Synthesis: Art and Nature in the Post-Digital Age

On view: 12-Dec-2019 08-Feb-2020

Synthesis: Art and Nature in the Post-Digital Age

On view Dec 12, 2019 - Feb 8, 2020 

Opening reception and Artists' Talk Dec 12, 5-7pm! 

Please reserve your free reception tickets here.

As our technology advances it is easy to believe that we have grown very far from our natural selves. Many people fear the state of our Post-Digital world, consumed by screens and overwhelmed by targeted advertisements and social media, as technology becomes more completely integrated into our everyday lives. The artists in this exhibition look past the blip of the digital screen and into the future - a future in which the boundaries between nature and technology blur completely.

Featuring work by 26 artists from around the globe, this exhibition includes 3D printed sculpture, Virtual Reality, special effects animation, interactive smartphone filters, digital painting, and traditional media.

Programs of the Twin City Art Foundation are supported by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council as administered by the Northeast Louisiana Arts Council. Funding has also been provided by the National Endowment of the Arts, ArtWorks.

Thumbnail: Shavana Smiley, Alien Space Goddess, 2018. 3D printed PLA, leather, acrylic, LED light, crystals. Image courtesy of the Artist.

57th Annual Juried Competition

On view: 27-Feb-2020 09-May-2020

The 57th Annual Juried Competition

on view February 27 - May 9, 2020

Call for Entry Open Now! Click Banner Below to Enter!

Reception with Juror's Talk and Prize Announcements: Friday, February 28th, 5:30-7:30pm

The Masur Museum of Art’s Annual Juried Competition showcases contemporary artists throughout the United States of America working in any medium. Over $3,000 in prizes is awarded to artists every year. Last year's Best in Show prize went to Gabi Magaly, of San Antonio, TX, for her photographic tapestry Santa Catherine De Siena.

This long-running competition also showcases some of America’s best curatorial talent. The juror for the 57th Annual Juried Competition is Allison Glenn, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (Bentonville, AR).

Past jurors include: Catherine Futter, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Joel Parsons, Cough-Hanson Gallery at Rhodes College; Daniel Stetson, LSU Museum of Art; Gia Hamilton, Joan Mitchell Center; Holly Hughes, Albright-Knox Art Gallery; Sandra Firmin, Colorado University Art Museum; Kelly Shindler, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis; George Shackelford, Kimbell Art Museum; Liza Simone, Phantom Galleries, Los Angeles; Alison Greene, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; David Houston, currently Bo Bartlett Center; and Miranda Lash, currently Speed Art Museum.

Image: R.J. Kern, Kenzi and Hootie, Anoka County Fair, Minnesota, 2017, archival inkjet print. Courtesy of the Artist.

Letitia Huckaby: par·ish

On view: 28-May-2020 15-Aug-2020

Letitia Huckaby: par·ish

On view May 28-Aug 15, 2020

Opening reception: TBA

This exhibition draws heavily from Huckaby's series "40 Acres... Gumbo Ya Ya," which consists of images taken in rural Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas and framed in vintage embroidery hoops. Also featured are pieces from Huckaby's "Shop Rags" series, and a multi-media quilt titled Mississippi Mud. the exhibition examines the landscape of the rural South, the realities and longings of a neglected culture, and the hopes and dreams passed on to future generations.

Born in Augsburg, Germany, Letitia Huckaby began her artistic career at the age of four, when here parents started her in dance classes. She went on to participate in the prestigious Oklahoma Arts Institute two years in a row. It was this exposure to a variety of other art forms that led her to photography, which she formally persued through a Journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma, followed by a BFA in photography from the Art Institute of Boston and a Master’s degree from the University of North Texas in Denton.

Huckaby has exhibited at the Dallas Contemporary, the Galveston Arts Center, Renaissance Fine Art in Harlem curated by Deborah Willis, PhD, the McKenna Museum in New Orleans, the Camden Palace Hotel in Cork City, Ireland, the Texas Biennial at Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum and now the Anzenberger Gallery in Vienna, Austria. Her work is included in many prestigious collections. Huckaby resides in Fort Worth, TX with her husband, fellow artist Sedrick Huckaby, and their children.

Thumbnail: Letitia Huckaby, Sharecroppers Duplex, 2017, pigment print on fabric with vintage embroidery hoop. Courtesy of the Artist.

Lisa Qualls: Southern Stories

On view: 28-May-2020 15-Aug-2020

Lisa Qualls: Southern Stories

on view: May 28 - Aug 15, 2020

Opening reception: TBA

Lisa Qualls grew up in Louisiana and has lived in the South for most of her life.  Her art reflects her personal history and lifelong interest in culture and identity.  For the past several years, Qualls has been traveling through the southern states collecting images and stories that she uses as inspiration for art.  More recently, Qualls has concentrated on using images of plants and textiles that she sees as part of her cultural identity. She experiments with paper, plastics and cement in order to find the most successful combinations of technique and material.  Painting with oils on duralar, drawing with graphite on canary paper and casting natural objects in a cement hybrid are combinations that she frequently uses. Her work is startlingly realistic, and visitors will need to look closely to see any evidence of pencil or brushstrokes.

This exhibition will feature a variety of drawings and paintings exploring the natural landscape of the South, fairy-tales and legends, and cultural history. A special new sculptural installation designed for this exhibition will also debut at the Masur Museum.

Qualls received her BFA and BA from the University of Texas at Austin. She continued her studies in Fine Art and Design at Parsons and FIT in New York, NY and CISIM in Ravenna, Italy. Her work is represented by Nicole Longnecker Gallery in Houston, TX and Ann Connelly Fine Art in Baton Rouge, LA. Qualls is a longtime friend of the Masur Museum: she has been featured in Juried Competitions, has taught classes and workshops, and has donated several quality artworks by notable Contemporary American artists to the Masur Museum's permanent collection. She currently resides in Tallahassee, FL.

Thumbnail: Lisa Qualls, Muse II (Part 1), 2019, graphite on paper. Courtesy of the Artist.