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 ourwebsite at www.artstudio.org. Be sure to include the location and dates of the subject, as well as any costs.

DESIRE FOR TERRA FIRMA,an exhibition of prints and drawings by XENIA FEDORCHENKO,opens May 6 at Texas A&M Corpus Christi, with a reception beginning at 6p.m. An artist’s talk will precede the opening at 4 p.m. _______________

The MUSEUM OF THE GULF COAST is hosting ANNE FRANK: A HISTORY FOR TODAY on view through May 31.

On loan from the Anne Frank Center in New York, the exhibition features 25 panels that tell the story of Anne Frank and her family juxtaposed against world events before, during and after the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.

Through the family’s story, themes of scapegoating, bullying, anti-Semitism, racism, ethnic cleansing, and genocide are explored. The exhibition introduces visitors to the events leading up to World War II, and the government directed killing of Jews, Gypsies, the disabled, Slavs and others.

The exhibit depicts individuals who chose to join the Nazi party and become perpetrators, those who were bystanders, as well as those who were willing to resist the Nazi tyranny. In addition, the Museum of the Gulf Coast will supplement the traveling exhibition with objects from its own collection as well as the Holocaust Museum Houston.

The museum will also host a variety of other public programs in association with “Anne Frank: A History for Today” including film screenings on select Saturday afternoons at 2 p.m., a bus trip on May 1 to the Holocaust Museum Houston and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.

School groups are encouraged to tour this exhibition. School tours are always free at the Museum of the Gulf Coast. However, schools are urged to schedule their tours as far in advance as possible as the spring calendar fills up quickly.

The Museum of the Gulf Coast is owned and operated by the Port Arthur Historical Society in partnership with Lamar State College-Port Arthur and the City of Port Arthur.

The museum is located at 700 Procter Street in downtown Port Arthur and is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

For more information, visit www.museumofthegulfcoast.org or call 409-982-7000. _______________

The SPINDLETOP FOUNDATION will present EUFORIALIVE,an event to benefit the STMHMR Autism Program, 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., May 8 at Lamar University’s Gray Library.

“Witness a world of color coming to life. Experience and feel the warmth and magic of Euforialive, featuring internationally renowned artists Rolando Diaz and Seth Simmons,” Maria Guillory, the foundation’s executive director, said. “Imagine a blank canvas. At the end of our event, the artist will create an oil to canvas masterpiece that we will auction to benefit Autism research. During the time Rolando is painting, Seth will be playing original compositions on a baby grand piano. That is Euforialive.”

For more information, contact Guillory at 409-839-2221. _______________

The BUU MON BUDDHIST TEMPLE is SEEKING VOLUNTEERS.The temple is preparing its gardens for the upcoming 12th Annual Lotus and Bamboo Festival. Due to the winter freezes and damage to the ponds from Hurricane Ike, which have became apparent with time, the temple has undertaken a major landscaping project out of necessity.

“More than any other year we need volunteers to assist with preparing the gardens as well as the temple and the temple grounds for this year’s coming event.,” a temple release states. “There is a variety of tasks needed to be addressed in order for this year’s Lotus Garden Festival to be as successful as it has been in the past. The work cannot be completed in time without the community’s support. Whatever time you can offer from a few hours a day, to a few days, even weeks, is greatly appreciated.”

Volunteers need not be educated in the cultivation of tropical plants, just be willing to work outdoors, and want to serve the community. Bhante Kassapa, assisted by Mr. Mark Hines of Shangri-La Gardens, will instruct volunteers in the proper way to go about working in the gardens.

Volunteers are also needed in the kitchen to assist Bhante Kassapa (Rev. K.) with meals that the temple will provide for the volunteer workers. Also, the temple will need some repairs and painting.

Those who live out of town or out of state are welcome. Iftransportation is needed in order for volunteers to assist with the gardens, please contact Bhante Kassapa at 409-9608369 or email cbmtemple@yahoo.com. Arrangements can be made to make your visit a possibility.

“Granted, gardening is at times physically draining but you will be filled with a sense of accomplishment, pride and wonderment when you see the gardens blossom from your endeavors,” the release states.

In addition, the monks need volunteers to assist the temple during the festival. Volunteers will assist visitors by answering questions and giving directions as well as working in the temple booths.

