Axe ’Em, Jacks!
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Art lovers still have an opportunity to visit The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches through June 30 to view winning entries in the 29th Texas National Competition and Exhibition, an annual show of the School of Art at Stephen F. Austin State University.
Tomball artist Dave Clark was the first place winner in SFA’s 2024 juried show for “S.S. Kerouac,” a work of wood, resin, plastic, ceramic, gravel, twine and paint. A high school sculpture teacher in the Houston area, Clark is a graduate student in the School of Art at SFA earning a Master of Fine Arts with a major in sculpture and minor in painting. His recent exhibition “Unconventional Contraptions and Other Oddities” showed this past spring semester in the Teresa Jill Adams Art Gallery on the SFA campus.
Second place went to Sara Kollig of Taos, New Mexico, for an oil on canvas piece titled “REDFINGER.”
Emily Legg, artist from College Station, earned third place for a 3D print TPU titled “Cortesia Glomerata.”
Honorable mentions went to San Antonio artist Nancy Wood for “Japanese Tea Garden Blue,” which is a computer-enhanced photo on aluminum panel; to Wichita Falls artist Steve Hilton for “Tea for 43,” a ceramic piece; and to West Des Moines, Iowa, artist Patrick Luber for “Punctum,” a piece created with wood, aluminum beverage cans, brass nails and blood test lances.
The School of Art’s annual juried competition and exhibition attracts entrants from across the United States, providing artists an opportunity to have their work juried by highly acclaimed curators, artists and critics.
This year’s juror was Peter S. Briggs, noted art historian, researcher and curator, who has curated more than 140 art exhibitions and published more than 95 articles, books and exhibition catalogs primarily on 20th and 21st century American art. He currently lives in Tucson, Arizona, and is writing a book about Terry Allen's graphic art. Briggs has received more than 30 research and program grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities; has been an Organization of American States (OAS) research fellow at the Museo del Hombre Panameño and the Museo Nacional of Costa Rica; and received fellowships and grants from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, American Alliance of Museums, Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Fund for Folk Culture and Tinker Foundation, among others.
Exhibitions and receptions at The Cole Art Center are free and open to the public. Sponsors are SFA Friends of the Visual Arts and William Arscott.
The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. Hours of operation are noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. For more information, call (936) 468-5500.