ISSUE, March 2020

THE ARTS MAGAZINE OF THE ART STUDIO, INC.

MARCH 2020

INSIDE: SPONTANEOUS CONSTRUCTION, FRANCIS BACON, HARLEM RENAISSANCE AND MORE

ISSUE Vol. 26, No. 6 Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . The Art Studio, Inc.

A View From The Top Greg Busceme, TASI Director

Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andy Coughlan Contributing Writers . . . . . Stephan Malick, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Caitlin Duerler Copy Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beth Gallaspy Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elijah Malick

FRESH IN MY MIND is the event we hosted on Feb 8. “After Mourning” is a play about the sister-in-law of Vincent Van Gogh and her 30-year struggle, and subsequent success, in giving Vincent’s artwork the recognition it so strongly deserves.

Written by Mike Czuba from the University of Calgary and founder of Dancing Monkey Laboratories, and directed by Elayne LeTraunik, the staged reading was performed by Michael Saar, Chris Presley, Sunny Rae Breland and Heather Rushing, with Le Traunik providing the stage directions.

In the same vein, director Xania Marie has been holding auditions, rehearsals and events to put forth her production, “I’m Not Finished Loving You: Desiree’s Story.” It is a drama about love gone wrong and speaks of issues about our culture today.

Both of these events point to a growing trend in independent, directors and producers creating theater productions outside the usual venues.

We see the same in the visual arts where there are self-made artists working to expand the definition of art and to find their own unique way to create before presenting their work to the public. More venues are opening up through out our region and more artists are there to fill those spaces.

The Art Studio, Inc. Board of Directors Corporate President . . . . . . Greg Busceme Corporate Vice-President. . Angela Scheibel Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stephan Malick Treasurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Laurie Gordon Membership . . . . . . . . Kelly Logan Murphy Members at Large . . . Stephanie Chadwick, . . . . . . Olivia Busceme, Allison Kainer, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Saar, . . . . . . . . Sheila Busceme, Sara Tuell, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Rollins Tenant Representative . . Elizabeth Fontenot Assistant Director. . . . . . . . Stephanie Orta Administrative Assistant . . . . Michelle Cate

The Art Studio, Inc. 720 Franklin Beaumont, TX 77701 409-838-5393 www.artstudio.org info@artstudio.org The ISSUE is a monthly publication of The Art Studio, Inc. Its mission is to publicize The Art Studio and its tenants, and to promote the growth of the arts in Southeast Texas. ISSUE is also charged with informing TASI members of projects, progress, achievements and setbacks in TASI’s well-being. Further, ISSUE strives to promote and distribute the writings of local authors in its “Thoughtcrime” feature.

ISSUE is provided free of charge to members of TASI and is also available, free of charge, at more than 30 locations in Southeast Texas.

Regular features include local artists of note and reputation who are not currently exhibiting at TASI; artists currently or soon to be exhibiting at TASI; Instructional articles for artists; news stories regarding the state of TASI’s organization; and arts news features dealing with general philo-

Contents

MARCH

Cover photo by Andy Coughlan

See VIEW on page 12

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS AT THE ART STUDIO APRIL

Spontaneous Construction: Open Invitation 3D show Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 7

BECOME A MEMBER OF THE ART STUDIO

TASAIMJAE (The Art Studio, Inc. Member Jurored Art Exhibition) Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 4

Name(s) Address

Membership in The Art Studio, Inc., provides invitations to all exhibitions and one year of ISSUE, the monthly arts magazine of The Art Studio. It also gives free eligibility for members to enter the annual membership art exhibition (TASIMJAE) and participate in various exhibitions throughout the year.

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Late Bacon at MFAH. . . . . . . . . . . Page 4 Harlem Renaissance design . . . . . Page 6 ‘Spontaneous Construction’ . . . . . Page 8 Hot Tropic Nights . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 11 TASIMJAE Call for Entries . . . . . . Page 11 Above Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 13 Around & About . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 14 Thoughtcrime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 15

Those venues include our new pop up gallery (yet to be named) in The Studio lobby.

Besides limited wall space there is no age, style, subject or content limit hindering artists from applying to show. We are taking portfolio applications for both galleries for the upcoming exhibition seasons.

New opportunities in classes will be coming your way in the near future, thanks to a couple of acquisitions over the past year. Recently, The Studio was able to broker a deal to acquire the former Merry-Go-Round Stained Glass Co. Headed by James King, who is well versed in teaching stained glass, we moved the massive amount of glass and equipment. We spent two weeks and three large rental trucks to transport the supplies to The Studio’s annex (840 Franklin). The building is now filled to the brim with beautiful sheet glass in a rainbow of colors and most of the equipment we will need.

Tenant Elizabeth Fontenot is putting in a supply list to prepare for her up coming printmaking classes. We lucked into a great intaglio press right here in Southeast Texas. A rare find! With that opportunity for her to

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4 • ISSUE March 2020

Volume 26, No. 6

Francis Bacon, “In Memory of George Dyer, 1971, oil and transfer letters on canvas, Foundation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, Beyeler Collection.© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved/DACS, London/ARS, NY 2019.

CAPTURED FEELINGS

MFAH Francis Bacon exhibition shines light on late works WHEN ONE THINKS OF Francis Bacon’s work, one thinks of large triptychs that seem to engulf and draw the viewer into the image.

The works are analogous to the large altar pieces found in cathedrals across Europe.

That analogy is apt, although maybe Bacon, a life-long atheist, would have rejected the suggestions of the religious. Perhaps the spiritual may have been palatable. After all, Bacon felt that his work should not be “seen” so much as “felt.”

“Francis Bacon: Late Paintings from the Center Pompidou, Paris,” on display at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston through May 25, is an immersive experience. The paintings almost overwhelm with passion — for both sexuality and of grief.

