Axe ’Em, Jacks!
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – An exhibition of works by San Antonio-based Japanese artist Hiromi Stringer will show Feb. 6 through March 23 in the Ledbetter Gallery of The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.
Hosted by the School of Art at Stephen F. Austin State University, the exhibition “The Dog Show: Time Traveler Umeyama’s Drawings from the 21st Century” is a set of drawings depicting a variety of dog breeds with observations by the artist’s time-traveling character Shoei Umeyama, according to Weelynd McMullan, exhibition coordinator for The Cole Art Center.
As an artist, Stringer, who is a drawing lecturer at the University of Texas at San Antonio, focuses on how globalization can affect national identity, drawing from her own experience as an immigrant of more than 30 years ago. Stringer uses drawings to create an installation of a traveling exhibition from a fictional museum, the Umeyama Time Teleportation Museum. The focus of UTTM is to showcase achievements and influences of the first time-traveler Umeyama, who time travels between the Japan of 170 years ago and various locations of the world in the 21st century.
Stringer’s works are in public, corporate and private collections in Japan and the U.S. Stringer has exhibited at Artspace digital gallery, the Contemporary at Blue Star, McNay Art Museum, the Southwest School of Art and the UTSA Art Galleries, Cinnabar Art Gallery, REM Gallery, and grayDUCK Gallery, among others.
An opening reception for “The Dog Show: Time Traveler Umeyama’s Drawings from the 21st Century” is planned for 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 6, at The Cole Art Center, SFA’s historic art gallery located at 329 E. Main St. The reception is co-sponsored by the SFA Friends of the Visual Arts, art Professor Bill Arscott and the Nacogdoches Junior Forum. Admission to the exhibition and reception is free. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.