VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is pleased to present an Artists/Scholars Talk featuring internationally recognized composer, trombonist, and scholar in the fields of jazz and experimental music, George E. Lewis (pictured).  Saturday, January 22, 2011, at 2PM. Free admission. Lewis will present In Search of Benjamin Patterson: An Improvised Journey in conjunction with the CAMH exhibition Benjamin Patterson: Born in the State of FLUX/us.

George E. Lewis serves as the Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music at Columbia University. The recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship in 2002, an Alpert Award in the Arts in 1999, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Lewis studied composition with Muhal Richard Abrams at the AACM School of Music, and trombone with Dean Hey.

A member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) since 1971, Lewis' work as composer, improvisor, performer, and interpreter explores electronic and computer music, computer-based multimedia installations, text-sound works, and notated and improvisational forms, and is documented on more than 130 recordings.

His oral history is archived in Yale University's collection of "Major Figures in American Music," and his published articles on music, experimental video, visual art, and cultural studies have appeared in numerous scholarly journals and edited volumes. His widely acclaimed book, A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music (University of Chicago Press, 2008) is a recipient of the American Book Award (2009), the American Musicological Society's Music in American Culture Award (2009), an Award for Excellence in Recorded Sound Research from the Association for Recorded Sound Collections (2009), and an award from the Jazz Journalists Association for the Best Book on Jazz (2009).

Lewis' discography shows his amazing range as an artist. His recordings include collaborations with such jazz notables as Lester Bowie, Anthony Braxton, Craig Harris, Gil Evans, Roscoe Mitchell, as well as experimental musicians like Laurie Anderson, Douglas Ewart, and John Zorn. Lewis has also collaborated with a number of visual artists including the experimental Canadian filmmaker Stan Douglas and documentary filmmaker Aryan Kaganof.

ABOUT BENJAMIN PATTERSON: BORN IN THE STATE OF FLUX/US
Benjamin Patterson: Born in the State of FLUX/us is a retrospective of the artist's career, which now spans nearly fifty years. The exhibition includes both early and recent work by the artist that range from annotated scores and books to painting and sculpture. Video documentation from performances and audio files of Patterson's music are also featured. As a founding member of Fluxus, a loose and international collective of artists who infused avant-garde practices of the day with humor and anarchic energy, Patterson helped revolutionize the artistic landscape at the advent of the 1960s and usher in an era of new and experimental music. Now in his seventies, Patterson is being discovered by a new generation of artists. Benjamin Patterson: Born in the State of FLUX/us marks the artist's first major exhibition, bringing together a multitude of works never before seen in the United States. The exhibition is curated by CAMH Senior Curator Valerie Cassel Oliver and is on view through January 23, 2011.

EXHIBITION SUPPORT
Benjamin Patterson: Born in the State of FLUX/us is supported by generous grants from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support is provided by the Houston Museum of African American Culture.

Support for shipping was generously provided by Christo/CVJ Corporation, Jean Dupuy, Letty Lou Eisenhauer, Henry Flynt, Geoffrey Hendricks, Jon Hendricks, Yoko Ono Lennon, Phoebe Neville and Philip Corner, The Oldenburg van Bruggen Foundation, Jeffery Perkins, Lila and Gilbert Silverman, Miyuki Sugaya and Toshiyuki Nemoto, Jean Toche and Yoshimasa Wada.

The exhibitions in the Brown Foundation Gallery have been made possible by the patrons, benefactors and donors to the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston's Major Exhibition Fund: Major Patron-Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen, Fayez Sarofim, Michael Zilkha; Patrons-Louise D. Jamail, Mr. and Mrs. I. H. Kempner III, Ms. Louisa Stude Sarofim, Leigh and Reggie Smith; Benefactors-City Kitchen Catering, George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation, Jackson Hicks / Jackson and Company, Marley Lott, Poppi Massey, Beverly and Howard Robinson, Andrew Schirrmeister, Susan Vaughan Foundation, Inc., Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Wilson; Donors-A Fare Extraordinaire, Anonymous, Baker Botts, L.L.P, Bergner and Johnson Design, The Brown Foundation, Inc., Jereann Chaney, Susie and Sanford Criner, Elizabeth Howard Crowell, Ruth Dreessen and Thomas Van Laan, Marita and J.B. Fairbanks, Jo and Jim Furr, Barbara and Michael Gamson, Mr. and Mrs. William Goldberg / Bernstein Global Wealth Management, King & Spalding L.L.P., KPMG, LLP, Judy and Scott Nyquist, David I. Saperstein, Scurlock Foundation, Karen and Harry Susman, and Martha Claire Tompkins.

EDUCATION SUPPORT
The Museum receives support for its education programs from: Anonymous, Baker Botts L.L.P., Baker Hughes Foundation, Ruth Dreessen and Thomas Van Laan, Louise D. Jamail, John P. McGovern Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. I.H. Kempner III, Kinder Morgan Foundation, Andrew R. McFarland, M.D. Anderson Foundation, Marian and Speros Martel Foundation Endowment, Mrs. Louisa Stude Sarofim, and 20K Group, LLC.

Teen Council is supported by Mrs. Louisa Stude Sarofim and Baker Hughes Foundation.

GENERAL SUPPORT
The Museum's operations and programs are made possible through the generosity of the Museum's trustees, patrons, members and donors. The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston receives partial operating support from the Houston Endowment, Inc., the City of Houston through the Houston Museum District Association, National Endowment for the Arts, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and The Wortham Foundation, Inc.

Continental Airlines is the official airline of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.

CAMH MISSION
The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is an idea and a place shaped by the present moment. The Museum exemplifies the dynamic relationship between contemporary art and contemporary society through its exhibitions, public and educational programs, and publications. The CAMH provides the physical and intellectual framework essential to the presentation, interpretation, and advancement of contemporary art; it is a vibrant forum for artists and all audiences, and for critical, scholarly, and public discourse.

ALWAYS FRESH, ALWAYS FREE

GENERAL INFORMATION
The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is located at 5216 Montrose Boulevard, at the corner of Montrose and Bissonnet, in the heart of Houston's Museum District. Hours are Wednesday 11AM-7PM, Thursday 11AM-9PM, Friday 11AM-7PM, Saturday and Sunday 11AM-6PM. Admission is always free. For more information, visit www.camh.org  or call 713 284 8250.