ROCKPORT ART FESTIVAL PREPARES FOR ANNUAL HOLIDAY EVENT

MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager

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

ROCKPORT ART FESTIVAL PREPARES FOR ANNUAL HOLIDAY EVENT

Patsy Lindamood selected as 2024 event’s Master Artist; Anita Diebel named honorary chair for Art Auction Gala

ROCKPORT, Texas (May 7, 2024) — Tickets are now on sale for the 56th annual Rockport Art Festival, presented by Salemi Ace Hardware. Hosted by Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA), the event will be held on the Festival Grounds at Rockport Harbor, Saturday and Sunday, July 6–7, with the Art Auction Gala on Friday night, July 5, kicking off the holiday weekend activities.

Since its inaugural summer event in 1969, the Rockport Art Festival has become one of the largest and most celebrated annual art events in the U.S. with an estimated 10,000 attendees and more than 120 juried artists from across the country participating each year. A complete list of participating artists will be available for viewing on the event website at rockportartfest.com.

“Over the past 55 years, the Rockport Art Festival has become a cherished tradition over the July Fourth weekend on Aransas Bay in the heart of Rockport-Fulton and we're thrilled to once again welcome artists, patrons, and tourists to this vibrant gathering,” said Karen Ernst, chairperson of the Rockport Art Festival. "This event promises a delightful festival atmosphere, celebrating creativity at its finest and offering a prime opportunity to acquire unique, original artworks spanning various mediums and price ranges.”

Art Fest hours are July 6 from 10 a.m.–6 p.m., and July 7 from 10 a.m.– 5 p.m., on the Festival Grounds at Rockport Harbor, located at 1500 E. Laurel, adjacent to Rockport Beach Park and Aransas Bay. Attendees can enjoy many other activities throughout the festival weekend, including a variety of food and drink options, live music inside an air-conditioned 14,000-square-foot tent, and a children’s activity tent featuring craft activities, face painting and live musical entertainment.

Known for her realistic watercolor pencil, graphite and soft pastel works, Patsy Lindamood is the 32nd artist to be honored as Rockport Art Festival Master Artist, a tradition that began in 1993 with Harold Phenix. As Master Artist, she will host a solo show, Rockport Coast Lines, presented by Tito’s Handmade Vodka, June 21–August 4 in RCA’s H-E-B Gallery. Lindamood will provide an original piece of art to the annual Art Auction Gala on July 5, which will also feature work from previous master artists including Anita Diebel who was named honorary chair this year.  Held each year since 1993, as the kickoff to Art Fest, the sold-out patron event takes place in an air-conditioned big top tent on the Festival Grounds and includes several auctions, live music, and a catered dinner.

The Art Festival Store will also be open throughout the weekend with a variety of items for purchase such as the highly sought-after event T-shirts, designed each year by a Rockport-Fulton Middle School student. This year’s winning artist and design will be revealed prior to the event.

In addition to providing an economic boon for Rockport–Fulton and surrounding Aransas County, Art Fest is also the biggest fundraiser of the year for RCA. Together, the festival and auction raise a significant portion of the funds required for the annual operating budget, which helps to create and sustain the many free to low-cost visual arts and educational programs hosted year-round.

Tickets to the festival weekend are available online, in person at RCA before the event weekend, and on event days at the festival. Single-day festival tickets are priced at $10 per day for ages 13 and up (12 and under are free), with two-day festival VIP Passes available for $15 each, providing pre-opening access to the festival on both days starting at 9 a.m.

Sponsors and supporters of the 56th Annual Rockport Art Festival include:

• Presenting Sponsor: Salemi’s Ace Hardware

• Sustainer Sponsors: American Bank, GSM Insurors, L&F Distributors of Corpus Christi, Marea at Estes Flats

• Media Sponsor: KRIS 6 NEWS

• Patron Sponsors: 1st Community Bank, Frost Banking Investments Insurance, Key Allegro Real Estate, Prosperity Bank, Teal Construction Company, IBC Bank, H-E-B

• Government Support: City of Rockport, Texas Commission on the Arts, Aransas County

• Champions of Public Support for the Arts: Texans for the Arts, Rockport Cultural Arts District

For more information or to purchase tickets for the Rockport Art Festival, please visit rockportartfest.com or call (361) 729-5519.

About Rockport Art Festival Master Artists, 1993–present

1993 Harold Phenix †; 1994 Steve Russell (Founding member of the Rockport Art Association, Inc.); 1995 Al Barnes †; 1996 Herb Booth †; 1997 Jesus Moroles †; 1998 Evelyn Atkinson; 1999 Ricardo Rivera †; 2000 Kay Barnebey; 2001 Jim Offeman; 2002 Flint Reed; 2003 Anita Diebel; 2004 Thom Evans †; 2005 Carol Koutnik; 2006 Hal McCaskill; 2007 Nanci Barnes; 2008 Teresa Justice; 2009 Lisa Baer Frederick; 2010 Shirley Hughes Blackman; 2011 Betty Shamel; 2012 Bruce Bitter; 2013 Bonnie Lou Prouty; 2014 Pamela Fulcher; 2015 Chance Yarbrough; 2016 Joey Blazek; 2017 Barb Robinson; 2018 Debbie Stevens; 2019 Angalee DeForest; 2020 V… Vaughan; 2021 Robin Hazard; 2022 Jeffrey Neel McDaniel; 2023 Kent Ullberg; and 2024 Patsy Lindamood 

Legend: † Deceased

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SUMMER EXHIBITIONS SHINE AT ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS

MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager

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

 SUMMER EXHIBITIONS SHINE AT ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS

RCA Master Artists take center stage

ROCKPORT, Texas (May 31, 2024) — The galleries of Rockport Center for the Arts will be filled this summer with the work of its master artists, both past and present.  

Now underway is Rockport Legends, May 31–July 21, in the McKelvey Charitable Fund Gallery, featuring works from many of the Rockport Art Festival Master Artist honorees through the years including award-winning painter Anita Diebel and acclaimed wildlife sculptor Kent Ullberg. Always a guest favorite, the exhibition is a visual representation of what inspires artists to move to Rockport and become part of the most vibrant art community on the Texas Gulf Coast.  A public reception with some of the participating artists will be held June 8 from 5–7 p.m. The reception also will coincide with the monthly Austin Street Art Walk a free, alfresco, walkable art experience featuring RCA and other galleries located in downtown Rockport.

Every year since 1993, a diverse committee of artists and art patrons gathers to select one master artist for the annual Art Fest, the first of whom was Harold Phenix whose collection of watercolors depicting Texas lighthouses is permanently displayed at the Texas Maritime Museum in Rockport.

 “We are fortunate to have so many talented artists, past and present, who have contributed so much to advance the arts, here in the Coastal Bend and beyond,” said Catey Arnold, The Barrow Foundation Curator of Exhibitions for RCA. “Our tradition of showcasing the work of our Art Festival Master Artists is something guests look forward to each summer.”  

Rockport Coast Lines, presented by Tito’s Handmade Vodka, is the solo exhibition of this year’s Rockport Art Festival Master Artist, Patsy Lindamood, featuring her realistic watercolor pencil, graphite and soft pastel works. Lindamood’s work will be on view and available for collection June 21–August 4, with a public artist reception held Saturday, June 22, from 5–7 p.m., which is free and open to the public. The reception includes the announcement of a limited-edition fine art print and the unveiling of an original piece to be auctioned off at the Art Fest Gala July 5.  

The award-winning Lindamood has achieved all the major American realist signature designations for her work, including the coveted Allied Artists of America, American Artists Professional League, Artists for Conservation, Society of Animal Artists, Salmagundi Club, and the International Guild of Realism.

Her work also continues to be showcased and honored via dozens of prestigious exhibitions and competitions, domestic and international, through these same organizations and more, including the internationally curated Birds in Art, organized annually since 1976 by the world-renown Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin, and the Artists Network an Artists Magazine Strokes of Genius competition, where she was a finalist the last three years. Two of her Rockport Coast Lines drawings have also received specific recognition: “Mom's Bait Shop” (Juror's Award) and “Pelicans on the Pier” (Bronze Award) in the 2024 Artist Invitation 9 International Juried Visual Art Exhibition at Camelback Gallery of Scottsdale, Arizona.

For more information on Rockport Center for the Arts, visit rockportartcenter.com follow RCA on Facebook, or call (361) 729-5519.

About Rockport Center for the Arts and The Rockport Conference Center (The ROCC)

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, including a 4,400-square-foot ballroom and culinary arts kitchen (106 S. Austin St.); with a 16,000-square-foot Sculpture Garden serving as a visually inspiring transition space between the two buildings. 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) 729-5519. For general information and to become a member, visit rockportartcenter.com, follow RCA on Facebook, or call (361) 729-5519.

About the Rockport Art Festival Master Artist Tradition

The first Rockport Art Festival was hosted in 1969 and has grown to become one of the most respected, and longest-running juried art festivals in the United States. Every year since 1993, a diverse committee of artists and art patrons gathers to select one master artist for the annual event, the first of whom was master artist Harold Phenix. This select group of chosen artists are known for their achievements in the Arts, for their engagement and contributions to the Rockport Center for the Arts, and for their ability to capture the coastal aesthetic that is uniquely Rockport and that is recognized across the State of Texas.