The exhibition covers the last 20 years of the Irish painter’s life, mainly from the suicide of his lover George Dyer on Oct. 24, 1971, two days before Bacon’s Grand Palais retrospective.

The show is a re-working of last fall’s Pompidou Center exhibition that looked at Bacon’s literary influences. This show has trimmed much of that away, but one cannot talk about Bacon without referencing his literary influences (his own library ran to 1,200 volumes).

Review by Andy Coughlan

The show opens with a large Richard Avedon portrait that echoes Bacon’s use of diptych, from April 11, 1979, and shifts to display several self-portraits. These images are recognizable as the artist, but the features have been pushed and smeared around the faces as though they are in constant motion. It is as if we must struggle to make sense of an image that is constantly shifting.

Bacon was an existentialist and lived for the moment. Like many of his paintings, it is as though he is constantly caught between moments that must be deciphered.

In “Three Studies for Self-Portrait” from 1979, the faces appear to be on the verge of disappearing into blackness.

“In Memory of George Dyer,” from 1971, is a stunning piece. Its three panels are linked by pink blankness, reflecting some undeciphered narrative. The right panel has a portrait of Dyer, taken from a photograph by Roger Deakins, on the wall (a familiar Bacon motif), with another version sliding off the frame onto a table.

The left panel features a twisted wrestler.

The wrestler is another recurring motif, often with two figures that are intertwined as symbols of aggressive masculinity as well as male sexuality. Bacon was a radical and his “queerness” was overt in an age when one was expected to be discreet.

Francis Bacon, “Female Nude Standing in Doorway” left, 1973, oil and pastel on canvas, Centre Pompidou, Musée national d’art modern-Centre de création industrielle, Paris.© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved/DACS, London/ARS, NY 2019.

March 2020 ISSUE • 5

Volume 26, No. 6 The center panel is, unusually, one of Bacon’s more obvious narrative scenes. A shadowy Dyer stands on a stairway landing next to a doorway, a muscular arm growing out of the figure and turning a key. Where does the doorway lead?

In many ways, this painting typifies Bacon’s central themes — the human capacity for violence, the human obsession with sex and the human obsession with death.

The twisted figures in Bacon’s paintings are a nod to Pablo Picasso, one of his major influences. Bacon, born in Dublin in 1909, was a relatively late bloomer and didn’t start painting until he saw a 1927 Picasso exhibition. He was very much a self-styled art historian, was obsessed with Vincent van Gogh and, especially, Diego Velazquez. He looked at reproductions in books. Even when drawing figures he liked to work from photographs. He preferred to be alone when he painted and found the presence of models to be a distraction.

Bacon’s later work seems to strip down the vocabulary of his earlier work. The first big “Triptych,” from 1967, is more cluttered, less sparse, and features a center panel that is a murder scene (Bacon liked to work from newspaper photos) with a bloody torso that looks like meat. That panel is flanked by images of two men intertwined — again, wrestling or screwing?

“Female Nude Standing in Doorway” is a nod to Picasso. The twists and turns of the physical features are a a clear homage, although still with Bacon’s inimitable brustrokes.

In “Triptych 1986-7” Bacon presents us with historical figures flanking a “knight in armor.” The left panel features a representation of Woodrow Wilson from a 1919 summit. The right panel is the desk where Leon Trotsky was killed. The center panel’s “knight” is a naked man on a chair, his “armor” actually cricket pads. The man has no arms, a wry nod to the broken antiquaries found in museums.

Bacon was critical of the Abstract Expressionists,

especially Mark Rothko. Bacon was never an abstract painter, no matter how twisted and distorted his imagery, and he felt the American group missed the human element.

The bright red background in the 1984 “Street Scene” seems like a direct rebuke of Rothko’s color fields. The image was taken from a newspaper photo of a murder scene, and the red also represents the blood.

In “Study from the Human Body” we are again confronted with a doorway and a key. This time the figure, rather than in shadow, is bright but fading into nothingness.

Bacon’s last completed painting is “Study of a Bull” from 1991. There is an emptiness to the frame, and

See BACON on page 10

Francis Bacon, “Study of a Bull,” above, 1991, oil, aerosol and dust on canvas, private collection.© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved/DACS, London/ARS, NY 2019. Francis Bacon, “Female Nude Standing in Doorway” left, 1973, oil and pastel on canvas, Musée national d’art modern-Centre de création industrielle, Paris.© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved/DACS, London/ARS, NY 2019.

6 • ISSUE March 2020

Volume 26, No. 6

Harlem Renaissance print culture highlighted HOUSTON — NARRATIVES OF EARLY 20THCENTURY visual art focus primarily on Avant Garde movements that were exhibited in art museums and galleries in America and Europe. Artworks displayed in these spaces were often made by white artists who did not encounter barriers in making and exhibiting their art. Black artists who were not allowed access to the walls of these spaces to hang their art often turned to publishing their graphic work in periodicals and books.

Two library exhibitions in Houston explore the richness of work contributed by these artists during the period recognized today as the Harlem Renaissance.

Mined from the rare book collections at the University of Houston Special Collections and the Hirsch Library at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, these exhibitions were developed by undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the Harlem Renaissance art history course at UH, under the guidance of Caroline Goeser. The Harlem Renaissance course was one of several courses offered jointly at UH and the MFAH during fall 2019 and implements object-based learning. Rather than sitting in a dark lecture hall viewing slides of artworks projected on a screen, students worked directly with the objects they were studying.

In the Harlem Renaissance course, students encountered graphic works alongside the texts they illustrated.

By reading essays by theorists like W.E.B. DuBois and Alain Locke at the beginning of the course, students developed a foundational understanding of the motivation of African American artists at this time to cultivate their own means of expression divorced from stereotypical representations which were rampant in mass media.

