Russell Lee Photographs,

Images from the Russell Lee Photograph Collection

at the Center for American History

Opening: November 20, 6:00 – 8:00 pm

Exhibition dates: November 20, 2009 – January 2, 2010

Russell Lee Photographs, the traveling exhibit of photographs by renowned documentary photographer Russell Lee, draws from the magnificent collection that he donated to the Center for American History just prior to his death in 1986.  The exhibit offers a rare glimpse into the remarkably accomplished images he produced in 1935 and 1936, when he first took up a camera, and goes on to highlight the vast body of important work that Lee produced from 1947, when he settled in Texas, through 1977.   This exhibition accompanies the publication of Russell Lee Photographs, Images from the Russell Lee Photograph Collection at the Center for American History by the University of Texas Press. 
 Yarborough Campaign Onlookers, Mount Vernon, TX 1954

Russell Lee is widely acclaimed as one of the most outstanding documentary photographers of the twentieth century.  His images of American life during the Great Depression, created for the Farm Security Administration between 1936 and 1942, hold a preeminent place in one of history's best-known and most useful photographic collections.  This famous body of work demonstrates Lee's extraordinary ability to reveal the humanity of his subjects and to become a part of the communities he photographed.  It also displays Lee's superior technical ability—his legendary skill in using a flash enabled Lee to create some of the finest candids in the history of photography.

 Shoeshine Boy, San Antonio, TX 1949

Russell Lee Photographs is the first exhibition to show the full range and quality of Lee's entire oeuvre beyond the FSA work, as well as the first major publication of his photographs since F. Jack Hurley's 1978 book, Russell Lee: Photographer (long out of print).  The photographs are grouped into suites of images that represent all of Lee's important subjects: the FSA, early work from New York City and Woodstock; the Spanish-speaking people of Texas; the mentally and physically disabled; political campaigns, including the Kennedy-Johnson campaign of 1960; commercial work for chemical and other companies; a portfolio of images of Italy; and quintessential scenes of small-town life.

Considering Russell Lee's stature in American photography, it is surprsing that much of his post-FSA work is unknown to the public and has been seldom seen even in the photography community.  By making these images available for the first time, this exhibition gives long-overdue recognition to the full range and excellence of Lee's work.

This program was made possible in part with a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
 

Serie Print Project  @ 

It is the mission of the Serie Project to produce, promote, and exhibit the work of Latino artists and others, and to make the production and sale of prints affordable to both artist and patron.

Opening Reception: September 11, 2009 6:00 – 8:00 pm

Exhibition dates: August 15 – Janaury 2, 2010

The Wichita Falls Museum of Art is hosting an exhibition of the Serie Print Project through November 14, 2009.  The Serie Project produces between 750 and 900 prints per year depending on the number of participating artists.  The focus is on the work of Latina/o artists, but is not exclusively so.  The artist keeps one half of the prints s/he produces, and the Serie Project keeps the other.  The work of all the artists is then shown at exhibits during the course of the year.  


Serigraph printmaking is a very specialized printing medium made available to Serie artists at its fine art printing facility in Austin, TX.  The artists are not charged for their participation in the program and they learn the basic process of fine art printmaking, as well as its technical aspects.  Serigraphy is the fine art process of printmaking commonly known as screen-printing.  In contrast to the commercial silk-screen pneumatic machine process, each color run in the serigraph printmaking process is hand-pulled by the master printer in collaboration with each individual artist.  This hand-pulled craftsmanship ensures the unique qualities of each edition.  Each artist is provided with the facility, materials, and master printer needed to complete the printmaking process.  This allows the artist to explore and create work in a medium they might not otherwise be able to, due to a lack of available resources.

Artists selected to participate in the program represent an array of experience, backgrounds, and techniques.  The artists are selected through a referral and juror system.  Artists that have participated in the program recommend two or more artists for the program.  The work of all the referred artists are reviewed by founder Sam Coronado, artists who have previously participated in Serie, arts professionals and organizations such as Mexic-Arte Museum and La Peña, Inc.