About Rockport Art Festival Master Artists, 1993–present

1993 Harold Phenix †; 1994 Steve Russell (Founding member of the Rockport Art Association, Inc.); 1995 Al Barnes †; 1996 Herb Booth †; 1997 Jesus Moroles †; 1998 Evelyn Atkinson; 1999 Ricardo Rivera †; 2000 Kay Barnebey; 2001 Jim Offeman; 2002 Flint Reed; 2003 Anita Diebel; 2004 Thom Evans †; 2005 Carol Koutnik; 2006 Hal McCaskill; 2007 Nanci Barnes; 2008 Teresa Justice; 2009 Lisa Baer Frederick; 2010 Shirley Hughes Blackman; 2011 Betty Shamel; 2012 Bruce Bitter; 2013 Bonnie Lou Prouty; 2014 Pamela Fulcher; 2015 Chance Yarbrough; 2016 Joey Blazek; 2017 Barb Robinson; 2018 Debbie Stevens; 2019 Angalee DeForest; 2020 V… Vaughan; 2021 Robin Hazard; 2022 Jeffrey Neel McDaniel; 2023 Kent Ullberg; and 2024 Patsy Lindamood 

Legend: † Deceased

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ARTS ADVOCATES FINDING COLLECTIVE VOICE FOR NEXT TEXAS LEGISLATIVE SESSION

MEDIA CONTACT:

Chris Kiley, Texans for the Arts

(603) 661-3915 / chris@texansforthearts.com

ARTS ADVOCATES FINDING COLLECTIVE VOICE FOR NEXT TEXAS LEGISLATIVE SESSION

Texans for the Arts Foundation hosting June 27 event designed to engage, educate and energize

AUSTIN, Texas (May 28, 2024) — The 89th Texas Legislative Session is scheduled for Jan. 14–June 2, 2025, and arts advocates will soon be putting their heads together once again to begin preparing their message to lawmakers. The annual Texas Arts Advocacy Summit and Awards, hosted by arts advocacy organization Texans for the Arts Foundation (TFAF), will be held June 27 in Waco, Texas, and is expected to draw creatives and supporters of the arts from across the Lone Star State.

Registration continues for the day-long event to be held at the Cambria Hotel Waco University Riverfront, 8 a.m.–4 p.m., with presentations and insight from industry leaders, including Americans for the Arts, the Texas Commission on the Arts, the Texas Cultural Trust, Texas Hotel & Lodging Association, and more, covering pressing issues for the arts and culture industries. Speakers will explore topics such as the economic impact of the arts on our state’s economy using cutting-edge data, advocacy strategy and policy goals, the value of purposeful partnerships, and the threats and opportunities new AI technology poses to the field. Designed to inspire, engage and educate attendees, TFAF’s goal is to foster a movement empowering advocates and strengthening communities and ensure the arts remain a cornerstone of Texas' cultural identity and economic prosperity.

“Understanding how public support for the arts is appropriated and distributed at local, state, and national levels is vital to its success, as is forging relationships during this interim period between legislative sessions,” said Chris Kiley, executive director of Texans for the Arts. “Now is the time for creatives and supporters of the arts to get to know their elected officials, engage and educate them, and strategize our collective message for the next legislative session. It is also a pivotal moment for our field to come together to discuss threats and opportunities 21st century technology is creating for us all and share important new data with our base to support their ongoing local advocacy efforts.”

“The arts sector enhances educational attainment, fosters health and wellness, amplifies civic engagement and preserves cultural heritage, but it’s also an economic driver for communities and the state, creating jobs, attracting tourists, and generating tax revenue,” said Fiona Bond, president of TFAF and CEO of Creative Waco, one of the event sponsors. “We must share this message with our decision makers at every level, especially during the interim period between legislative sessions.”

The day culminates in celebration with the Texas Arts Advocacy Awards at the Cambria from 6–8 p.m. honoring champions from the arts across the state by recognizing individuals, organizations, and communities providing the foundational support for arts advocacy in Texas.

Support for the Texans for the Arts Foundation’s 2024 Texas Arts Advocacy Summit is generously provided by The Bernard and Audre Rapoport Foundation, The Meadows Foundation, Creative Waco, PNC Bank, Oraichain Labs, and The Cambria Hotel in Waco, Texas.

A limited number of specially priced accommodations are also available at the Cambria by calling the hotel directly at (254) 347-5511 and mentioning the Texas Arts Advocacy Summit, or by booking through the online portal linked on the event’s registration page.

For more information on the Texas Arts Advocacy Summit and Advocacy Awards Dinner, visit texansforthearts.com, follow us on Facebook & Instagram, or call email info@texansforthearts.com.

About Texans for the Arts and Texans for the Arts Foundation

Texans for the Arts and Texans for the Arts Foundation are committed to increasing public funding for the arts through the legislative process, engaging arts administrators, and building a broad constituency of citizen advocates. For more information about Texans for the Arts Foundation, please visit: https://www.texansforthearts.com/tfa-foundation

Texans for the Arts (TFA) is a highly effective, non-partisan, statewide nonprofit 501(c)(4) arts advocacy organization that organizes advocacy efforts in order to protect and increase public funding for the arts at the state, national and local levels and provides coordinated information about legislative activity related to arts issues. Texans for the Arts’ legislative agenda advocates for the development and implementation of public policy that supports a strong and vibrant arts and cultural industry. 

Texans For the Arts Foundation (TFAF) is a 501(c)(3) organization that provides professional development and advocacy education for both arts administrators and committed arts’ supporters to build a broad constituency of citizen advocates.

Together, Texans for the Arts Foundation and Texans for the Arts bring together voices of arts leaders, board members from arts organizations, and committed supporters from across the state to amplify the collective voice for increasing public funding for the arts. 

We envision a world where all Texans champion the arts as essential to our lives.

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MAKING ENDS MEET TAKES ON NEW MEANING AT ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS

MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager

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

MAKING ENDS MEET TAKES ON NEW MEANING AT ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Exhibition features unique metalsmithing creations of sculptor Tara Conley

ROCKPORT, Texas (May 24, 2024) — “Making Ends Meet,” featuring a unique collection of creative shapes and wall-mounted bronze phrases by multi-media sculptor Tara Conley, opens May 28 at Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA).

Creating outdoor public art and exhibits nationally and internationally, Conley demonstrates a command of materials including bronze, steel, stainless steel, fiber and fiberglass, and her study of metalsmithing and jewelry is evident in the mindful design and precise execution of her pieces at any scale. “Making Ends Meet” features sculptures that rise from the ground, hang from the ceiling and extend from the wall, including selections from her more than 1,200 cast bronze phrases in curvilinear script, whose shadows on the wall seem like an echo of the voice once heard.

Conley’s work will be on view in the Jeanie & Bill Wyatt Gallery and available for collection May 28–August 11, including select pieces in the RCA gift shop. A public artist reception which is free and open to the public will be held Saturday, June 8, from 5–7 p.m. The reception also will coincide with the monthly Austin Street Art Walk a free, alfresco, walkable art experience featuring RCA and other galleries located in downtown Rockport.

“Tara Conley's sculptures on view in Making Ends Meet, evoke a sense of connection,” said Catey Arnold, The Barrow Foundation Curator of Exhibitions for RCA. “Employing light, line, and shadow, weaving together elements of tradition and innovation, her upcoming exhibition promises to be a mesmerizing journey for all visitors to RCA.”

Originally from New York State and a graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology’s School for American Crafts in Metalsmithing and Jewelry, the Houston-based Conley possesses an extraordinary knack for creating organic, yet original, shapes from man-made materials, bringing a delightful sense of humor and wonder to the mix.

Over the past two decades, her work has been included in dozens of group and solo exhibitions in galleries and art centers from New York to Seattle, including numerous shows in Texas, and can be found in many prestigious private and public collections across the U.S. including the Houston location of multi-national construction and development company Skanska AB of Sweden, and The Helis Foundation of New Orleans. 

Conley has created several public commissioned works, including an indoor steel and glass lobby sculpture, thirty-three cast bronze phrases, and a 15-foot stainless steel outdoor sculpture for the City of Houston (Houston Police Department South Gessner Patrol Station); a courtyard sculptural installation with artist Joe Barrington for Texas Tech University in Lubbock (Rawls College of Business); and multiple commissions in New Orleans, including her first public art piece, Bronze Bunny (2008), for Lafayette Square.

The artist and her work have been featured in numerous articles and documentaries as well as “Texas Artists Today,” by Catherine Anspon and “Touching Fiber Arts” by Carol Ikard and Jacque Smith for the Texas Museum of Fiber Arts.

For more information on "Making Ends Meet,” visit rockportartcenter.com follow RCA on Facebook, or call (361) 729-5519.

About Rockport Center for the Arts and The Rockport Conference Center (The ROCC)

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, including a 4,400-square-foot ballroom and culinary arts kitchen (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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56th ANNUAL ROCKPORT ART FESTIVAL HONORS TWO ARTISTS WHO HAVE MASTERED THEIR CRAFT

MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager

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

 56th ANNUAL ROCKPORT ART FESTIVAL HONORS TWO ARTISTS WHO HAVE MASTERED THEIR CRAFT

Patsy Lindamood named 2024 event’s Master Artist;

former Master Artist Anita Diebel honorary chair for Art Auction Gala

ROCKPORT, Texas (May 15, 2024) — Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA) is honoring two award-winning artists in conjunction with this year’s Rockport Art Festival, now in its 56th year: artist Patsy Lindamood as the July 6-7 Rockport Art Festival Master Artist and former master artist Anita Diebel (2003) as the honorary chair for event’s Art Auction Gala on July 5.

Patsy Lindamood is the 32nd artist to be honored as master artist, a tradition that began in 1993 with Harold Phenix. As master artist, Lindamood will provide an original piece of art to the annual Art Auction Gala, which features work from previous master artists as well, including Diebel. Held each year since 1993 as the kickoff to Art Fest, the sold-out patron event takes place in an air-conditioned big top tent on the Festival Grounds and includes several auctions, live music, and a catered dinner.

“From time to time, we honor an artist or patron whose engagement with the organization is significant and steadfast,” said Luis Purón, executive director for RCA. “Since the 1980s, Anita Diebel has exemplified the character and tenacity of a Rockport Center for the Arts supporter. She has served the organization in every facet possible — art festival exhibitor and master artist, staff member, donor, board member, and member of committees including strategic planning that charted the course for the development of the new campus.”

Recognized for her sensitive water media and collage paintings that resonate with layers of color and texture, Diebel has been honored with awards at local, national and international levels. Her paintings hang in private and corporate collections throughout the U.S. and abroad, and she has attained signature status in Texas Watercolor Society, Southwest Watercolor Society and Western Federation of Watercolor Society.

An intuitive painter, Diebel works in both transparent watercolor and acrylic. Using many thin layers of pigment to build the foundation of her paintings, brushing, pouring, guiding the pigments and blending the hues, she allows each work to take her on a voyage of discovery, brushing, pouring, guiding the pigments and blending, using whatever it takes to achieve the results she seeks. Diebel is the proprietor and operator of Anita Diebel Gallery located adjacent to RCA.

