MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager

(361) 729-5519 / vanessa@rockportartcenter.com

MUCH TO SEE IN MARCH AT ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Exhibitions include Anthony Sonnenberg’s art of decoration and Robbie Barber’s depictions of rural America

ROCKPORT, Texas (March 6, 2024) — “The State of My Heart,” showcasing a unique collection of elaborately decorated 2-D and 3-D works designed by mixed-media artist Anthony Sonnenberg, and “Relics,” featuring the architecture-related cast sculptures of artist Robbie Barber, make their March debut at Rockport Center for the Arts.

Sonnenberg’s work will be on view and available for collection March 19–April 28, 2024, in the H-E-B Gallery while Barber’s pieces will be on display March 26–May 26, 2024, in the Jeanie & Bill Wyatt Gallery. A public artist reception with both artists will be held on Saturday, April 13, from 5–7 p.m., 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.

“While vastly different in style, the Sonnenberg and Barber exhibitions are incredibly textural in nature,” said Catey Arnold, The Barrow Foundation Curator of Exhibitions for RCA. “Guests will be inspired to reflect on the various works to draw their own meanings.” 

Sonnenberg says his art is a copulation of many feelings and states of being. He works with all types of adornment, whether it’s making jewelry or adding jewels to tchotchkes to beautify a sculptural piece, or even using both techniques in the creation of elaborate crowns, which he will sometimes wear as part of his performance art.

“My art is a physical by-product of the act of creating objects of beauty as an antidote to my abiding fear of the certainty of my death and the knowledge that eventually even the memory of me will fade away,” said Sonnenberg.

Ranging from porcelain to performance, Sonnenberg’s work has been shown across the U.S. and internationally with recent notable exhibitions including Cannons Buried in Flowers, Gavlak Gallery, Los Angeles (2023); Ceramics Now, Galerie Italienne, Paris, France (2021);  I’m Going to Dance the Way I Feel, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, Fla. (2021);  and State of the Art II, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Ark. (2020).

Among his many residencies is Windgate Museum Of Art, Inaugural Artist-In-Residence, Hendrix College, Conway, Ark. (2021); CSULB-CCC Summer Resident Artist, California State University, Long Beach (2018); Yaddo Artist Residency, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (2017); Resident at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston (2016); and Emerging Artist in Residence at Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, Wash. (2012).

Born in Graham, Texas, and now residing in Fayetteville, Ark., Sonnenberg earned a B.A. with an emphasis in Italian and Art History in 2009 and an M.F.A. in Sculpture in 2012 from the University of Washington in Seattle.

Influenced by his travels throughout rural America, Robbie Barber’s architecture-related sculptures are both folk and outsider art featuring paint-worn patinas inspired by played-with cast iron piggy banks, die-cast toy automobiles, and tin toys. His pieces reflect the strong visual character of America’s vernacular architecture including vintage clapboard houses, mobile homes, and agriculture-related structures — regional icons that ultimately tell the stories of their inhabitants and builders with an implied history that interests him deeply.

“Typically considered eyesores, these structures are glaring reminders of the social and economic plight of much of our society,” said Barber.” Yet on a formal level, they have a hidden beauty, complex in color, texture, and shape. My goal is to capture the magical quality of these powerful objects.”

Recently completing a large-scale outdoor public commission titled “Geri,” for the Waco Sculpture Zoo, his exhibitions have included the Grace Museum, Abilene, Texas; Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, N.Y.; Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn, Ala.; Grounds For Sculpture, Hamilton, N.J.; Redbud Gallery, Houston; and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, Tokyo, Japan. Residencies and fellowships include the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program in Roswell, N.M., a Southern Arts Federation/NEA Regional Visual Arts Fellowship in Sculpture, and a North Carolina Arts Council Visual Artist Fellowship.

A Texas resident for nearly 30 years, Barber was born and raised in Williamston, N.C., receiving his B.F.A. in Sculpture from East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C. in 1987, and his M.F.A. in Sculpture from the University of Arizona in 1991 and studied in Cortona, Italy, through the University of Georgia Studies Abroad Program. He is currently a professor of sculpture at Baylor University.

For more information on “The State of My Heart” and “Relics,” 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 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.); 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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