Other texts students studied included poetry and short stories published in journals like the National Urban League’s Opportunity and the NAACP’s The Crisis. These publications included essays and news articles relevant to African American interests and culture but also served as a platform for black creative expression, publishing poems and prose by renown writers such as Langston Hughes and Claude McKay. The UH Special Collections exhibition, “Blacker than a Thousand Midnights,” explores the ways illustrators responded to these texts, combing out larger visual themes including urbanism, Pan-Africanism and spirituality.

The lefthand display case includes art inspired by the Harlem neighborhood in the urban setting of New York City. Illustrations featured in Opportunity (1930), Ebony and Topaz: A Collectanea magazine (1927), Alain Locke’s The New Negro (1925), poetry book “God’s Trombones” (1927) and a collection of music called “Blues: An Anthology” (1926) take inspiration from Harlem’s nightlife, entertainment and changing perceptions of African Americans.

Aaron Douglas’ artwork for James Weldon Johnson’s God’s Trombones interpret his Bible-inspired poems with black protagonists rendered in shades of grey gouache and Orphic-inspired tessellations. The page Douglas illustrated for the “Prodigal Son” re-imagines the biblical setting for a Harlem nightclub with contemporary vices, such as gambling and drinking, rendered in a Surrealist collage style. Douglas’ illustration “Dance Magic” in the December 1930 edition of Opportunity is

Story by Caitlin Duerler

Fire!! magazine featured works by young black artists and writers. taken from a mural commission for a whites-only jazz club at the Sherman Hotel in Chicago. The central image of “Dance Magic” highlights the talent of African American jazz performers, while images on the left and right allude to African dancing and jungle scenes. At the bottom of the composition, menacing hands reach out to-

wards the musicians alluding to post-slavery oppression felt by African Americans in the early 20th-century Jim Crow era.

The righthand display case features illustrations inspired by a sense of global blackness, with works featuring black figures in exotic settings with lush foliage

March 2020 ISSUE • 7

Volume 26, No. 6

This book cover for “Copper Sun,” written by Countée Cullen, was illustrated by Charles Cullen. outside of America including locales such as Africa and Haiti. “Ebony and Topaz: A Collectanea” is featured again in this case, alongside a collection of plays edited

by Alain Locke called “Plays of Negro Life” (1927), Eugene O’Neill’s “The Emperor Jones” (1928), Countée Cullen’s “Copper Sun” (1927) and an English translation of the French writer Paul Morand’s short stories “Black Magic” (1928).

“Copper Sun,” illustrated by Charles Cullen, has an elaborately decorated cover featuring androgynous black figures in sensuous poses set against backdrops of Egypt, steamy jungles and the stage of a Harlem nightclub. Particularly haunting is a lynched figure hanging from weeping willows. The composite image is tied together with

brilliant graphic outlines, stars and lightning strikes.

Set up next to the entrance of the Special Collections is a third display exploring the ways spirituality influenced graphic artists. Reproductions of Aaron Douglas illustrations from “Black Magic” and “God’s Trombones” are inspired by Haitian voodoo rituals and the Old Testament.

Charles Cullen’s lynched figure also makes an appearance in a reproduction of an image from Countée Cullun’s book of poems, “The Black Christ” (1929). This powerful illustration compares the suffering of the crucified Christ with the threat of lynching endured by black people in America.

The Hirsch Library at the MFAH exhibition, “Echoes of Harlem: the Graphic Works of Aaron Douglas,” focuses on book covers for novels and poetry illustrated by Aaron Douglas. Showcasing works from the 1920s and 1930s, the exhibition considers Douglas’ artistic development and contributions during the Harlem Renaissance. The earliest works, including a 1926 cover of

Opportunity magazine and Fire!, a singular publication featuring art and literature by young African American contributors, show the origins of Douglas’ trademark silhouetted figures with faces inspired by African masks.

The success of these designs led to commissions for book jackets featuring Douglas’ signature figures in both urban and rural settings, oftentimes positioned straddling both reflecting the dual nature of black experience, leaving behind the chains of the past and embracing freedom in modernity.

“Blacker than a Thousand Midnights” at the UH Special Collections is located in the MD Anderson library and will be open until March 27. “Echoes of Harlem: the Graphic Works of Aaron Douglas” will open on March 10 and be on view until June 27 at the Hirsch library in the Law Building at the MFAH. Both exhibitions are free to view.

For more information, visit www.libraries.uh.edu.

Aaron Douglas illustration for Ina Corinne Brown’s “The Story of the American Negro,” in the Hirsch Library, left, features a black figure stuck between a forest and a factory. “Dance Magic,” above, was featured in the 1930 December Opportunity magazine.

8 • ISSUE March 2020

Volume 26, No. 6

SPONTANEOUS CONSTRUCTION

Invitational show is unforced expression of community’s thoughts The Art Studio’s “Spontaneous Construction” invitational show aims to allow artists to explore their concept of three dimensions. The photos on these pages are found images from around The Studio — twodimensional reprersentations of three dimensions.

IN A SELDOM SEEN occurrence, The Art Studio, Inc. revised its exhibition schedule with the introduction of a new themebased exhibition for Photos by March. Artist submisAndy sions for “Spontaneous Coughlan Construction” are accepted March 3-5. The show opens with a free reception, 7-10 p.m. March 7 and will be on display in the main gallery until March 27.

“We had an opening in the schedule to change up the Darkroom Friends show, so we thought we wanted a theme for it,” Greg Busceme, TASI executive director, said. “I wanted to do something to give people something to scratch their heads over so I thought a show with a three-dimensional element.”

Busceme stressed the exhibit is not a

Story by Stephan Malick

3D show, but the representation of a 3D element.