“I am fortunate to live by the sea and like the sea, my art ebbs and flows, ever-changing,” said Diebel. “Nature infuses my work; it is the one constant, whether working representational or abstract. I now try to paint not just the bird but rather his flight, not just the tree but the wind whistling through the palms. I am a spontaneous painter, reacting to the moment while relying on a rich tapestry of experience in art and life.”

Patsy Lindamood has achieved signature status in the Society of Animal Artists, Artists for Conservation, and the International Guild of Realism with her wildlife work, and as this year’s master artist for Art Fest, she will host a solo show, Rockport Coast Lines, presented by Tito’s Handmade Vodka, June 21–August 18 in RCA’s H-E-B Gallery.

“Patsy’s artwork reflects immense talent and sincere love of the region,” said Purón. “As a regular participant in Rockport Art Fest and Birds in Art, her work speaks to the heart of what makes Rockport special and we’re pleased to honor her as our 2024 Master Artist.”

A late starter as an artist, Lindamood decided in 2004 to become a professional, which she continues to pursue along with her career as a CFO/CTO/CISO for a credit union. In addition to her day job, she typically spends  30 to 40 or more hours a week in her Huntsville, Texas, studio creating new work, on her computer vetting and composing her photographic reference, or engaged in the business of promoting and supporting her art. 

Never previously drawn to painting landscapes, Lindamood more recently developed a series of Texas panoramas featuring grain silos, grain elevators and disintegrating homesteads, vistas comprised of a broad range of values, populated with subjects that are consummate examples of strong lines and shapes. 

“For years, my subject matter was principally wildlife and human portraiture,” said Lindamood. “But a couple of years ago on one of my birding expeditions, other elements of the local Texas environment overran my focus on the avian population of the area.

“Absent the romance of color, working in shades of grey is like telling a short story rather than writing a novel.” 

For more information on Rockport Center for the Arts, or to purchase tickets for the Rockport Art Festival, please visit rockportartcenter.com or call (361) 729-5519.

 About the Rockport Art Festival Master Artist Tradition

The first Rockport Art Festival was hosted in 1969 and has grown to become one of the most respected, and longest-running juried art festivals in the United States. Every year since 1993, a diverse committee of artists and art patrons gathers to select one master artist for the annual event, the first of whom was master artist Harold Phenix. This select group of chosen artists are known for their achievements in the Arts, for their engagement and contributions to the Rockport Center for the Arts, and for their ability to capture the coastal aesthetic that is uniquely Rockport and that is recognized across the State of Texas.

 About Rockport Art Festival Master Artists, 1993–present

1993 Harold Phenix †; 1994 Steve Russell (Founding member of the Rockport Art Association, Inc.); 1995 Al Barnes †; 1996 Herb Booth †; 1997 Jesus Moroles †; 1998 Evelyn Atkinson; 1999 Ricardo Rivera †; 2000 Kay Barnebey; 2001 Jim Offeman; 2002 Flint Reed; 2003 Anita Diebel; 2004 Thom Evans †; 2005 Carol Koutnik; 2006 Hal McCaskill; 2007 Nanci Barnes; 2008 Teresa Justice; 2009 Lisa Baer Frederick; 2010 Shirley Hughes Blackman; 2011 Betty Shamel; 2012 Bruce Bitter; 2013 Bonnie Lou Prouty; 2014 Pamela Fulcher; 2015 Chance Yarbrough; 2016 Joey Blazek; 2017 Barb Robinson; 2018 Debbie Stevens; 2019 Angalee DeForest; 2020 V… Vaughan; 2021 Robin Hazard; 2022 Jeffrey Neel McDaniel; 2023 Kent Ullberg; and 2024 Patsy Lindamood 

Legend: † Deceased

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METALSMITH WORKSHOPS PROVIDE HANDS-ON LEARNING AND MENTORSHIP BY ARTISAN JEWELERS

MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager

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

METALSMITH WORKSHOPS PROVIDE HANDS-ON LEARNING AND MENTORSHIP BY ARTISAN JEWELERS

Rockport Center for the Arts and The Bead Studio partner on new Silver Meltdown Studio

ROCKPORT, Texas (April 17, 2024) — The public will soon have the opportunity to learn the traditional art of metalsmithing through a partnership between Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA) and The Bead Studio. The Silver Meltdown Studio will host workshops led by the area’s top artisans in a new dedicated metalsmith learning and maker’s space in The Bead Studio.

Workshops begin May 4 and will be designed for various skill levels, from beginners to those more experienced, with up to six students maximum for any class, allowing for greater one-on-one guidance. There will be a variety of artisan instructors participating, including The Bead Studio owner, Kathleen Hahn, and many other area metalsmith experts regularly showcased in Silver Meltdown, RCA’s popular silver jewelry runway and trunk show held annually in October.

“We are pleased to be partnering with The Bead Studio to create this amazing learning opportunity,” said Luis Purón, executive director for RCA. “Just as the name implies, the new learning space is a nod to our own Silver Meltdown event featuring a lineup of renowned metalsmithing artists each year, many of whom will now be sharing their expertise with workshop attendees in the spirit of mentorship. We feature select pieces from some of these same artists in our gift shop. Since its inception in 2018, the Silver Meltdown has grown tremendously and so has the passion of other local artisans to create. This is an investment in the future of metalsmithing in Rockport.”

A reception kicking off the new endeavor will be held on Thursday, April 25, from 5–6:30 p.m. at The Bead Shop, located at 812 Henderson Street in Rockport. Silver Meltdown Studio workshops already scheduled include May 4 with Teenya Barnard (silver earrings), May 17–18 with Darla Hamilton (copper electroforming), May 31 with Cindy Gentry (silver pendant), and Sept. 10–11 with Danya DeLeon (bezel setting of cabochon in ring). Prices vary and include instruction and materials, with RCA Members receiving special class pricing.

“I’m grateful for the collaboration with Rockport Center for the Arts as we begin this artistic endeavor in the Coastal Bend,” said Kathleen Hahn, owner of The Bead Studio. “Together we will bring to life the imagination, creativity and artistry of wearable art, and perhaps launch the next generation of metalsmiths.” Workshop details will be available on the RCA and Bead Shop website. Those interested in attending the reception and participating in workshops should contact The Bead Studio directly at (361) 450-1400 to reserve their spot.

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.

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WATER’S EDGE TO MAKE A SPLASH AT ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS

MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager

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

WATER’S EDGE TO MAKE A SPLASH AT ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Larry Graeber exhibition runs April 6-May 26

ROCKPORT, Texas (March 27, 2024) — Whether salt or fresh water, river, lake or ocean, Water’s Edge, features the work of painter and sculptor Larry Graeber, depicting the boundary between land and water where their distinct properties, solid and fluid, meet.  

Graeber’s work will be on view and available for collection April 6–May 26, 2024, in the McKelvey Charitable Fund Gallery with a public artist reception 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.

“Water’s Edge will be right at home in Rockport,” said Catey Arnold, The Barrow Foundation Curator of Exhibitions for RCA. “Looking at Graeber’s artwork is like looking out our windows at the bay and over Austin Street, right down to the striking shared color palettes reflected throughout the exhibition.”  

Graeber’s work continues to be about convergences, both subtle and consequential, with his paintings, drawings and sculptures frequently drawing on regions featuring the convergence of land and water. Whether vast like the Rockport coast or intimate as a small pond, he finds places where land and water reach one another to be profound and influential to his worldview.

“I love the phenomena of three or more elements spurring a reaction that settles into a new condition,” said Graeber. “That it can be familiar or unfamiliar, subtle or remarkable, and that it is going on all the time is intriguing. As confidants, my paintings, sculptures and works on paper are about weaving a tale descriptive of these experiences. Ignited by imagination they become memories and symbols evoked by these convergences as the journey resumes.” 

Whether painting on canvas or foam board, his medium can include oil, enamel, foil leaf, tape, and the use of such tools as trowels, sticks and squeegees, even the conventional brush. When making sculpture, all sorts of ingredients often considered debris may be involved, including wood, cardboard, tape, paint and twine. His work on paper is mostly collage-instigated, using miscellaneous materials such as foil wrappers or even portions of other drawings to get a work started, which then might include oil stick, graphite or felt tip with no particular rules or limits.

Raised in Austin, Texas, Graeber has early ties to the Texas Coastal Bend, including one of his father's first architectural projects, the now Motel 6 across from the Rockport Harbor Marina, and his grandfather owning a waterfront property on nearby Indianola Bay. As a youngster, Graeber spent many evenings red fishing from the slip into the bay and listening to short-wave radio transmissions of distant ships at night. Dark and remote with only small and few far-away lights and the short-wave radio traffic connecting them to distant places, he gained an appreciation for the coastal waters and their connection to the planetary scheme.

Although Graeber originally intended to become an architect like his dad, his college studies at Southwest Texas State University quickly changed direction as he began studying printmaking, jewelry, painting and sculpture — even a little filmmaking. By his second year, he had already found a studio in downtown San Marcos that he devoted to painting.

Graeber began exhibiting in 1971, curated into Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, with his first major one-person exhibition following in 1974, Works from a Small Duplex, hosted by the McNay Art Museum, in San Antonio. After a brief hiatus, he acquired gallery representation in Houston and Dallas spending subsequent years devoted to area venues and some sizable steel sculpture making.

In 2011 Graeber turned his attention to curating as well, mounting the Margins exhibition, featuring six artists and a catalog with an essay for The University of Texas at San Antonio campus gallery. In 2016 he was invited to participate in Meet the Future, the first pop-up exhibit at the McNay Art Museum, and in the fall of 2019, just before the pandemic, he and sculptor Sterling Allen collaborated on Formal Proof in the project room of Contemporary at Blue Star, San Antonio, featuring an exhibit of wall and floor sculpture with an accompanying catalog and essay by Anjali Gupta. Graeber has also appeared in numerous articles and publications including two books: “Art at Our Doorstep” (2008), and “Texas Abstract: Modern/Contemporary” (2014).

Graeber currently works in San Antonio and Marfa, Texas, studios. 