For more information, email cbmtemple@yahoo.com, or call Bhante Kassapa at 409-960-8369, or Danny Dubuisson at 409-982-9319. _______________

Auditions for the summer musical, presented by LAMAR STATE COLLEGE-PORT ARTHUR and PORT ARTHUR LITTLE THEATRE,will be held June 1, 2 and 3 at 7 pm in the Lamar Theater on the LSC-PA campus. Show dates are July 29, 30, 31 and Aug 1. Aug 5, 6, 7 and 8. As of press time, the show had yet to be announced.

For more information, call Keith Cockrell at 409-9846338. _______________

The ART MUSEUM OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS presents two new exhibitions on view through July 11, that share emotional stories and childhood memories through art. “Playing in the Sand” features dynamically engineered photographic reconstruction sculptures of beach scenes by artist Rusty Scruby, and “Virgil Grotfeldt, 274296” includes moving oil paintings on X-rays of the artist’s brain completed during the last year of his life.

RUSTY SCRUBY: PLAYING IN THE SAND features 19 analytically derived two and three-dimensional works which demonstrate the perfect balance Scruby achieves by blending his learned abilities in math and music with art. Using a series of repetitious photographs, drawings, paper or plastic, he cuts, folds and weaves together complex constructions.

Much of Scruby’s artwork in this exhibition is based on his childhood living on Kwajalein Island, a secret U.S. military base in the middle of the South Pacific, where he developed a curiosity and love of the ocean. He went on to study aerospace engineering at Texas A&M University and then music composition at the University of North Texas, Denton. Scruby has no formal art training other than working in a design studio with ceramics and porcelain forms. He pieces together what he learned through his education and experiences to create innovative works of art.

Defining his work as sculpture, Scruby employs his engineering techniques to render surfaces that represent waves, ripples or bodies of water. Color, pattern and images are used to express musical harmonies, melodies and themes. “Playing in the Sand,” the title piece, and “Beach Couple” are two of Scruby’s latest developments – threedimensional photographic reconstructions of globe and torpedo-shaped objects hanging from the ceiling that give viewers the opportunity to experience the work from every angle. “Reef” and “Cube Network” use precisely and repetitiously folded paper and plastic to abstractly illustrate the complexity of the ocean.

VIRGIL GROTFELDT, 274296 is the final body of work of Grotfeldt, one of Houston’s leading artists, who died from cancer on Feb. 24, 2009. He had been treated for lymphatic illness at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center since 1993, when he was first assigned the patient number 274296. The 18 oil paintings that comprise the exhibit incorporate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of Grotfeldt’s own brain.

“By incorporating personal brain scans into the art of oil painting, Virgil makes a most profound human statement in a personal and original manner,” said Edwards. “The oil paintings in this exhibit, which represent a continuation of Virgil’s long career as a painter, have been completed under the most extraordinary conditions.”

Grotfeldt was a highly experimental painter and often used found notebooks and papers as the basis for his work, so choosing his own brain scans was the ultimate found base.

Born in 1948 in Decatur, Ill., Grotfeldt earned a bachelor’s degree in art education from Eastern Illinois University in 1971 and a master’s degree at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia in 1974. He moved to Houston in 1977 and from 2002 until his death served as associate professor of art and artist-in-residence at Houston Baptist University. Grotfeldt’s résumé includes numerous national and international solo exhibitions. His work has been collected by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Menil Collection; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Chengdu Museum, China; and the Fritz Becht Collection, Amsterdam.

Summer is quickly approaching and the ART MUSEUM OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS is gearing up for days full of fun and sun spent at the beach with PLAYING IN THE SAND FAMILY ARTS DAY.From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 1, children and their families are encouraged to visit the museum to learn about art and make beachinspired art to take home.

The Family Arts Day is held in conjunction with the exhibition “Playing in the Sand” by artist Rusty Scruby. Children will be able to explore this exhibit and then participate in several art activities in the same styles such as woven paper beach balls, beach scene photo collages and colored sand paintings. They will also be able to contribute to the collaborative folded collage installation, where folded artwork will be mounted together to make a large-scale sculpture and displayed at AMSET.

Children will be able to create their own X-ray paintings and sun print paintings in conjunction with “Virgil Grotfeldt, 274296,” which includes oil paintings on X-rays of the artist’s brain.

The event will also include face painting, lively entertainment and refreshments.

Family Arts Day is free and open to the public.

Call 409-832-3432 or visit www.amset.org for more information. _______________