Sam Coronado initiated the Serie Project in 1993.  The project is modeled after Self-Help Graphics in Los Angeles, California, a 30 year-old community-based organization which works with 20-30 artists per year and whose prints have been exhibited nationally and internationally.  It was through Sam Coronado’s participation in Self-Help Graphics’ Atelier print project that he was inspired to create a similar print studio in Austin, Texas.  Prior to December 1999 the Serie Project was an umbrella project sponsored by La Peña, Inc., a local Latino non-profit arts organization.  In December 1999 the Serie Project, Inc., was formally organized and incorporated as its own non-profit entity.

To date, over 150 artists have participated in the Serie program.  It has gained the attention and support of museums such as the Art Institute of South Texas in Corpus Christi, Texas; the Austin Museum of Art in Austin, Texas; the McAllen International Museum in McAllen, Texas; the South Broadway Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico; the Guadalupe Cultural Center in San Antonio, Texas; the Hispanic Research Center at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona; and other venues around the United States and Texas.  Some of the prints have been featured in the PBS Series titled Art Journeys.  In addition, several artists that have participated in Serie have been featured in Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Art, a two-volume book by Gary D. Keller, Mary Erickson, Kaytie Johnson, and Joaquin Alvarado, published by Bilingual Review/Press in 2002.  Several of the artists’ serigraphs were reproduced in the volumes.

Selections from the Johnie Griffin Collection

 of the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum

Exhibition dates: June 19 – December 12, 2009

Eanger Irving Couse (1866-1936), American, The Quiver Maker, 1918, oil on canvas

The Wichita Falls Museum of Art (WFMA) is honored to present an important selection of works of art from the permanent collection of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum (PPHM) of Canyon, Texas.  The Panhandle Plains Historical Museum celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2008 by presenting a major exhibition of the museum’s Johnie Griffin Collection.  Johnie Griffin donated one of the museum’s largest and most important art collections, which helped PPHM launch an ambitious Taos and Santa Fe art exhibition program in the 1950s and 1960s.  Because of the Griffin donation, PPHM is now a major destination for Southwest art lovers.

Johnie Griffin of Wichita Falls and Brownsville, Texas, and Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, began donating several pieces of Taos art to PPHM in the mid-1950s until her death in 1962.  Born in Kansas, Griffin married into a ranching family based near Wichita Falls, Texas, then purchased homes at Brownsville and Ranchos de Taos in 1944 or 1945.  She renovated the Ranchos house with architectural elements purchased from various decrepit or crumbling buildings in northern New Mexico.  Griffin’s Wichita Falls and Brownsville home were Spanish Revival in style.  She filled the homes with European furniture and paintings as well as fine and decorative art, textiles, and furniture from the American Southwest and Mexico, including Hispanic religious art.  Griffin commissioned well-known photographer Laura Gilpin to photograph all three homes, inside and out.

Griffin knew most Taos artists, visited their studios often and held noon dinners at her Ranchos home.  She traveled to Santa Fe every few weeks, staying at La Fonda Hotel and immersing herself in the Santa Fe social and art scenes.  Johnie Griffin collected historic Texas art, including works by Julian Onderdonk, Olive Vandruff, and H. D. Bugbee while also collecting eastern American paintings by George Inness, Thomas Moran, and Ralph A. Blakelock.

To see the Johnie Griffin Collection omline, go to http://www.pagegangster.com/p/CbzKm/2/

Take Me to the River – Istanbul

Video works

by Svetozara Alexandrova (Bulgaria), Neno Belchev (Bulgaria),

Mansoora Hassan (Pakistan), and a collaboration by

David Carlson (Washington, DC), Ashraf Fouad (Egypt) and Betsy Stewart (Washington, DC.

 Drawing installation by Judy Jashinsky Washington, DC).

Opening: June 19, 2009   6:00 – 8:00 PM

Exhibition dates: June 19 – December 31, 2009

Three years after the groundbreaking Take Me to the River project was exhibited at the Wichita Falls Museum of Art at Midwestern State University, Museum Director Cohn Drennan served as guest curator for Take Me to the River - Istanbul, the official cultural event for the 5th World Water Forum, March 7-18, 2009 in Istanbul, Turkey.

The Forum convenes every three years and is organized by the World Water Council in collaboration with the host country. The 2009 installment, Take Me to the River – Istanbul, was hosted in Istanbul by DEPO Contemporary Art and included guest artists from Turkey, Afghanistan, Bulgaria and Oman.  This installment of TMTTR-I will include video works from the Istanbul installation along with a drawing installation by Judy Jashinsky.