For more information on Water’s Edge, 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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MUCH TO SEE IN MARCH AT ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS

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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ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS ANNOUNCES NEW CURATOR OF EXHIBITIONS

MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager

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

ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS ANNOUNCES NEW CURATOR OF EXHIBITIONS

Interim position becomes permanent for Corpus Christi native Catey Arnold

ROCKPORT, Texas (Feb. 14, 2024) — Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA) announced the appointment of Catey Arnold as The Barrow Foundation Curator of Exhibitions, responsible for securing and planning dozens of shows each year.

“I am so pleased to have found a permanent home with Rockport Center for the Arts,” said Arnold. “I couldn’t be happier to be welcomed onto this team and into this community with such open arms, and I’m so excited for what my future holds at RCA.”

Arnold earned her BA degree in 2016 as a Studio Art major at the prestigious College of Fine Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. She began her professional career in 2017 as a studio assistant to award-winning artist Margo Sawyer, installing exhibitions at museums and galleries across Texas, including the Grace Museum in Abilene, the San Antonio Museum of Art, and Holly Johnson Gallery in Dallas. She also served on the curatorial team at the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi, assisting with numerous exhibitions from 2019 to 2023.

At RCA, she will be responsible for more than 25 exhibitions each year in four spaces: the 1,600-square-foot H-E-B Gallery, the 850-square-foot McKelvey Charitable Fund Gallery, the 500-square-foot Jeanie and Bill Wyatt Gallery designed primarily for small-scale sculptural work, and the 850-square-foot Mendez Family Gallery, the permanent member exhibition space.

“I have delighted in observing Catey evolve from the Preparator role we initially sought her for into the active role of Curator,” said Luis Purón, executive director for RCA.  “There is a distinct elegance and a unique aesthetic perspective in the way she curates work for exhibitions and executes installations.  My team is excited to see her planning work as the staff liaison to the Exhibition Committee, which brings exciting new shows to our community. Her connections to the Texas art world will become an intrinsic asset to the organization.”

In her free time, Arnold enjoys working on abstract mixed-media art at K-Space Studios in downtown Corpus Christi where she maintains a thriving studio practice.

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 The Rockport Conference Center (The ROCC)

Located at 106 S. Austin St. on the 1.2-acre Rockport Center for the Arts campus is The Rockport Conference Center (The ROCC).  Perfect for small conferences and board meetings, team-building events, family reunions, wedding receptions and more, the one-story, 8,000-square-foot conference and event center features a 4,400-square-foot ballroom (Randy Ewing Kemper Hall), 1,400-square-foot reception area (Estelle Stair Foyer), a fully equipped catering and culinary arts kitchen, and state-of-the-art AV and Wi-Fi throughout. For general information or to book an event, visit the-rocc.com, or call (361) 450-8033.

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RISING EYES OF TEXAS EXHIBIT TO FEATURE COLLEGIATE ARTISTS FROM ACROSS TEXAS

MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager

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

RISING EYES OF TEXAS EXHIBIT TO FEATURE COLLEGIATE ARTISTS FROM ACROSS TEXAS

Students vie for share of $2,000 in prize money; juror Tracy Saucier to select “best of show”

ROCKPORT, Texas (Jan. 25, 2024) — Rising Eyes of Texas, a yearly collegiate juried exhibition showcasing paintings, sculptures, video art, prints, and more by select Texas undergraduate and graduate visual arts students, returns to Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA) Feb. 16–March 31.

Hosted annually since 2007, this year’s show features the work of 29 artists from 17 universities and colleges across Texas, including Abilene Christian University, Baylor University, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Houston Christian University, and the University of North Texas. The exhibition will be held in the McKelvey Charitable Fund Gallery and is free and open to the public.

“Rising Eyes of Texas has become a showcase for many students who are primed for to have successful art careers,” said Catey Arnold, interim curator of exhibitions for Rockport Center for the Arts. “We are proud to provide the opportunity for these emerging artists to get the exposure they deserve and to give our guests a glimpse into the future of contemporary art in Texas.”

Juror Tracy Saucier, Director of the Beeville Art Museum, will select the top three “best in show” who will share in the $2,000 purse supplied by the Christopher and Jessica Giesey Rising Eyes of Texas Scholarship Fund. The show also includes two additional awards: The “Barrow Foundation Curator of Exhibitions Award,” a $500 prize recognizing the artwork and artist statement, selected by Rockport Center for the Arts; and the “Giesey Award,” also a $500 cash prize, awarded by the Giesey family for creativity, originality, and artistic merit.

A public reception with the participating art students, their faculty, and Saucier will be held at RCA on March 9, 2024, from 5–7 p.m., which coincides with the monthly Austin Street Art Walk a free, alfresco, walkable art experience featuring RCA and other galleries located in downtown Rockport.

Event benefactors Jean and Charles Giesey are long-time patrons of the arts and donors to Rockport Center for the Arts, including the scholarship fund which provides Rising Eyes of Texas prize money and assists students with submission fees to provide opportunities to all, regardless of means. A member of the RCA board of directors for six years (2014–2019), Jean served as board chair in 2017, leading a 100-day recovery campaign to successfully restore operations after the RCA facility was destroyed that year by Hurricane Harvey.

This year’s juror, Tracy Saucier, serves as the Director of the Beeville Art Museum in Beeville, Texas. In addition to curating and designing its many exhibitions, she works closely with the Beeville Independent School District on the development and implementation of the museum’s extensive educational art program, providing events and activities designed to stimulate the imaginations of the young people in Bee County. She also serves as executive director of the Joe Barnhart Foundation, which continues to create and fund new opportunities for the people of Beeville and the surrounding areas, including the Beeville Art Museum.

In 2018, due to the lack of exhibition space in Rockport following Hurricane Harvey, Saucier and RCA Executive Director Luis Purón collaborated on an exhibition held at the Beeville Art Museum celebrating Rockport artists, underwritten by the Joe Barnhart Foundation.

Saucier joins a list of esteemed jurors for past events including Tanja Peterson, author and gallery director, Redbud Arts Center (2023); Joseph Cohen, artist, and founder of Davis Cohen Fine Art (2022); Rigoberto Luna, co-owner Presa House (2021); Rebecca Gomez, independent curator, former curator Mexic-arte Museum (2020); Hollis Hammonds, professor of art, St. Edwards University (2019); and Rainey Knudson, founder of Glasstire (2018).

Rockport Center for the Arts is located at 204 S. Austin Street. Hours of operation are Tuesday–Saturday 10 a.m.–5 p.m., and Sunday, noon–4 p.m. Admission is free. Visit rockportartcenter.com, follow RCA on Facebook, or call (361) 729-5519 for more information.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Find a complete list of participating artists and their universities on the following page.

About Rockport Center for the Arts and The Rockport Conference Center (The ROCC)

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, including a 4,400-square-foot ballroom and culinary arts kitchen (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.

2024 Rising Eyes of Texas Exhibiting Artists by University/College

Abilene Christian University

Colleen Gostomski

Austin College

Danielle Amaegbo

Baylor University

Sophia Collins

Ava Dryden

Houston Christian University

Victoria Armenta

Crystal Billing

Dominic Clay

Anthony Gordon

Hailey Harvey

Chloe Hudspeth

Delaney McRitchie

Constintine St. John

Lamar University

Taylor Balsano

Stephen F. Austin State University

Rebecca Talbot

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Ashley Burnett 

Texas State University

Kassie Brown

Karlina Higdon

The University of Texas at Arlington

Aubrey Barnett

Chris Crayton

The University of Texas Permian Basin

Karen Pecina Aguilar

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Dominique Flores

Marvely Neme

University of Dallas

Mikey Hernandez

University of Houston–Clear Lake

Cooper Walker

University of North Texas

Cami Bosquez

Carter Cordes

Diego Ponce Hernandez

West Texas A&M University

Anna Vongkaysone

Texas Christian University

Kimberlyn Moore

FROM COILS OF CLAY TO COLORFUL CREATIONS

MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager

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

FROM COILS OF CLAY TO COLORFUL CREATIONS

Ceramics by artist Ariana Heinzman one of three January 2024 shows at Rockport Center of the Arts

ROCKPORT, Texas (Jan. 3, 2023) — “Stack.Loop.Shift,” featuring a unique collection of ceramic sculptures, wall works and functional objects by artist Ariana Heinzman, will kick off the New Year at Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA), joining fellow artists, sculptor Greg Reuter and photographer Ansen Seale, as the first RCA exhibitions of 2024.

Heinzman’s work will be on view and available for collection Jan. 9–Feb. 11, 2024, in the McKelvey Charitable Fund Gallery, with a public artist reception Saturday, Jan. 13, from 5–7 p.m. to officially launch the show. Admission is free and open to the public. The reception also will coincide with the monthly Austin Street Art Walk a free, alfresco, walkable art experience featuring RCA and other galleries located in downtown Rockport.

Heinzman creates quickly and intuitively, keeping her hand in her work, a direct process that captures the urgency and joy of making and acknowledges the agency of the materials. The raw clay retains memory and reacts to Heinzman’s touch. Forms are coil-built and smoothed by hand with each layer in turn defining the path of the next. Pigmented slip is applied in layers with brushes in gestural strokes forming bold lines and patterns. Form and surface are used to build illusion. There is a contrast between the naked clay body — soft and imperfect — and the bold, graphic finishing adornments. 

“The joy from which the artist creates is evident,” said Catey Arnold, RCA exhibitions curator. “Heinzman’s vibrant vessels and whimsical sculptures are truly a sight to behold. We are delighted to present ‘Stack. Loop. Shift.’”

Representing the dueling desires of succumbing to nature and controlling it, Heinzman’s work embraces the utilitarian nature of pottery while also comparing it to forms in nature and the body. Various art movements and genres have influenced and developed her process, including traditional folk art and craft, specifically Pennsylvanian German Fraktur, as well as the graphic arts and intersections of craft and fine art throughout history, most notably William Morris.

Born in Cincinnati, Heinzman lives and works on Vashon Island located in Puget Sound near Seattle. Receiving her BFA in Ceramics from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2013, Heinzman has exhibited at the Vashon Center for the Arts and Pottery Northwest and has work included in the Seattle University Collection. She has been featured in The Seattle Times, as a noted Emerging Artist in Ceramics Monthly Magazine, and published in Pottery Making Illustrated. She is currently represented by J. Rinehart Gallery in Seattle.