“An entry could be a hair on a piece of paper,” he said. “It’s a three-dimension object. It could be just that, and what I’m hoping is to get people to think about this, see what they interpret.”

The show is open to all members of the general public to enter no more than two pieces not to exceed four-feet square.

However, Busceme will make the final determination during the submission period. For larger works, he added, artists might only be able to submit one piece.

“I like to experiment with human beings in a very nice and gentle way, but this is a way what people would interpret that phrase in how they would deal with it, but they’re still able to make the work in their own way,” Busceme said. “So, it’s not a portrait show or landscape show or

Volume 26, No. 6

March 2020 ISSUE • 9

anything. It’s an everything show” Open and theme-based shows are a great way to get people involved in art who may not be familiar with entering exhibits or be professional, working artists.

This kind of show, Busceme said, builds up the importance that art has in a community.

“To me, it’s all about grouping,” he said. “It’s about a collection of shared likes and tastes, but also community involvement.

“Artists generally live in isolation. So any way we can get them to show up together is a really phenomenal thing, and we’ve seen this over the years that people all gathered here are artists, and they’re talking about art and communicating and putting together ideas, and that’s what we and this show continue to provide to our community.”

Busceme said the visibility of exhibitions like “Spontaneous Construction” encourages other groups to form.

“All artist groups have to start somewhere and part of The Studio’s mission is to foster community growth,” he said. “They have their own ideas about how to make art, and we have the ability and resources to help them along.”

Busceme said these open-type shows bring art alive and keep things exciting. He said art should be accessible and presented in such a way, or created in such a way, that everyone that participates as an artist or admirer should be able to take something away from artistic expression.

“I think we just make art exciting for people, that’s what we try to do here,” he said. “We try to take the stiffness out of art and the academic sense of it.

“We try to relate to the common sense we have every day — we work just like the majority of people in our community. We’re a blue-collar community, and we want The Studio to be a place that ties in with that history of who we are here.

“We may make a product differently, but basically we’re all the same, and I think that we are welcoming — and we want ‘Spontaneous Construction’ to be inviting for all who want to participate.”

For more information. call 409-838-5393, or email info@artstudio.org.

The “Spontaneous Construction” show is a conceptual invitational where artists can offer any interpretation of three dimensions.

“It could be a hair on a piece of paper,” TASI executive director Greg Busceme said. The image above, like Rene Magritte’s “Ceci n’est pas un pipe” (This is not a pipe), is not hair on a piece of paper — but it is a picture of hair on a piece of paper.

10 • ISSUE March 2020

BACON from page 5 the bull seems to bring his career back full circle to the influential Picasso show of 1927 (the bull was a recurring motif for the Spaniard). Bacon, aware of his mortality, even incorporated dust into the painting. The piece drips with Bacon’s major themes — light and shadow, white and black, life and death.

Volume 26, No. 6 As he aged, he spent more and more time in Spain where he visited the Prado to see the Velazquez paintings. Ironically, he died in a Madrid care facility run by nuns, a crucifix above his head.

Bacon’s late works are full of vitality. Part of that energy is grief, but he does not shy away from it. He was a fireman during the London blitz in World War II. He saw first hand the toll of death and violence.

Yet the paintings are marvelous, immersive works,

every bit as meditative in their own way as the Rothkos he decried.

Bacon shows us that the power of art to comment on and to transcend the human condition cannot be discounted.

“Francis Bacon: Late Paintings” is on display at MFAH’s Audrey Jones Beck Building, 5601 Main St. in Houston.

For more, visit www.mfah.org.

Francis Bacon, “Study for the Human Body,” far left, 1984, oil, pastel and aerosol on canvas, the Menil Collection, Houston.© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved/DACS, London/ARS, NY 2019.

A visitor to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, left, stands in front of Francis Bacon’s “Triptych 1985-6.” ISSUE photo

by Andy Coughlan

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Volume 26, No. 6

Hot Tropics Night

March 2020 ISSUE • 11

Annual fundraiser relocates to TASI after Imelda damages Botanical Gardens “The Moon and Stars” will present “Hot Tropics Night,” 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., March 21, at The Art Studio, Inc., 720 Franklin in downtown Beaumont.

The annual fundraiser, which features a silent auction of artwork, will benefit the Tyrrell Park Botanical Gardens, especially the annual Maypole Festival. Tickets are $20 which includes heavy hors d’oeuvres and drinks.

“The Hot Tropics is what I like to call an art collector’s auction,” Sandra Hammerling, event coordinator, said.

“Artists donate pieces that will be priced lower than they would normally be to really contribute to the cause.

“Collectors will be able to get an artist’s piece for half what they would normally pay if they were buying it outright from the artists. And then you have the artists that don’t really sell their pieces to anybody, so there will be a lot of real collectibles.”

Artists already committed to donate include Gina Garcia, Ines Alvidres, Elizabeth Nesmith, Mark Nesmith, Letitia Rogers, Rodney Bushnell, Andy Coughlan, Greg Busceme Sr., Sheila Busceme, Sheri Hood Callahan and Annie Green, with more to come.

Entertainment will be provided by Greg Jr., and Giglio’s has donated the alcohol.

Story by Andy Coughlan

“Hot Tropics Night” is traditionally held in the gardens’ Warren Loose Conservatory, but the building is awaiting renovation after flood damage during Tropical Storm Imelda in September.

“The city is going to repair it, but we are in line, and the police stations and the fire stations come first, understandably and rightly so,” Hammerling said. “So we are in line. They did act quick in removing the wet stuff so there was no further mold and no further damage. “(The Moon and Stars Committee) donates the money to the Beaumont Botanical Gardens, into their general fund to buy plants, to buy potting, to pay employees, to pay for insurance — all the expenses that just goes into the general fund.”

Fortunately, Hammerling said The Studio offered space for the event.

