MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager

(361) 320-2064 / vanessa@rockportartcenter.com

COOL EXHIBITIONS TO ROUND OUT THE SUMMER AT ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS

“Coastal Mementos” and “Source of All Hair, Wearer of All Socks” as diverse as exhibition names  

ROCKPORT, Texas (July 30, 2024) —  “Coastal Mementos,” showcasing the meticulous woodworking skills of artist Jesse Moreno, and “Source of All Hair, Wearer of All Socks,” featuring the figurative drawing installations of artist Sam Modder, will wrap up the summer exhibitions at Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA).

Moreno’s pieces will be on view and available for collection Aug. 8–Oct. 6 in the Jeanie & Bill Wyatt Gallery, while Modder’s work will be on display Aug. 23–Sept. 22 in the H-E-B Gallery. A public artist reception with Jesse Moreno will be held on Saturday, Aug. 10 and on September 14, for Sam Modder from 5–7 p.m., both are held on the second Saturday to coincide with the monthly Austin Street Art Walk a free, alfresco, walkable art experience featuring RCA and other galleries located in downtown Rockport. The shows and reception are free and open to the public.

“The Moreno and Modder exhibitions showcase two gifted artists with diametrically opposed methods of creating,” said Catey Arnold, The Barrow Foundation Curator of Exhibitions for RCA. “There will be something for everyone to enjoy at RCA this exhibition cycle with the diverse styles and processes on display.” 

A creative woodworking enthusiast, Jesse Moreno began creating his meticulously crafted wooden books as gifts for graduating nieces and nephews. Those created for “Coastal Mementos” include coastal imagery wood-burned onto the “book covers,” such as sea shells, sand dollars, lighthouses and more.

“I’ve designed them to look and open like a book,” said Moreno. “Inside, there is plenty of room for safe keeps, jewelry, pictures, letters, etc. I use exotic woods to emphasize the beauty of wood. I’m now on my second-generation design and looking forward to my third generation.”

Moreno is a member of Hausman Millworks, a group of creatives — painters, digital artists, sculptors, fibers and craft artists, photographers, performing artist groups, woodworkers, and metal fabricators — who have created a community and sense of place in the heart of San Antonio. In his studio at “The Millworks,” Moreno utilizes multi-grained and patterned wood from around the world to create his unique books and boxes. For the spine, he uses a special router bit to cut out the concave curvature patterns. For the pages, a certain wood when specialty cut resembles pages from a book. For the covers, he uses exotic woods with reflective figures or colorful grain. Whether it’s Purpleheart from a Brazilian valley or Zebrawood found in Africa, his creations are all natural in the vast array of colors with no stain or dye used to enhance the beauty.

Working figuratively in pen, collage, and digital media, Sam Modder portrays larger-than-life Black, female characters taking up space in real and imagined worlds. In “Source of All Hair, Wearer of All Socks,” she presents a subjective Black woman's fairytale to process interlocking structures of oppression.

“Like a storybook turned mural, the installations are digitally manipulated ballpoint pen drawings that follow a Black woman in her nightdress and striped socks in a world made up of only her and her duplicates,” said Modder. ”The work is an allegory for our contemporary condition, confronting questions of power, exploitation, and resistance.”

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, and raised on the island country of Sri Lanka, Modder is a 2017 graduate of Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H. earning a BA in Studio Art and Engineering with an MFA in 2022 from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. She currently lives and works in Tampa, Fla., where she serves as an Assistant Professor of Art and Design at the University of Tampa.

Modder’s work has been widely exhibited in museums, galleries, and public spaces including Catskills Art Space in Catskills, N.Y.  (2024), Morris Museum in Morristown, N.J. (2024), the African American Museum of Dallas (2023), and as part of Miami Beach’s No Vacancy 2023, where she installed seven murals at the Catalina Hotel during Miami Beach Art Week. 

For more information on “Coastal Mementos” and “Source of All Hair, Wearer of All Socks” visit rockportartcenter.com follow RCA on Facebook, or call (361) 729-5519.

About Rockport Center for the Arts

The new 1.2-acre Rockport Center for the Arts, the Coastal Bend’s first multidisciplinary arts organization, is located a block away from Aransas Bay in the heart of the Rockport Cultural Arts District. Designed by the award-winning team at Richter Architects, the state-of-the-art campus features a two-story, 14,000-square-foot, visual arts and education building with four galleries and five classrooms (204 S. Austin St.); The Rockport Conference Center, a one-story, 8,000-square-foot conference and event center, known as The ROCC, (106 S. Austin St.); with a 16,000-square-foot Sculpture Garden serving as a visually inspiring transition space between the two buildings. The hours of operation for the showroom, galleries, and gift shop are Tuesday–Saturday from 10 a.m.–5 p.m., and Sunday from noon–4 p.m. Admission is always free. For information on event space, or to book an event, call (361) 450-8033. For general information and to become a member, visit rockportartcenter.com, follow RCA on Facebook, or call (361) 729-5519.

About Austin Street Art Walk

Austin Street Art Walk is a collective effort of the Rockport Center for the Arts and Moon Over Water Gallery in partnership with Rockport galleries, restaurants, and businesses located along Austin Street in the Rockport Cultural Arts District. Scheduled the second Saturday of each month, April through December, from 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Art Walk is a free, alfresco, walkable art experience featuring an ever-changing mix of participants and art mediums such as paintings, ceramics, jewelry, photography, textiles, as well as live music, artist demonstrations, food and more. Follow us on Facebook for more information.

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