For more information on "Stack.Loop.Shift,” visit rockportartcenter.com follow RCA on Facebook, or call (361) 729-5519.

About Rockport Center for the Arts and The Rockport Conference Center (The ROCC)

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, including a 4,400-square-foot ballroom and culinary arts kitchen (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.–7 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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EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY AT ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS

MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager

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

EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY AT ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS

“Make the Dog Bark” to feature Greg Reuter sculptures; artist to host sculpture class

to benefit the acquisition of a new permanent sculpture.

ROCKPORT, Texas (Dec. 18, 2023) — In his new exhibition, "Make the Dog Bark,” sculptor Greg Reuter invites viewers to explore their emotions through his many hand-sculpted iron, aluminum, bronze, and ceramic depictions of man’s best friend.  

Featured in the Jeanie and Bill Wyatt Gallery at Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA), "Make the Dog Bark” will be on display and available for collection Jan. 12–March 17, 2024. A public reception with Reuter will be held on Saturday, January 13, from 5–7 p.m. to officially celebrate the show. Admission is free and open to the public. The reception also will coincide with the monthly Austin Street Art Walk a free, alfresco, walkable art experience featuring RCA and other galleries located in downtown Rockport.

“Inspired by my own pets and the iconic look of a particular stray dog I saw while traveling in Mexico, I often use the image of a dog as an accessible entry point to bring viewers into deeper explorations of complex emotions,” said Reuter. “In recent years I have juxtaposed birds and dogs in my work to explore the relationship between the wild and the domestic. While birds represent the wild and enigmatic side of nature in my work, dogs reflect the unambiguous qualities of love and loyalty.”

Reuter will also lead a “Make the Dog Bark” Sculpture Class at RCA on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, from 10:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m. Reuter will demonstrate hand-building techniques, helping students as they work on their own clay dog sculptures, as well as the process of gilding a bisk-fired piece with copper leaf. Held in the visual arts and education building at 204 S. Austin Street, the class is $100 for RCA Members and $150 for non-members with online registration available at rockportartcenter.com.

Proceeds from the workshop and exhibition sales will be added to funds already being raised for RCA’s acquisition of a new permanent Reuter sculpture. Once acquired, the 7 ft tall x 11 ft long x 4 ft wide bronze dog sculpture will be placed in the Patricia Bennett Moore Sculpture Garden.

“Over the past five decades, Greg Reuter has been tantalizing audiences across the globe with witty and thought-provoking ceramic and metal sculptures that depict a lifelong fascination with flora and fauna,” said Luis Purón, executive director for RCA. “For his second solo exhibition at Rockport Center for the Arts, he celebrates man’s best friend, specifically a street dog he saw while traveling in Mexico named Espinazo (Backbone). A huge dog lover, Reuter has created different representations of the domestic animal for many years, in different sizes, and using various materials — including cast iron fabricated in molds at iron pours. This fascination has led to a new sculpture project for the new facility that will become a celebrated feature in the Sculpture Garden. We hope the entire community will help Make the Dog Bark at Rockport Center for the Arts.”

While living in South Texas, Reuter has created and collaborated on several public art pieces, including five for the city of Corpus Christi and two for TAMU-CC. For his first public art commission in Corpus Christi in 1988, he collaborated with ceramic artist William Wilhelmi to create a mosaic tile floor in the city hall rotunda. In 2006, he collaborated with the Ken King Foundry in Houston to produce the bronze The Year in Sand, commissioned by the Harte Research Institute at TAMU-CC.

Reuter received his BFA from California College of Arts and Crafts, earned an MFA in sculpture and ceramics from the University of Hawaii, and in 1978 joined the faculty of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) teaching ceramics and sculpture. After retiring from teaching in 2018, he established a full-time studio practice. Reuter has lectured throughout the U.S. as well as Mexico, Germany, and Japan; his work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and can be found in numerous private and public art collections. In 2015 Greg traveled to Tokyo and showed his work at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. During two stints at the Atelier Haus Hilmsen, Greg created sculptures which were exhibited in the Monchskirche Museum in Salzwedel, Germany in August 2017. He continues to pursue projects and make work that allows him to express his vision and share messages of conservation, loyalty, and love with his community.

For more information on the exhibition "Make the Dog Bark,” visit rockportartcenter.com follow RCA on Facebook, or call (361) 729-5519.

About Rockport Center for the Arts and The Rockport Conference Center (The ROCC)

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, including a 4,400-square-foot ballroom and culinary arts kitchen (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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CHANGING SOUTH TEXAS LANDSCAPES AND SEASCAPES FOCUS OF NEW EXHIBIT

MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager

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

CHANGING SOUTH TEXAS LANDSCAPES AND SEASCAPES FOCUS OF NEW EXHIBIT

Work of acclaimed artist Ansen Seale kicks off New Year at Rockport Center for the Arts

ROCKPORT, Texas (Dec. 1, 2023) — In his new exhibition, "Rising Tide, Shifting Sand: A Chronicle of Change in Texas,” artist Ansen Seale showcases images of landscapes and seascapes in a way that sets him apart from his peers.

Known for crafting his own cameras and other inventions, Seale used his distinctive slit-scan digital camera to capture and create scenes by swapping the horizontal dimension of the photo for the dimension of time, revealing a hidden reality and challenging conventional perceptions of the world.

Featured in the H-E-B Gallery at Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA), "Rising Tide, Shifting Sand: A Chronicle of Change in Texas” will be on view and available for collection Jan. 12–March 10, 2024. A public reception with Seale will be held on Saturday, Jan. 13, from 5–7 p.m. to officially launch the show. Admission is free and open to the public. The reception also will coincide with the monthly Austin Street Art Walk a free, alfresco, walkable art experience featuring RCA and other galleries located in downtown Rockport.

Born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, Seale grew up in an old farmhouse surrounded by an orange orchard, a natural playground where he developed a great appreciation for nature. Although he does not consider himself a “nature photographer” in the traditional sense, as an artist, he is drawn more and more to natural subjects.

“My work is about the nature of reality as expressed through our partners of the plants and animals we share our home with,” said Seale. “I hope to give the viewer a sense that they are connected in a real way to the world around them, including gravity, tides, and all the life forms in South Texas. A sense of wonder is our best defense against fearfulness as our beloved landscape changes around us.”

Showcasing Seale's distinctive photographic vision and immersing viewers in the natural beauty and essence of South Texas, the show invites guests into a world where the boundaries between observer and environment dissolve, including a standout larger-than-life 14 ft. X 36 ft. mural. Also adding to the experience is a 13-foot pendulum-powered "moon clock" strategically placed in the center of the gallery, echoing the rhythmic dance of the tides and serving as a metaphor for the constant ebb and flow of life.

“Ansen Seale’s work is enthralling. His images defy space and time and although they are still, there is movement in them,” said Luis Purón, executive director, Rockport Center for the Arts. “For this exhibition, he delves deep into nature and the changes we are experiencing in the South Texas environs. No one is doing photography in this complex and innovative way.”

Seale received his BA from Trinity University in San Antonio where he is now based. His time-based works of photographic and sculptural art have garnered international acclaim and have been exhibited in prestigious museums and galleries around the world. His work is included in the permanent collections of esteemed institutions such as the San Antonio Museum of Art; The Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas, Austin; The Museum of Contemporary Art in Salta, Argentina; and the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. He has appeared in a variety of publications and received numerous awards including Artist of the Year by the San Antonio Art League and Museum in 2020, where he was honored with a retrospective exhibition, chronicling a 40-year career in photography.

For more information on the "Rising Tide, Shifting Sand: A Chronicle of Change in Texas,” visit rockportartcenter.com follow RCA on Facebook, or call (361) 729-5519.

About Rockport Center for the Arts and The Rockport Conference Center (The ROCC)

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, including a 4,400-square-foot ballroom and culinary arts kitchen (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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ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS’ MEMBER ARTISTS TAKE CENTER STAGE FOR THE HOLIDAYS

MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager

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

ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS’ MEMBER ARTISTS TAKE CENTER STAGE FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Annual all-members exhibition marks one-year anniversary of new RCA campus;

City of Rockport celebrates the new facility and its role as economic driver of the local economy

ROCKPORT, Texas (Nov. 10, 2023) — The new Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA) opened on Dec. 10, 2022, with the Big Wave! Annual All-Members Exhibition as the new facility’s first show. One year later, the annual all-members show is set to once again kick off the holiday season.

Running November 24, 2023, through January 7, 2024, the Big Wave! Annual All-Members Exhibition will feature works from nearly 200 of RCA’s talented member artists, along with Merit Artist, showcasing three juried member artists from last year’s Big Wave! exhibition.

Spanning the H-E-B, Mendez Family, and Jeanie and Bill Wyatt galleries, Big Wave! will include more than 200 original works, such as paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and pottery. This year’s Merit Artist exhibition will be displayed in the McKelvey Charitable Fund Gallery with works by Al Kline, Emily McCauley, and the late Joyce Combs, selected by 2022 Big Wave jurors, sculptor Greg Reuter and RCA board members Lucy Nye and Kelly Schaub. 

This year’s Big Wave! guest juror will be Michelle Smythe, executive director of K-Space Contemporary in Corpus Christi, who will have the honor of selecting the three participants for next year’s Merit Artist show. The artists will be announced at a special reception on Saturday, Dec. 9, from 5–7 p.m., which is free and open to the public, and features work available for purchase from both exhibitions. The reception will be part of the final Austin Street Art Walk of the year, a free, alfresco, walkable art experience featuring RCA and other galleries located in downtown Rockport.

“The annual all-member show is a favorite for many as it highlights an incredible variety of art from our family of amazing artists and provides an opportunity for an elite group to stand out as merit artists the following year,” said Luis Purón, executive director of RCA. “We are so pleased to have Michelle Smythe serve as our guest juror this year.  She will no doubt have a difficult time selecting only three artists to receive top honors as participants in next year’s Merit Artist show.”

In RCA’s first year of operation on its new 1.2-acre campus in downtown Rockport, the facility has seen major growth: membership has tripled to 1,200; gallery and gift shop sales have doubled; and the number of visitors has also tripled with 6,000 guests over the summer months alone, compared to 1,000 on average in years prior.