Hammerling said the original idea of the Maypole Festival, held each May, was to promote use of the park.

“Back when we started this, the stables were not open,” she said.

“There was no Cattail Marsh, none of that, and I wanted to bring Tyrrell Park back because I always went there as a kid. My dad played golf there. We had Bluebirds and Girl Scouts. It’s the largest park in Beaumont.

“I just hated to see it going to waste,

The 2019 Hot Tropics Night fundraiser was held in the Warren Loose Conservatory at the Beaumont Botanical Gardens. This year’s event will be held March 21 at The Art Studio.

and I knew that these buildings and this conservatory, and all this stuff was out there. And I thought, it’s just a hidden secret, and we just need to get people out here — and wanting to honor Torchy at the same time.”

Torchy is Paula Salter, who was a long-time fixture in the Southeast Texas arts community. The Maypole at Tyrrell Park was constructed in her honor.

“Torchy just was all over the community,” Hammerling said. “She helped everybody, every nonprofit, everything. She just had this feel good spirit about her that when she walked in the room, everybody felt good. And that’s love that you’re passing on.”

To reserve a booth at the Maypole Festival, email torchymoonandstars @yahoo.com, or visit the Beaumont Maypole Festival Facebook page.

CALL FOR ENTRIES

TASIMJAE THE ART STUDIO, INC. MEMBERS JURORED ART EXHIBITION

Submissions accepted March 25-28, noon to 5 p.m. • Opening reception April 4 Pick up a prospectus from The Art Studio at 720 Franklin in Beaumont or call 409-838-5393.

12 • ISSUE March 2020

Volume 26, No. 6

VIEW from page 3 create her favorite kind of art, she has offered to provide classes in the process and opportunity for experienced printmakers to have a place to work. The class will cover the basics in the printmaking techniques and offer a new opportunity for people to learn a fascinating process.

Clay classes are rolling along, as is our drawing group that now meets on the first three Wednesdays of the month.

What I am seeing is increased participation in all our events. I credit our staff, which is able to keep up with the wide variety of requests, questions and offerings and efficiently convey them to the public. The Art Studio is responding to the needs of our community, and it is working amazingly well.

With all of that being said, along with the Cultural District’s promise of increased art populations and a higher interest in the arts community in Beaumont and Southeast Texas, I ask how will we accommodate the influx of artists. Each season, September to June, we present nine monthly events: art exhibitions, popup shows, Band Nite, First Thursday, and drawing group that meet three times a month. That is 63 events per season — and that does not include programs that continue through the summer as board meetings, drawing group and Band Nites do.

Class room rentals, classes, workshops, birthdays and other unforeseen events also occur. We also have annual and semi-annual events such as the Beaux Arts Ball, Summer Spree and crafters show, as well as the

relation between the availability of space and artists’ productivity.

As the amount of space available increases the amount of work produced and the amount of artists who feel there is room for them increases relatively. It is what I had postulated many years ago about The Art Studio — if we have the space, artists will fill it.

The Art Studio has invested in facilities, infrastructure, equipment, supplies and raw materials. We pride ourselves in keeping our operating budget to be conservative considering the amount of programs and activities we present and produce. To me, it’s a statement of our perseverance, our vision of the future and the understanding of the needs of this community. Being “Art-Aware” will fulfill our goal to have an active and creative community that will benefit our children’s education and present Southeast Texas as an attractive and viable community in which to live, a perfect location for new companies to build based on quality of life and a myriad of activities for their employees.

This can be our future. We have the wherewithal to accomplish so much more, but we need a concerted effort by the community. Not necessarily monetary support but verbal and written support to our city council, our county commissioners, our Texas legislature and our corporate community. Already we have seen vast changes in our patrons and participants in recent events, and we’d like to remain responsive to those changes.

The Art Studio embraces diversity, openness, generosity and dialogue. All are welcome and all can be part of this family of creativity.

A staged reading of the play “After Mourning” was presented at The Studio, Feb. 8.

Shop-O-Rama Extravaganza, a holiday arts and crafts sale, and summer ArtsKool, a three-week program teaching art to children ages 5-15.

We have often dreamed of expanding the facility.

Until recently it was a “what-if” situation but now it’s getting to be more of a “when” kind of thing.

As an organization with an impeccable record of accomplishing each goal we set, standing by our vision of the future and remaining an independent, self-reliant institution dedicated to the preservation of artists and the skills that make us human, we have been exploring the possibilities of construction of a new ceramic/sculpture facility between the back door of the ceramic space to the end of the property. It will contain 12 to 14 studio spaces with separate glaze lab, clay mixing, chemical storage and kiln room with teaching area, restrooms and breakroom.

What goes into the old clay studio and classroom area will be a performing arts facility and four classrooms, storage and a production booth. We see a cor-

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• Poetic Souls performance • Spontaneous Construction submissions accepted • Hands-on Clay Experience

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ACTIVITIES BEGIN AT 4:30 P.M. 720 FRANKLIN IN DOWNTOWN BEAUMONT

March 2020 ISSUE • 13

Volume 26, No. 6

Above Board IT SEEMS AS IF 2020 has just begun, but already TASI has been working diligently after the holiday and winter break to continue showcasing artists and original art in Southeast Texas.

February saw the return of our regular exhibition schedule with TASI tenant Kailee Viator and Beaumont native Amanda Barry’s “Common Occurrence of Time,” a strong and in-depth show conjoining concepts of an organic and natural interpretation of the world.

Seeking out and recognizing emerging and established artists is one of the main missions for The Studio. Executive director and founder Greg Busceme puts tremendous effort and care into securing exhibitions that highlight the strength of these individuals and the diversity of creativity in our community.

