SFA to open 'A Forest Insect Alphabet'

This velvet ant woodcut by SFA retired professor Charles Jones is included in the exhibition, "A Forest Insect Alphabet," that the SFA School of Art will open at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17, in Griffith Gallery. The exhibition features pages from a 72-page book recently printed at SFA's fine arts press. LaNana Creek Press.

NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS - Fifty-one original woodcuts and text included in "A Forest Insect Alphabet," a book recently printed by LaNana Creek Press, will be on display in an exhibition of the same title that the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art will open at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17, in Griffith Gallery on the SFA campus.

The book is a result of an SFA faculty research grant awarded to Charles Jones, retired professor of art and director of SFA's fine arts press, and Dr. David Kulhavy, professor of forestry in the Arthur Temple School of Forestry and Agriculture at SFA.

Printed and bound by hand during the summer and fall of 2010, the 72-page book features forest insects important for their beauty, their impact on the forest environment and their intricate ecology. Jones created the woodcuts of each insect, and Kulhavy, whose specialty is entomology, wrote the descriptions.

For the exhibition, Jones has framed 26 selected pages-those that feature a colored woodcut of an insect chosen to represent one letter of the alphabet and the descriptive poetic quatrain by Kulhavy that appears below each image. The 23 black and white wood engravings found in the book are also framed for the exhibition. These provide further visual details of the insects.

The exhibition provides a way for a wide audience to see the beauty of the project and to learn about the insects, explained Jones. "Only 100 books will be printed, and many will become part of rare book collections."

A few copies of the book will be included in the exhibition, and copies are still available for purchase.

Each book also contains a compact disc of songs that are Kulhavy's texts set to music by Nacogdoches musician Miki Lynn. She, Kulhavy and Jones recorded the CD. During the exhibition's opening reception, Jones and Miki Lynn will perform some of the songs.

The exhibition, which is a joint presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Art, is sponsored in part by Nacogdoches Junior Forum and the SFA Friends of the Visual Arts. It will run through Friday, Feb. 4.

Griffith Gallery is located in Room 208 of SFA's Griffith Fine Arts Building, 2222 Alumni Dr. Gallery hours are 12:30 to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Friday. Admission is free. For more information, please call (936) 468-1131.