VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

Galveston Arts Center is pleased to present Dixie Friend Gay: Mural Studies 1998–2009, featuring studies for public and private art projects by the Houston artist. The exhibition will open during the August 28th ArtWalk and remain on view through October 3, 2010. Curator Clint Willour will lead a gallery talk with the artist at 6:30 pm. A special preview for GAC members will be held on Friday, August 27, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.

Exploring the mystery and power of nature, Dixie Friend Gay has focused on public art projects since 1998. This exhibition is presented as a celebration of the completion of the artist’s most recent project, a series of three mosaics installed in the lobby of the new Ocean and Coastal Studies Building at Texas A&M University at Galveston.

Composed of tumbled Smalti glass mosaic tile, the murals depict undersea life. Benthic Zone, 2010, features enlarged ceramic reliefs of micro-fossil creatures—plankton, diatoms, and invertebrates—encouraging viewers to see and touch. Preparatory paintings and drawings, as well as samples of glass, and photographs of the A&M project will be on view at the Arts Center. A reception will be held in the lobby of the building on Saturday, August 28, from 3:30 to 5:30 pm and is open to the public.

Named “Artist of the Year” in 2003 by the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the Houston Art League in 2007, Friend Gay has completed numerous public art commissions, including a 73-foot long mural at George Bush Intercontinental Airport’s Terminal B depicting the flora and fauna found along Houston’s bayous. Containing an estimated 1.5 million pieces of glass, most less than a half-inch square, the artist’s mosaics incorporate “a blend of colors, which become a different color when you step back,” notes Friend Gay. “It’s an infinite number of colors, really.”

The study for Houston Bayou is a 15-foot long painting. Other mosaic murals are located in The Woodlands, the Houston Medical Center, the Port of Miami, and Chevron headquarters in Covington, Louisiana. Preparatory sketches and paintings from these and other projects will be included in the exhibition.

Dixie Friend Gay was raised on a cattle ranch in western Oklahoma. She earned a Master’s Degree in Studio Arts from New York University. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at the Bronx Museum, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis. She currently lives and works in Houston.

Galveston Arts Center is currently operating in a temporary downtown gallery space—the site of the former Maceo’s Spice and Import Company located on the corner of Market and 25th Streets. The administrative offices are also at this location. The gallery and selections from GAC’s retail gallery, ArtWorks, are open to the public Monday through Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm.

A flyer listing all ArtWalk participants with times and locations can be downloaded at www.galvestonartscenter.org.

SUPPORT AND SPONSORSHIP
Funding for GAC’s exhibition programs is provided by The Brown Foundation, Inc., Houston Endowment, Inc., Harris and Eliza Kempner Fund, The National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, the City of Galveston through the Hotel Occupancy Tax Fund, The Levin Family Foundation, and the generous support of the community, volunteers and an active membership. GAC’s Art for All Education Program is supported in part by the Harry S. and Isabel C. Cameron Foundation, Wilton and Effie Mae Hebert Foundation, Texas Commission on the Arts, The Brown Foundation, Inc., Alice Taylor Gray Foundation, Harris and Eliza Kempner Fund, and the Jr. League of Galveston County’s Community Assistance Fund.

LOCATION AND HOURS
Galveston Arts Center is located on the corner of Strand and 22nd (Kempner) Street in historic downtown Galveston. The building is currently closed until further notice for repairs to damage from Hurricane Ike. For more information, call 409.763.2403 or visit www.galvestonartscenter.org.  

Galveston Arts Center in Exile 2 is located at 2501 Market Street, Galveston, TX, 77550. The mailing address for GAC remains the same: 2127 Strand, Galveston, TX 77550.

Pictured above:  Dixie Friend Gay, detail of Study for Syncopation Sea I, 2009, Acrylic on canvas. (full image below).