TASI typically books shows about two years out on any given calendar of events. There are some slots that are filled with specific shows — for example, the May exhibit is traditionally filled by the previous year’s TASIMJAE (The Art Studio, Inc. Members Jurored Art Exhibition) winner or the September show is historically the TASI Tenants Show.

TASI non-group shows have a long and complex history — just like that of TASI itself — that strives to evolve to stay fresh and interesting to our members, patrons and community. Art in Southeast Texas is really a catalyst of how your community communicates with each other. The Studio is the medium within which art and artists relate to our local audience (and beyond) and becomes accessible to people.

Much has been made of art exhibitions throughout recorded human history. Art historian Anna Cline wrote that art is a mirror on society — it reflects their wants, needs and desires — and at the same time “challenges its ideologies and preconceptions.”

It is no different at TASI, the board and administrative staff work to keep art relevant to our community and audiences regarding the present, past and the future. We are the intersection of many interests.

That’s not always an easy task to accomplish — especially after 37 years. We are always reaching and striving for the next thing to show you. Exhibitions should be a platform for experimentation and challenging conventions — not in mockery or divisiveness, but in the search for new ideas that suit and better our community.

The ancients of human history installed art in public buildings, though the work was often presented or started as an offering to a deity rather than autonomous work of art. This rigidity remained true through the Middle Ages when most artistic production was for religious purposes. But with the dawn of the Renaissance in Western culture, artists began to

Stephan Malick, TASI Board Chairman

attach their names to their works, creating work that reflected their individual aesthetics as artists.

The first modern art exhibitions began in the 1600s in artistic capitals such as Rome, Venice and Florence. Artists figured out quickly they could use these exhibitions to help establish their own reputations — and favor with patrons.

Art academies would soon follow. The earliest academy in Europe, the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence, was founded in 1563. These Italian institutions were copied in France in 1648 with L’Acadèmie de Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris. Responsible for the state’s educational program in the fine arts, its first exhibition was held in 1667 for the court society only, but by 1725 the exhibition moved to the Louvre and was open to the general public where it became known simply as the Salon.

The role of the Salon was to enhance the image of national sovereignty embodied usually by a monarchy, which also dictated many rules and formalities by which the Academy abided in choosing works for exhibition.

The role of TASI is to enhance our community’s artistic voice with our community’s voice — and if you know anything about us, we embrace traditions and at the same time are not afraid to challenge (and break) standard norms.

The importance of those early academies can’t be overstated. They wielded power of overseeing the in-

struction of the fine arts and hence dictated artistic style to society through exhibitions of their members’ work. Their overwhelming influence remained most prominent in France. The Enlightenment Era and the French Revolution brought about a liberalization and disruption of 18th-century social patterns. This had significant impact on the 19th century European art world, one being that the Salon was now open to any artist who wanted to submit work for consideration.

Just like TASI of today.

At the beginning of the 19th century, this newfound awareness led to an increase in single artist exhibitions and subsequently to the artists’ use of the exhibition as a format for stating their political or aesthetic position.

Eventually, the specific Salon-style exhibition went out of favor, and by 1900 there was no longer a Salon, having become weakened by the 1863 Salon des Refusés, the Impressionist Exhibitions starting in 1874, and in 1890 when the Société Nationale des BeauxArts seceded and formed its own salon.

The Studio prides itself in being an independent entity for a forum for dialogue, change and reflection.

The work our board members do fosters this ideology. We challenge artists to explore the traditional rules of what art is — and we encourage artists to break those rules to create something organic and authentic.

Rudolf Ackermann’s illustration of the 1808 Royal Academy show in London shows the “salon-style” of exhibitions. The Art Studio shows generally are not quite that crowded.

14 • ISSUE March 2020

Volume 26, No. 6

Around & About

If you come across any interesting exhibitions, museums or other places on your travels, share them with us. Call 409-838-5393, or contact us through our website at www.artstudio.org. Be sure to include the location and dates of the subject, as well as any costs.

SARA LYDIA TUELL will present her exhibition SANCTUARY with an opening reception 5 to 8 p.m. March 20 in The Art Studio, Inc.’s Pop Up Gallery.

Admission is free.

The Art Studio is located at 720 Franklin in downtown Beaumont.

For more, visit www.artstudio.orf, or The Studio’s Facebook page. _______________ The LAMAR UNIVERSITY FRIENDS OF THE ARTS presents LE GRAND BAL 2020 on March 28, chaired by Kara and Zack Hawthorn. The theme of the event is “An Evening in Tuscany.”

The event will begin with a silent art auction at the Dishman Museum followed by dinner and dancing with sounds from Still Cruisin.’

Each year, Le Grand Bal committee members select an artist honoree, as well as honorees recognized for their contributions to the arts. This year Le Grand Bal is honoring Sandra Clark and artist David Cargill. Clark is not only a well regarded trial lawyer; she is a loyal supporter of Lamar University. She is the current president of Friends of the Arts, has twice been the chair of the Le Grand Bal gala, has en-

dowed a scholarship in choral music and has endowed a dean’s discretionary fund to support the College of Fine Arts and Communication. She is a member of the Fine Arts Advisory Council and the executive committee of the Lamar Foundation Board.

Cargill, born in 1929, is a Beaumont sculptor who works in wood, marble, stone, terra cotta, lead and bronze. Cargill is known for portraits and other figurative work. He was commissioned to create numerous pieces in the Beaumont area, including the AMSET bronze sculpture “Men of Vision” of the four Rogers brothers, founders of TSO and local supporters of the arts, and is most well-known around the LU campus for his sculpture of Mirabeau B. Lamar located in the quad.

Tickets are on sale now. All proceeds benefit the fine arts programs in the College of Fine Arts and Communication.

For more information, visit www.lamar.edu/legrandbal. _______________ The ART MUSEUM OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS will host its annual GO FOR THE GOLD party and reverse drawing fundraiser at 6:30 p.m. March 12.

