arts Council (BBAC). Artists, art lovers, and the terminally curious are invited to watch a demonstration in the use of scratchboard, or clapboard.

Mr. Roberts explain thusly, "Scratchboard, also known as clayboard, is often created by using a piece of masonite or heavy paper, covering it with white kaolin clay and, in turn, covering the white clay layer with a layer of black India ink (these can be purchased already prepared).  The etching is created by using some type of stylus (I use one that resembles a quill pen) to scratch through the India ink, exposing the underlying white layer to create your image.  In grade school, we use to make our own scratchboards by coloring a thin piece of cardboard with various colors of crayon, and then using a black crayon rather than India ink (it would have been much more interesting as a young grade school student to be able to play with India ink) to create the overlying layer."

In 2008 it was my pleasure and honor to be a member of the Sul Ross University Art Club, and represent our university and Alpine, TX at the Texas Arts & Crafts Festival in Kerrville, Texas.

 

In 2009 I did not make it to the event as a student, but instead as a visitor and a recorder- wanting to show off the work of my friends and classmates.

 

The desert seems to attract a lot of creativity to it, and in the small art department at Sul Ross State I've seen a lot of amazing talent amongst the students, both older and as seen here, much younger than myself. These students are part of the artistic future of the the world, and help demonstrate why the BBAC is committed to arts EDUCATION in the Big Bend region- a portion of every yearly membership collected by the BBAC is going into a growing scholarship fund for the artists of tomorrow.

 

So here are just a few members of the SRSU Art Club, 2009:

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It took me a while to get around to editing it together, but I finally finished getting the video of the BBAC Gallery on the Square's ribbon-cutting event with the Alpine Chamber of Commerce and Farmer's Insurance up onto the internet!

Thanks to everyone who came and enjoyed the gallery that day, days before that day, and every day that's passed since then! Also a huge thank you to all BBAC members who have devoted time and effort into making the gallery such a beautiful space to show work- and to those who have and are showing their art there.

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