Annual exhibit goes national

09:04 AM CST on Sunday, November 21, 2004


By Lucinda Breeding / Arts & Entertainment Editor




The Visual Arts Society of Texas has another first in its hip pocket. As the society puts out the official call for entries for its 37th annual Visual Arts Exhibition, it’s opening the show to artists all over the country.


DRC/Barron Ludlum
Dr. Marlys Lamar’s painting, Not Knowing When the Dawn Will Come, I Open Every Door, won Best of Show at the Visual Arts Society of Texas 36th annual juried Fine Arts Awards Exhibition last spring. The society is currently getting interest for the 37th show next spring. The 2005 show will be a national show.

Executive director Ingrid Scobie said the show has already brought in interest from New York artists, but the group has gotten entries from all over the country.

"We’d like for this show to eventually be as important as ‘Hard & Soft’ [the flagship national American Craft show hosted yearly by the Greater Denton Arts Council]," Scobie said. "We’ve done a lot of advertising for the show in a lot of different artist publications. We’ve really tried to go higher profile with this show."

Scobie said the society is especially pleased with the juror it recruited, sculptor Jesus Morales, a University of North Texas alumnus who recently juried the art show at Denton’s Fuego Y Alma, an international Latino art and cultural celebration.

Moroles, a Corpus Christi native, grew up in West Dallas. He bought his first diamond saw in 1981 after a year of studio work in Italy. That was the beginning of his studio, an effort that involved his parents, Joe and Maria, his brother, Hilario, his sister, Suzanna, and his brother-in-law, Kurt Kangas. The Moroles Studio is equipped to produce the artist’s huge granite sculptures. His most visible public sculpture is Lapstrake, a 1987 commission for E.F. Hutton at the CBS Plaza. The massive 22-foot, 64-ton piece is located across from the Modern Museum of Art in New York.

His largest scale single work is the Houston Police Officers Memorial, which was dedicated in 1992.

Scobie said securing Moroles’ expertise as a juror is another step the society is taking toward a more authentic reflection of North Texas’ art community. In the last year and a half, the society has recruited student artists from the local university community, both into the society membership and onto the board.

"We really want to reach out to as many different groups as we can," Scobie said.

The society plans to have an April 2 gala, the day when Moroles will come to Denton to determine the award winners. The Best of Show winner is a $1,000 cash prize, with a total cash and merchandise award pot of more than $10,000.

LUCINDA BREEDING can be reached at 940-566-6877.



ENTRIES INFORMATION

Who: Visual Arts Society of Texas

What: call for entries

When: Slides, entry forms and fee, and a self-addressed, stamped envelope must arrive by Dec. 15.

Where: Artists can pick up a prospectus at The Center for the Visual Arts, 400 E. Hickory St.; HMS Art & Frame, 1212 W. Mulberry St.; Voertman’s, 1314 W. Hickory St.; Jupiter House, 114 N. Locust St.; or Cappucino Cafe, 707 Sunset St.

Details: Slides and self-addressed, stamped envelope can be mailed to VAST 2005 Exhibition, P.O. Box 1281, Denton, TX 76202. Entry fee is $30. Checks must be made out to VAST. Slide night is 7 to 9 p.m. at the Center for the Visual Arts, 400 E. Hickory St. Upon acceptance, hand-delivered art must be brought to the Center for the Visual Arts either from 4 to 7 p.m. March 31 or 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 1. Opening reception and awards ceremony will be April 24. For an online entry forms, visit www.VASTarts.org.