Tickets cost $100 for members and $120 for non-members and admit two.

The additional $20 buys non-members an introductory promotional membership.

A number of prizes are given away throughout the evening, including a chance to win $10,000 in gold coins for the first place prize, $1,500 in gold coins for second place and $1,000 in gold coins for third place. Winners need not be present to win. The gold prizes are given in American Eagle coins and have value that depends on the price of gold and value on the collectors market.

One ticket includes dinner for two catered by Two Magnolias and an open bar serving a signature drink.

All proceeds benefit AMSET’s exhibitions and educational programs.

Chaired by Roxanne and Eric Hellberg, this year’s Go for the Gold theme is Walk Like an Egyptian. Attendees are encouraged to come dressed in the fashion of ancient Egypt.

Only 450 tickets will be sold to maximize participants’ chance of winning; advance purchase is recommended.

To purchase tickets, visit amset.org or call 409-832-3432. _______________ Draw and play at the STARK MUSEUM OF ART’s FAMILY DAY, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 7. Enjoy arts and crafts, live music from Pinnacle Music Academy students and teachers, a Tot Spot just for children 4 and under, murals from Bridge City Intermediate and Mauriceville Elementary schools, edible art and a new exhibition, “The Drawing Experience.”

Family Day is a special event at the Stark Museum of Art providing visitors the opportunity to try their hands at a variety of arts, crafts and activities inspired by art.

The Orange Train Depot Museum, Heritage House Museum and Shangri La Botanical Gardens & Nature Center will also present activities through the day.

Visitors will have the opportunity to visit the newly restored W.H. Stark House and take a first-floor tour designed for the whole family.

Visitors to Family Day will also have the opportunity to make their mark in the Stark Museum of Art’s new special exhibition “The Drawing Experience.” This new hands-on interactive exhibition allows visitors to immerse themselves in the world of drawing. It is designed to engage 21st century learners through technology and participatory learning and features drawings from the Stark Museum of Art’s collection.

Admission to the event is free.

“Spring means Family Day here at the Stark Museum of Art, and we are pulling out all the stops with this one,” Jennifer Restauri Dickinson, curator of education, said. “Families are going to have the best time exploring our galleries, making (and eating) art and visiting our new exhibition ‘The Drawing Experience.’

“We have a jam-packed day planned with a little something for everyone, so make plans now to spend a fun, art-filled day with us!”

For more information, email jrestauri@starkmuseum.org, or call 409-2216685. _______________

Mission Statement Founded in 1983, The Art Studio, Inc. is devoted to: providing opportunities for interaction between the public and the Southeast Texas community of artists; furnishing affordable studio space to originating artists of every medium; promoting cultural growth and diversity of all art forms in Southeast Texas; and providing art educational opportunities to everyone, of every age, regardless of income level, race, national origin, sex or religion.

PURPOSE The purpose of The Art Studio, Inc. is to (1) provide educational opportunities between the general public and the community of artists and (2) to offer sustained support for the artist by operating a non-profit cooperative to provide studio space and exhibition space to working artists and crafts people, and to provide an area for group work sessions for those artists and crafts people to jointly offer their labor, ideas, and enthusiasm to each other.

GOALS 1. To present public exhibitions 2. To provide educational opportunities 3. To provide accessible equipment for artists 4. To provide peer feedback through association with other artists and crafts people OBJECTIVES 1. To present nine art exhibitions per year 2. To maintain equipment for artists in a safe working environment 3. To provide better access to artists for the public 4. To offer regularly scheduled adult and children’s classes 5. To develop and maintain public activities with all sectors of the community 6. To develop and maintain equipment to aid artists in their work 7. To provide a display retail outlet for artists 8. To expand programming and activities with increased facility space

March 2020 ISSUE • 15

Volume 26, No. 6

Thoughtcrime

Empty Well For what reason must everybody be against me?

Submission Guidelines and Disclaimer ISSUE solicits and publishes the work of local authors. Poetry, short fiction, scholarly works and opinion pieces may be submitted for review.

All works must be typed and may be sent to TASI by email or by messaging the ISSUE Facebook page. The opinions expressed in “Thoughtcrime” do not necessarily reflect the opinions of TASI, its Board of Directors, ISSUE’s editorial staff, or donors to TASI. Send typed works to: ISSUE 720 Franklin St. Beaumont, TX 77701 or e-mail info@artstudio.org

Am I this frail disapproved

Authors must submit a daytime telephone number and email along with all submissions. Pen names are acceptable, but authors must supply real names for verification. All printed works are protected by copyright. The author retains rights to any published work. ISSUE does not notify rejection by mail or telephone.

With the beast, I keep on pushing endlessly

What I have fouled up this time I have done everything humanly conceivable I have attempted to draw near however it appears that I am being pushed further away With the men, I am being pushed further into the bedding to be utilized again and discarded like a mat… the closer I become it starts to sting My blood harbor profound scorn for me Where did things turn out badly

We Both Lose Freedom… gone he sucks the energy right out of me

Cupiditatem Esurio

I need to plunge into this perpetual pit I was caught the moment that I saw you My eyes followed your smile through the crowd And I almost lost you

a form of dementia like acid rain disintegrating the brain Back in the day he was the life of the party.

Brother taught me how to dance.

His generous heart and loud laughter fades into oblivion, washed away with a deluge of drink.

Choking to tell you, but scared of your reaction But I couldn’t hold back My heart certainly got a dose of “passion” I wasn’t looking There was no searching You came out like a light from above

Dorothy Sells Clover

Genesis

I’m sorry, God said.

That was a mistake.

I was reaching for something else,

I call dimness Simply vanish and never return Am I that ghastly….

