2003: Local scene saw shifts in focus, new traditions
By Lucinda Breeding / Arts & Entertainment Editor
The year 2003 was one of quiet yet major change for Denton’s arts community.
As the city grew in 2003, so did the missions and identities of local arts
groups, whether their aim is to advance the visual arts in Denton or to make
the local theater and concert stage a livelier, more artistic place.
The group that made the most lasting and dramatic changes was the North
Texas Area Art League. Local painters and artists established the local
association in 1975. On June 1 this year, the group hired its first ever
executive director, artist and former professor Ingrid Scobie. Under new
leadership with some funding help from TexasBank the group invited a juror
to select its annual fall show, something it hadn’t done before. Just last
month, the group made its most dramatic change: It became the Visual Arts
Society of Texas. Officials said they think the new name more accurately
reflects the growing membership of the group, as well as its desire to
deepen its reputation as a group in which professional artists and educators
mingle with amateur artists who are quite serious about their work.
Denton County was reminded of its immutable association with music when
Hickory Creek attracted thousands to Arrowhead Park for the Hickory Creek
Folk Art & Music Festival. Denton already boasts a bulging music festival
calendar, but city and county officials welcomed Hickory Creek’s tribute to
mountain music and country life. Sally Moore, the chairwoman of the Hickory
Creek Parks and Recreation Department Board, said the event was twofold in
purpose: it acquainted locals with the lakeside parks in Hickory Creek, and
it gave local bluegrass, country and folk music buffs their own weekend
celebration. Festival coordinators declared the event a success and plans
for the second annual folk art festival are well under way.
Six musicians thought they might be able to simply log some performance time
at a Lake Dallas seafood restaurant, but the N’awlins Gumbo Kings were
pleasantly surprised when they packed houses excited, noisily appreciative
houses with their swinging brand of Dixieland jazz.
Trumpet player Steve Howard and clarinetist Mike Sizer said they only wanted
to put their horn-based group together out of sheer love of Dixieland. But
when they brought in trombone player Brad Herring, upright bassist Kerby
Stewart, pianist Danny Hollis and drummer Bobby Breaux, reservations for
their once a month gig at Tierney’s Duck Inn were exhausted days before they
played. The band lineup has changed just a bit since then, but the Kings are
still enjoying their riches.
Recycled Books, a much-loved local bookstore, celebrated its 20th
anniversary. Don Foster, who recently bought the rest of the business began
by his ex-wife, Lucy Morton, invited local book lovers to a sale and some
cake and punch. Live music rounded out the celebration. The bookstore had
moved several times before landing in its perfect corner location at Locust
and Elm streets on the historic downtown Denton Square (a building that Lucy
Morton’s grandfather helped build.)
There was some conflict in 2003’s arts scene. Last fall, Harold Jackson told
the press Apollo Nights, the summer talent show that drew performers and
locals to Fred Moore Park for the last several years, might not be back in
2004. A dispute between city officials and the founder, who mows lawns to
raise the prize money for the talent show winners, has put the event in
limbo. City officials told Jackson he’d have to get a noise variance in
order to play amplified music in Fred Moore Park. Jackson said he’d
cooperate if a city official agreed to talk to him and demand changes in
2004, instead of changing the 2003 event, which was already planned. Jackson
said he wasn’t sure he’d bring the event back for 2004; The city said it
supports his event.
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