In recognition of RCA’s stellar first year, The City of Rockport has proclaimed Dec. 9, 2023, as “I Love Rockport Center for the Arts Day” citing RCA’s 1969 start and the positive impact it has had on the City of Rockport, the 2022 completion of the $12.5 million 1.2-acre campus without incurring debt, and the impact the project has as a driver of the local economy.

“We have had a phenomenal first year,” said Purón. “We are so proud of these beautiful facilities and the impact they are having on our community, bolstering Rockport’s position as an artist colony, increasing revenues to other businesses in our community through increased tourism, and providing yet another cultural element to this part of the Coastal Bend.”

For more information on the Big Wave! Annual All-Members Exhibition and Merit Artist, visit rockportartcenter.com follow RCA on Facebook, or call (361) 729-5519.

About Rockport Center for the Arts and The Rockport Conference Center (The ROCC)

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, including a 4,400-square-foot ballroom and culinary arts kitchen (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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TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE FOR 2023 ROCKPORT FILM FESTIVAL

 MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager

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

TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE FOR 2023 ROCKPORT FILM FESTIVAL

Festival features 42 U.S. and foreign films, including 24 Texas entries to date

ROCKPORT, Texas (October 13, 2023) — Always international in scope, but local in flavor, the 17th Annual Rockport Film Festival, presented by Salemi’s Ace Hardware, celebrates the power of storytelling in cinema with some of the best independent filmmaking from Texas and around the world.

A joint venture of Rockport Center for the Arts and the Rotary Club of Rockport, tickets are now available for the Nov. 9–12 festival, featuring special events and 42 independent films entered thus far — 38 from the U.S., 24 of which are from Texas, and 4 international. All screenings are held at The Rockport Conference Center (The ROCC), located at 106 S. Austin Street on the Rockport Center for the Arts campus in downtown Rockport.

The annual cinematic event draws more than 1,600 attendees each year to the Rockport community, known for its mix of art and environment, allowing patrons to enjoy films rarely seen elsewhere without having to wait in long lines or traveling to multiple theater venues. Endorsed by the Texas Film Commission, the Texas Commission on the Arts, Aransas County, and the City of Rockport, the Festival appeals to a local, regional, and statewide audience of filmmakers and enthusiasts during a time that is generally off-season for tourism.

"We are so excited to be hosting the Rockport Film Festival in its new home: The ROCC,” said Elena Rodriguez, managing director for the Rockport Film Festival. “This space is in the heart of downtown Rockport and features state-of-the-art audio and visual capabilities. In such a venue, the Rockport Film Festival can grow and be the best it can be.”

The Rockport Film Festival kicks off Thursday, Nov. 9, with the Red Carpet Party held at The ROCC. Considered the premiere social event of the fall season and limited to 240 guests, the ticketed event features cocktails and food, catered by Paradise Key Bar & Grill, beginning at 6 p.m. The evening’s entertainment includes live music with the SteelWater Band in the Patricia Bennett Moore Sculpture Garden, and a special screening of the documentary Runaway Radio (2023), reflecting upon a time when radio entertained, informed, and dictated what was cool through theater of the mind.

In the 1970s Houston's 101 KLOL played a big role in the lives of many Texans, starting as a progressive rock station where DJs played whatever they wanted, and evolving into one of many Album Oriented Rock (AOR) stations across the U.S. where on-air personalities were sometimes bigger than the music itself. Directed by Mike McGuff and produced by Jeffrey Brown, Runaway Radio includes acclaimed musicians such as Lyle Lovett, ZZ Top’s Dusty Hill, Melissa Etheridge and Sammy Hagar along with top radio DJs from across the country reflecting on how the medium changed their lives and the lives of devoted listeners, and how changes and pressures from Washington, the music industry and Silicon Valley led to the demise of KLOL and much of the format in the 2000s.

The Festival continues Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with film screenings at The ROCC. Five of the films will be full-length features; there will also be four short film blocks, each around 90 minutes in length, consisting of six to eight short films. All films are independently produced outside of the Hollywood studio system, meaning they are privately financed projects that tend to be smaller in scale and budget. This year’s categories are documentary feature, fiction feature, documentary short, fiction short, animated short, and student film.

The weekend also features an awards ceremony and brunch, hosted by the Rotary Club of Rockport, which will be held Sunday at The ROCC preceding the final screenings, with all Sunday events free and open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis.

The Festival also gives back to the community by funding many free and low-cost programs of the Rotary Club and Rockport Center for the Arts, including humanitarian aid, youth education and scholarships, and free and low-cost Arts and cultural programming.

Tickets for all events are now available online, including a limited number of Red Carpet Party tickets for $100, and a limited number of VIP Passes for $125 providing entry to all events and priority seating for screenings. Single-day tickets for screenings are $10 per day. Festival goers can take advantage of a specially priced block rate at Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott Rockport, the official hotel of the Rockport Film Festival, available through the festival website. Rooms are limited and must be booked by Nov. 1.

For tickets and more information, including a complete schedule, go to RockportFilmFestival.com.

2023 ROCKPORT FILM FESTIVAL SPONSORS

HEADLINING SPONSOR: Salemi’s Ace Hardware

PRODUCER LEVEL: The Rockport Group at Morgan Stanley; Bay Window of Rockport, Key Allegro Real Estate Company, GSM Insurors, Paradise Key Dockside Bar & Grill; Karen Mella, Realtor;  Maddie Legner with Spears & Co. Real Estate

DIRECTOR LEVEL: Baker Law; Charter Bank; Moon Over Water Gallery; Angela Allen Ruddock CFP®, JD Debler, Windway Gallery

OFFICIAL HOTEL: Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Rockport

MEDIA PARTNER: Victoria Radio Works

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT: Aransas County; City of Rockport; Texas Commission on the Arts; Texas Film Commission; The Office of Governor Greg Abbott

About the Rockport Film Festival

The Rockport Film Festival is a collaboration between the Rockport Rotary Club and Rockport Center for the Arts. All proceeds from the event benefit Rockport Center for the Arts programming and local, regional, and international humanitarian and service projects supported by the Rotary Club of Rockport. The Rockport Film Festival receives government support from the City of Rockport, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and Aransas County. For more information, to purchase tickets and a complete screening schedule, please visit www.RockportFilmFestival.com.

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ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS WELCOMES WORLD-RENOWNED ARTIST MCKAY OTTO

 MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager

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

 ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS WELCOMES WORLD-RENOWNED ARTIST MCKAY OTTO

Ever Legacies Ever exhibition incorporates the illusion of movement and light 

ROCKPORT, Texas (Sept. 28, 2023) — Ever Legacies Ever, showcasing the mindbending painting and sculpture creations of Wimberley, Texas-based artist McKay Otto, is coming to Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA) Oct. 6–Nov. 19 in the H-E-B Gallery.

An artist reception with Otto will be held Friday, Oct. 13, from 5–7 p.m. RCA will also host an artist talk, on Saturday, Oct. 14, at 1:30 p.m., where Otto will be joined by Catherine Anspon, arts and features executive editor at PaperCity Magazine, to discuss his work and process. Both events will be held in the H-E-B Gallery and are free and open to the public.

Known for his ethereal paintings that evoke lightboxes, Otto continues to investigate blending painting and sculpture processes using various acrylic materials, which led him to create a multi-dimensional translucent canvas that moves beyond the traditional flat two-dimensional surface with the illusion of movement and light.

“I explore the nature of perception and the way that non-physical reflections of light can be transformed into immersive experiences for the viewer,” said Otto. “Always fascinated by the uncertainty of human perception, and the duplicitous nature of vision, which can be both revealing and deceitful, I create paintings that delve into this duality. Upon first read, they are austere, geometric abstractions. After further observation, however, the paintings begin to vibrate: light and color become evident and the surface reveals that there are numerous layers beneath. The paintings dissipate into sensuous fields of immaterial color that seem to push space in and out.”

The Ever Legacies Ever exhibition includes both the geometric works Otto is known for and a series of photo-like depictions of deceased, iconic South Texans including politician Frances “Sissy” Farenthold (Corpus Christi), artist Betty Mobley (Corpus Christi), artist Estelle Stair (Rockport), sculptor Jesús Bautista Moroles (Rockport), artist and philanthropist Ann Harithas (Houston), rancher Robert Hewitt (Victoria), artist Madeline O’Connor (Victoria), rancher Missi Thomas (Cuero), and philanthropist Jeanie Wyatt (San Antonio).

In a recent essay on Otto’s Legacies series, renowned art historian and author Susie Kalil notes the presence of light inhabiting the paintings much as we experience light in a lucid dream.

“Otto aims to commemorate and capture the spiritual energy of the dynamic individuals who helped shape the South Texas region,” wrote Kalil. “Poised at the edge of a vastness that lies beyond our limited power to comprehend, we may feel vulnerable, anxious and just a little afraid. Yet Otto asks us to trust, let go and give ourselves to the dark. The spectral presences emanate from these ethereal environments, hovering before our eyes, unanchored by visual formulations of scale, distance and direction. They come and go into the light and darkness. Their faces are suspended in layers of transparent acrylic, disappearing and reappearing in space as we approach the paintings. The overall effect is of souls passing between dimensions, gradually fading into the ether.

“Some faces fill the smaller works as if peering through windows or portals; others appear larger than life, relating as body-to-body.  The dramatic portraits of these courageous risk-takers are illuminated presences —  they are less on the wall than they are in the room with us.”

Growing up in Fort Bend County just outside of Houston, Otto earned his B.A. in business from The University of Texas in 1970 at the urging of his father and became successful in real estate, but eventually followed his true passion for art, receiving scholarships to attend Houston’s Glassell School of Arts in the 1990s. Now living and working in the Texas Hill Country outside of Austin and in Santa Fe, N.M., he continues to investigate painting and sculpture processes using various acrylic materials.

Over the years, Otto’s work has been included in group museum exhibitions, as well as numerous solo exhibitions in galleries and art centers. In 2022 he was named Innovative Artist of the Year at The Delaplaine Art Center in Frederick, Md., and has works in current exhibitions at both The Irving Art Center, Irving Texas, and Artspace 111 in Fort Worth. Otto has been selected for a second year as one of the artists featured at the Houston Art Alliance’s annual “Add on Art Gala” to be held Oct. 20, 2023.