My tears feel like corrosive interminably moving down my face I haven’t been upbeat in a drawn-out period of time and I think it is alright to be narrow-minded for a little while Try not to react for briefly Try not to show up for briefly

You made a heart hum again I didn’t make it run, Then I couldn’t make it stop

Now he is babbling and defiant.

“Dance with me, my brother”

I attempt to shut it out yet it overwhelms me

Hoped I could make you notice Don’t want to move too fast Don’t want to freak you out

I petition God for an alternate result however I don’t think supplicating can fix this calamity I call life Love never again exists in my reality Nobody truly has a place in my reality It never keeps going…

Something never includes

I want you to know me I want you to show me Your scars will be safe with me Have no worries Have no fears I’m not trying to take anything from you Icy cobwebs kinda softened around this heart I had no plan I’m not sure if this is a start?

I am rarely enough Positive contemplations I serenade to myself however it begins to turn into a murmur now…

I need to detest them yet in what manner can I Over and over I attempt yet what can I do ... literally nothing Why? I am weak. I will never be what I see.

I need to shout yet nobody will hear me... no one will mind I will be encompassed by the 4 white dividers that gaze at me vacantly

and I created you.

No trail is yet made I’d like to see if there is a place to go There are many things I love to know

Jesse Doiron

Stephan Malick

Nazarie Manning

My lone solace

720 Franklin, Beaumont, Texas 77701

Non-Profit Org U.S. Postage PAID Permit #135 Beaumont, TX

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

INSIDE • ‘SPONTANEOUS CONSTRUCTION’ • THOUGHTCRIME: MUSINGS FROM AREA POETS • HARLEM RENAISSANCE DESIGN • LATE FRANCIS BACON AT MAFAH

When you support The Art Studio with your membership, you receive ISSUE, Southeast Texas’ and Southwest Louisiana’s alternative press, as well as class schedules, invitations to opening receptions and various Studio functions.

Volunteers These people are the life blood of our organization.

WE COULDN’T DO IT WITHOUT YOU! To volunteer, drop by The Art Studio, Inc., or call 409-838-5393.

Elizabeth Fontenot Bryan Castino Heather & Adam Butler Rhonda Rodman Sue Wright Rhonda McNally John Roberts Beau Dumesnil Karen Dumesnil Sheila Busceme Kailee Viator Stephan Malick Michelle Falgout Stacey Haynes Joe Winston John Fulbright Mark Jacobson Nathaniel Welch Gina Garcia Jack Hays Aslinn Garcia Paisley Polk Zoe Williams Rana Matthews Caroline Badon James King Madison Rose Stuckey Dawn S. Fischer Madison Bonds Chris Garcia Taylor VanDevender Jaycie Henderson Nathan West Kay O'Neal Olivia Busceme Chad Barrows John Rollins

JOIN US

FOR ART OPENINGS ON THE FIRST SATURDAY OF THE MONTH

THIS MONTH:

SPONTANEOUS CONSTRUCTION AN OPEN INVITATIONAL 3D-CONCEPT SHOW OPENING RECEPTION IS MARCH 7, 7-10 P.M.

This project was funded in part by the B.A. & E.W. Steinhagen Benevolent Trust through the Southeast Texas Arts Council.

ISSUE

DISTRIBUTION POINTS DOWNTOWN THE ART STUDIO, INC. 720 FRANKLIN ART MUSEUM OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS 500 MAIN BABE DIDRIKSON ZAHARIAS MUSEUM 1750 IH-10E BEAUMONT CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU 801 MAIN BEAUMONT ART LEAGUE (FAIRGROUNDS) 2675 GULF ST NEW YORK PIZZA & PASTA 790 NECHES SETAC 701 NORTH STREET, STE. 1 STARBUCKS EDISON PLAZA TEXAS ENERGY MUSEUM 600 MAIN SOUTH END/LAMAR UNIVERSITY CARLITO’S RESTAURANT 890 AMARILLO @ COLLEGE SUNRISE 2425 S 11TH SIGN INTERNATIONAL 7398 COLLEGE SWICEGOOD MUSIC CO. 3685 COLLEGE LU ART DEPARTMENT DISHMAN ART MUSEUM UNIVERSITY PRESS 202 CARL PARKER BUILDING OLD TOWN ALDEN HOUSE SALON 2415 CALDER ANNA’S MEXICAN BAKERY 2570 CALDER JAVELINA TATTOO 2510 CALDER CHAPAS TAMALES 2305 CALDER THE BREW SHOP 2410 CALDER HEADSTRONG HAIR STUDIO 215 18TH ST. JASON’S DELI 112 GATEWAY SHOP CNTR KATHARINE & CO. 1495 CALDER TACOS LA BAMBA 2005 CALDER RAO’S BAKERY 2596 CALDER CENTRAL/WEST END BAR LOCAL 6358 PHELAN COLONNADE CENTER SMALL TOWN VINYL 6356 PHELAN COLONNADE CENTER BASIC FOODS 6220 PHELAN BEAUMONT COMMUNITY PLAYERS 4155 LAUREL BEAUMONT VISITORS BUREAU IH-10 COLORADO CANYON 6119 FOLSOM JERUSALEM CAFE 6260 PHELAN KATHARINE & CO. CARRY-OUT CUISINE 4455 CALDER GUITAR & BANJO STUDIO 4381 CALDER LOGON CAFE 3805 CALDER MADISON’S 4020 DOWLEN RED B4 BOOKS 4495 CALDER REED’S LAUNDRY 6025A PHELAN @ PEYTON THIRSTY’S 229 DOWLEN PARKDALE RAO’S BAKERY 4440 DOWLEN PORT NECHES THE AVENUE COFFEE CAFÉ 1226 PORT NECHES AVE. ORANGE STARK MUSEUM OF ART 712 GREEN AVE.