His work can be found in important private and corporate collections across the U.S. and has been well documented in numerous books including “Texas Artists Today,” by Catherine Anspon and “Texas Abstract” by Michael Paglia and Jim Edwards, with many of his exhibitions being cataloged and reviewed in various art publications such as “Art in America.”

Ever Legacies Ever is free and open to the public. For general information, visit rockportartcenter.com, follow RCA on Facebook, or call (361) 729-5519.

About Susie Kalil

Susie Kalil is the author of Alexandre Hogue: An American Visionary—Paintings and Works on Paper and The Color of Being/El Color del Ser: Dorothy Hood, 1918–2000. She is a former Core Fellow at the Glassell School of Art in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, where she also resides.

About Rockport Center for the Arts and The Rockport Conference Center (The ROCC)

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, including a 4,400-square-foot ballroom and culinary arts kitchen (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.

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TWO UNIQUE EXHIBITIONS COMING TO ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS To Put it Bluntly and Let There Be Flight opening late September

 MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager                  

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

ROCKPORT, Texas (Sept. 6, 2023) —Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA) is hosting two new shows beginning in September: To Put it Bluntly, Sept. 22–Nov. 12, featuring the creative box collages by Mary Jenewein, and Let There Be Flight, Sept. 29–Nov. 17, showcasing the lifelike bird sculptures of Spencer Tinkham.

Both exhibitions will be on display and available for collection at the downtown Rockport Center for the Arts galleries. A public reception with Mary Jenewein will be held Friday, Sept. 22, from 5–7 p.m., while an artist talk with Spencer Tinkham will be held Friday, Sept. 29, at 1:30 p.m. with a reception that evening from 5–7 p.m. Leading up to his exhibition opening, Tinkham also will host a Sept. 26 lecture for RCA members; a Sept. 27 Whooping Crane soap sculpting class with commentary from Dr. Liz Smith, Coastal Bend research scientist, conservation planner, and Whooping Crane expert; and a Sept. 28 macro sculpting class on carving and painting a feather. Space is limited for all events and those interested should sign up through the RCA website, www.rockportartcenter.com.

To Put it Bluntly is scheduled for the McKelvey Charitable Fund Gallery featuring Mary Jenewein’s unique boxes, or cages as she refers to them, each making a statement by depicting an event or facet of life.

“The beauty of Mary Jenewein’s shadowboxes veils the sincere and sobering scenes they depict,” said Elena Rodriguez, former curator of exhibitions for Rockport Center for the Arts. “Jenewein uses symbols and allegory to describe injustices that she has seen and experienced in her own personal life.”

“Every artist has something stuck in her craw; she coughs and coughs and sometimes it comes out,” said Jenewein. “I want my art to hit people in the head with a baseball bat. If this is activism, this is what I do.”

Born in Franklin, Tennessee, in 1933 to an Asian father and Caucasian mother, and raised in Savannah, Georgia, Jenewein recalls growing up in the segregated South, surrounded by bigotry, racism, and cruelty. Aware of the unfairness of things early on, she later drew from these experiences to create her art.

“When I was little, my mom and I made peepshows of shoe boxes, magazine cutouts, colored cellophane and a light hanging above. We looked through a hole cut in the side and saw a tiny world. That world became my world and I was at the mercy of the owners of that place. Through all these years of making art, painting, sculpting, collaging, and anything else I could try, I have made boxes. The box gave me the form to hold my content. It is small, confined, claustrophobic.”

Jenewein graduated in 1955 from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, with a B.A. in Political Science. She moved to Houston in 1965 and later took art classes at the University of Houston from 1983-85. She has showcased her work in dozens of group and solo exhibitions through the years and has been featured in numerous publications.

With most sculptures made from found and nature-based materials, Let There Be Flight will be featured in the Jeanie & Bill Wyatt Gallery showcasing several lifelike contemporary wildlife sculptures and four incredibly detailed feather macro sculptures of Spencer Tinkham. 

“Almost like specimens in a science museum, Spencer Tinkham’s macro sculptures are studies and methodical,” said Rodriguez. “But there is nothing ‘wooden’ about these objects, under Tinkham’s chisel, bird feathers come to life, as whimsical and vivacious as the personalities of the avian from which they come.”

As a child, nothing enthralled Tinkham more than large flocks of hungry waterfowl wintering behind his home in Norfolk, Va. He first discovered his carving and sculpting talents after receiving a pocketknife from his grandfather at the age of 8, creating lasting mementos of his fleeting waterfowl encounters. Completely self-taught with no formal training, by the time he graduated high school, Tinkham was a two-time winner of the Danzer Frazer Youth Decorative Wildfowl World Championship.

“I first started carving and sculpting things I could find around the house, like bars of soap and wood scraps,” said Tinkham. “I then moved on to life-sized duck decoys to lure waterfowl closer so I could critique my work next to wild birds. To this day, so much of my inspiration often stems from sightings while searching for my materials.”  

­­­­­The award-winning Tinkham received his B.S. in Economics in 2015 from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and has since appeared in several solo exhibitions as well as inclusion four years in the prestigious Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum Birds in Art juried exhibition, with his 2022 entry, “Colaptes auratus” (Northern Flicker), subsequently being acquired for the museum collection. In 2022 he participated in Atrium Artists in Residence with the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art in Virginia Beach, was a 2023 finalist for the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation Wildlife Artist of the Year, and is an Associate Member of the National Sculpture Society. His work is collected and exhibited internationally, including the Dollar Tree, Inc. corporate art collection.

For more information on Rockport Center for the Arts, visit rockportartcenter.com follow RCA on Facebook, or call (361) 729-5519.

About Rockport Center for the Arts and The Rockport Conference Center (The ROCC)

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, including a 4,400-square-foot ballroom and culinary arts kitchen (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.

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Rockport Center for the Arts Announces Search for The Barrow Foundation Curator of Exhibitions

 MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager                  

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

Rockport Center for the Arts Announces Search for The Barrow Foundation Curator of Exhibitions

A challenging yet rewarding opportunity awaits the right individual with vision, drive and a passion for visual arts programming.

Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA), a vibrant and prestigious multi-disciplinary arts organization celebrates 54 years of operation in 2023. Poised for growth, the organization has just opened a brand-new campus in the heart of Downtown Rockport that features state-of-the-art education, exhibition, as well as new culinary arts, performing arts and conference space. The project will transform downtown while significantly increasing operations for the Center, particularly with the addition of a venue center that will be the home for new RCA cultural arts programming as well as available to rent to the public. In preparation for dynamic growth, the organization seeks a creative, energetic, and inspired individual to join the staff team and lead visual arts programming.

Position Announcement: August 7, 2023
Title: The Barrow Foundation Curator of Exhibitions Reports To: Deputy Director
FLSA Classification: Exempt
Status: Full-time
Timeline: Open until Filled

Position Purpose:

The Barrow Foundation Curator of Exhibitions (BFCE) leads the work of the exhibition pillar of Rockport Center for the Arts. The BFCE is responsible for designing and implementing innovative exhibitions in partnership with the Exhibition Committee to further the mission and strategic vision of RCA. The exhibition schedule includes managing all aspects of programming for three curated gallery spaces as well as managing the member’s gallery and gift shop which highlight work by member artists. Additionally, the BFCE serves as the chairman of the annual Rockport Fim Festival, playing an essential role in curating the film schedule and works with RCA’s Education Director to design annual resident artist programs.

Essential duties and responsibilities

• Under the supervision of the Deputy Director, the responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following tasks:

• Work closely with the Deputy Director and RCA Exhibition Committee to plan and execute a strategic, well-balanced schedule for curated exhibitions that maintains RCA’s reputation for high quality artistic programming.

• Serve as primary staff representative to the RCA Exhibition Committee.

• Design and Implement Requests for Proposals and Calls for Artists for juried shows.

• Prepare, administer, and monitor exhibition contracts including arrangements for artist travel for

  installation, gallery talks and exhibition receptions.

• Lead the exhibition design for all exhibitions, coordinating delivery schedules of all exhibitions and

participating in receipt of works as well as the installation of exhibitions with support of a preparator.

• Participate in the design and placement of marketing materials including ads, posters, eblasts, website content and social media channels to promote visual arts programming.

• Lead the planning and implementation of and attend all gallery talks and exhibition receptions.

• Manage artists for Rockport Art Festival, including facilitating the application and jury process and

  coordinating artists’ festival experience.

• Work in collaboration with RCA Education Director on the design and implementation of visiting artist

  programming including Penny Redmon and Artist in Residence series.

• Supervise contractors, interns and volunteers that will help in execution of all visual arts programs.

• Serve as registrar for the permanent collection.

• Participate in annual budgeting for Visual Arts programming by preparing budgets and schedules for

  exhibitions, Rockport Film Festival and visiting artist programs.

• Cultivate community partnerships, especially with member artists, local businesses and government,

  statewide arts organizations, and philanthropic communities.

• Attend all exhibit openings and RCA signature events including Rockport Art Festival, Spring Art Fair,

  Rockport Film Festival and the Silver Meltdown Jewelry Show and Sale.

• Assist with signature events and projects as identified and requested by Executive and/or Deputy

  Director.

  The ideal candidate will also be responsible for the following duties and responsibilities

• Develop and manage all budgets, expenditures and data related to visual arts programs.

• Assist the Development committee in identifying and cultivating program underwriters and sponsors.

• Write Grants and assist with funding appeals for visual arts programs.

• Actively participate in promoting and marketing programs, including creation and dispersal of promotional materials both in print and online.

  Other Duties

• Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this position. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Qualifications & Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from an accredited university required, MFA preferred, in addition to 5 years of experience in the field of visual art, experience working in an art center, visual arts organization, and/or commercial art gallery.

• Teamwork, interpersonal skills, and the ability to develop good relationships with internal and external contacts and to work collaboratively with diverse constituencies including people from diverse socio- economic and ethnic backgrounds required

• This position requires excellent curatorial skills, public speaking skills, writing skills and graphic design skills

• Highly organized, self-starter, detail orientation required including proven organizational skills, with strong ability to set priorities, manage multiple projects, work independently, demonstrate initiative and perform under pressure.

• Computer literacy with proficiency in Microsoft Office required.

• Proficiency in website management, graphic design, and video creation preferred.

• Demonstrated enthusiasm and passion for the arts required.

Working conditions

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally exposed to wet and/or humid conditions and outside weather conditions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

• Regular workweek schedule is Monday through Friday with periodic evenings and weekends, particularly tied to exhibition openings and signature events.

  Physical requirements

  • Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

  • The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

  • While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit; use their hands and arms to handle, reach, or feel; and talk and hear.

  • The employee is occasionally required to stand and walk.

  • The employee must regularly lift and/or move items weighing up to 50 pounds.

  • Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral

    vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

    Compensation:

    Full-time position. Competitive salary based on experience. Benefits include paid time off and employee health insurance provided and covered at 100% with option to add Vision and Dental coverage at employee’s expense. Employer will provide professional development opportunities. Employment is at will with a six- month evaluation/introductory period.

    To Apply:

    For more information about Rockport Center for the Arts, please visit www.rockportartcenter.com. No phone calls, please.

    To apply please submit a letter of interest, a resume, three professional references (no personal references), and salary requirements to karen@rockportartcenter.com.

    Rockport Center for the Arts is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

TEXANS FOR THE ARTS WELCOMES LUIS PURÓN TO ITS BOARD

 MEDIA CONTACT:

Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager                  

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

TEXANS FOR THE ARTS WELCOMES LUIS PURÓN TO ITS BOARD,

STRENGTHENING ARTS FUNDING ADVOCACY IN THE COASTAL BEND

ROCKPORT, Texas (Aug. 7, 2023) — Texans for the Arts (TFA), the highly effective non-partisan statewide arts advocacy organization, today announced the addition of Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA) Executive Director Luis Purón to its esteemed board. With a mission to champion an unwavering public commitment to the arts, TFA remains steadfast in its commitment to promoting policies and developing resources for the arts and culture industries. As the organization continues to grow, Purón brings a wealth of expertise and passion to further enrich the arts landscape in Rockport.

"Luis’s commitment to our mission, coupled with his various areas of expertise will most certainly strengthen our collective voice and advocacy efforts in the years ahead," said Christopher Kiley, associate director of Texans for the Arts.

In its pursuit of advancing the arts in Texas, TFA is attentive to new legislation and emerging statewide concerns. Ready to make advocacy decisions collaboratively with its members and partners, TFA recognizes the invaluable role of citizen voices in shaping legislative decisions. Advocacy empowers communities to convey the importance of arts funding, ensuring a brighter future for the cultural fabric of our state.

“I am honored to be selected for this prestigious board position with Texans for the Arts,” said Purón. “As the executive director for Rockport Center for the Arts, I understand the importance of art in a community and look forward to working with TFA as we work to advocate for and promote the Arts throughout Texas.”

Purón embodies a deep commitment to enriching the arts and cultural heritage of Texas. Through his dedication and experience, he is poised to play a pivotal role in driving Texans for the Arts mission forward.

“One of the most critical roles in organizational health and strength is that of Board service,” said Ann S. Graham, Executive Director of Texans for the Arts. “This year's slate of Directors joining our current Board possess a collective passion for the arts matched with a determination to ensure our field has the vital resources we need to continue to thrive. We are thrilled that they have chosen to invest their time and energy with us. Welcome aboard!”

Purón has served as executive director for Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA) since 2015, working to elevate the organization to new levels of prominence and recognition in the United States. Under his leadership, RCA has developed new art education activities, programs for the visual, culinary, and performing arts, as well as new festivals and events, which have boosted cultural tourism and economic development of Rockport, Texas, recognized as one of the top ten artist colonies in the country. One of the most notable accomplishments of Purón’s tenure has been the development and opening of the new 1.2-acre Rockport Center for the Arts campus following the destruction of the previous building during Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The new RCA is the first multi-disciplinary arts organization in the Coastal Bend region of the State of Texas, featuring a 14,000-square-foot visual arts and education building, an 8,000-square-foot conference center, and a 16,000-square-foot sculpture garden. Since its inauguration in December 2022, RCA tourism visitation has tripled, and revenue has doubled.

Texans for the Arts remains committed to fostering deeper connections between the arts community and elected officials. As the organization celebrates its new board members, it looks to the future with optimism, embracing the transformative power of advocacy to shape a more vibrant and culturally enriched Texas.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Luis Purón photo credit: Pamela Keyman Fulcher

About Texans for the Arts and Texans for the Arts Foundation

Texans for the Arts and Texans for the Arts Foundation are committed to increasing public funding for the arts through the legislative process, engaging arts administrators, and building a broad constituency of citizen advocates. For more information about Texans for the Arts and the upcoming leadership transition, please visit: Texans for the Arts: http://www.texansforthearts.com

Texans for the Arts (TFA) is a highly effective, non-partisan, statewide nonprofit 501(c)(4) arts advocacy organization that organizes advocacy efforts in order to protect and increase public funding for the arts at the state, national and local levels and provides coordinated information about legislative activity related to arts issues. Texans for the Arts’ legislative agenda advocates for the development and implementation of public policy that supports a strong and vibrant arts and cultural industry. 

Texans For the Arts Foundation (TFAF) is a 501(c)(3) organization that provides professional development and advocacy education for both arts administrators and committed arts’ supporters to build a broad constituency of citizen advocates.

Together, Texans for the Arts Foundation and Texans for the Arts bring together voices of arts leaders, board members from arts organizations, and committed supporters from across the state to amplify the collective voice for increasing public funding for the arts. 

We see a world where all Texans champion the arts as essential to our lives.

About Rockport Center for the Arts and The Rockport Conference Center (The ROCC)

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, including a 4,400-square-foot ballroom and culinary arts kitchen (106 S. Austin St.); with a 16,000-square-foot Sculpture Garden serving as a visually inspiring transition space between the two buildings. 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) 729-5519. For general information and to become a member, visit rockportartcenter.com, follow RCA on Facebook, or call (361) 729-5519.

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ROCC FOYER NAMED IN HONOR OF ESTELLE STAIR

MEDIA CONTACT:

Luis Purón, Executive Director                                              

(570) 702-4032 / luis@rockportartcenter.com                      

Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager

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

NEW HONOR FOR ROCKPORT’S GRAND DAME OF THE ART COMMUNITY

$100,000 donation made to Rockport Center for the Arts in honor of Estelle Stair

ROCKPORT, Texas (Aug. 2, 2023) — Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA) today announced it had received an anonymous gift of $100,000 to name the foyer of The Rockport Conference Center (The ROCC) after Estelle Stair, one of the founding members of the Rockport Art Association (RAA) in 1967, which later became Rockport Center for the Arts.

 “We are so pleased to receive such a generous donation to further the Arts in the Coastal Bend and are more than happy to honor Estelle Stair, known as the Grand Dame of Rockport’s Art Community and the Matriarch of the Rockport Art Association, Inc.,” said Luis Purón, RCA executive director.

 Stair (pronounced “star”) came to Rockport in 1962 from Luling, Texas, where she and her husband Neal had operated a general store. An avid artist and art teacher known for her landscape paintings based on Rockport’s coast, she worked for and studied under Simon Michael, who founded the Simon Michael School of Fine Art in Rockport in the 1940s. In 1978, Stair purchased the Sorensen Building located at 406 S. Austin St., a well-known Rockport landmark thanks to its unique architecture and historical value, opening the Estelle Stair Gallery, which she operated until her death in 1988 at the age of 77.

Estelle Stair Gallery continued through 2019 under the tutelage of other family members, including Stair’s sister, Jimmie Bouldin, who left the gallery to her daughter Lisa Baer Frederick and her husband John Paul in 1996. Following renovations in 1996 and more extensive restoration beginning in 2004, the gallery received a Texas Historical Commission designation in 2008 and reopened in 2011.

 The Rockport Art Association operated out of the Estelle Stair Gallery from 1978–1984, and again in 2020. RAA regularly brought artists together, featuring art classes, shows and other events, all of which helped spark the renovation of downtown Rockport with as many as 17 galleries along Austin Street at one time and transforming it into the important business corridor it is today.

 In 2016, RCA invested in land on Austin Street as part of a strategic direction not only for the organization but for the community. Economic development played a large part in the determination for this investment and the leadership at the time felt strongly that RCA needed to be in the downtown area, close to other art galleries and spaces.  

 “It is no coincidence that the choice Estelle Stair made in the 1970s to invest in real estate in downtown Rockport to form an art gallery is the choice RCA made four decades later,” said Purón. “Estelle was a woman ahead of her time.”

Stair enjoyed encouraging artists and was always full of enthusiasm for them. In 2007, RCA hosted a posthumous retrospective exhibition featuring her work along with Michael Frary’s. RCA was her passion, a point she proved by assuming the organization’s debt when it was struggling financially. 

 On her deathbed, Stair penned a memoir recording her thoughts about the Rockport art community and the future direction of the RCA, which remains a relevant guide.

“It seems unreal that the original paper still exists, and I can hold it between my fingertips as she did over 25 years ago,” said Purón. “In times of doubt, I turn to Estelle’s memoir which is written in a conversational and evocative style. To this day, much of our success is inspired by her foresight, including Rockport Art Festival, one of our most successful annual events, which she specifically addressed: ‘These are a few of the things to consider when planning a long-lasting 4th of July Art Festival, keeping in mind these are the reasons we are rated the best show in this part of Texas. Don’t change the dates.’ She was right — and we never will. Estelle’s passion and wisdom live on as a beating heart for the Rockport Center for the Arts.”

For more information on Rockport Center for the Arts, visit rockportartcenter.com follow RCA on Facebook, or call (361) 729-5519.

About Rockport Center for the Arts and The Rockport Conference Center (The ROCC)

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, including a 4,400-square-foot ballroom and culinary arts kitchen (106 S. Austin St.); with a 16,000-square-foot Sculpture Garden serving as a visually inspiring transition space between the two buildings. 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) 729-5519. For general information and to become a member, visit rockportartcenter.com, follow RCA on Facebook, or call (361) 729-5519.

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