2020 Speakers

Panel Discussion

Moderator Judy Deaton, Chief Curator, Director of Exhibitions and Collections, The Grace Museum, Abilene, with representatives from the Texas Art Fair

The State of the Texas Art Market and Coming Trends

 

Dr. Amy Von Lintel

Doris Alexander Endowed Distinguished Professor of Fine Arts
West Texas A&M University
Amarillo, TX

Expanding Abstract Expressionism: Women Artists in Texas

"This talk is based on my book project that is under review with Texas A&M Univ Press under the title Expanding Abstract Expressionism: Women Artists and the American West. The book, and the talk for CASETA, will explore how abstract expressionism as a movement can be rethought through the lenses of gender, geography, and media when the Texas work of painter Elaine de Kooning, sculptor Louise Nevelson, and mosaicist Jeanne Reynal is brought into focus."

Eleanor Barton

Museum Curator
Rosenberg Library
Galveston, TX

Early Galveston Artists, 1850s to 1930s

The Rosenberg Library preserves an outstanding collection of works by artists who resided in Galveston during the 19th and early 20th century.  Museum Curator Eleanor Barton will share highlights from the Rosenbrg Library’s permanent collection, bringing attention to the talented artists who lived and worked on the island. In addition to well-known maritime artists such as Julius Stockfleth, Boyer Gonzales, and Paul Schumann, works by other early Galveston artists including Louis Eyth, Maria Kimball, Gurine Nilsen, and Percy Holt will be examined.

Shirley Reece-Hughes

Curator of Paintings, Sculpture, and Works on Paper
Amon Carter Museum of American Art
Fort Worth, TX

Texas Made Modern: The Art of Everett Spruce

This talk explores how Everett Spruce’s artwork countered ingrained perceptions of Texas as strictly a land of cattle herds and cowboy and Indian battles. Viewing nature as a wellspring of mystery and discovery, Spruce organized his pictures according to his deeply felt responses to his surroundings, creating original motifs and spatial rhythms that suggested new ideas and experiences of Texas for twentieth-century audiences.

Randy Tibbits

Independent Art Researcher and Curator
Houston, TX

Texas Modernism(s): Houston/Dallas in the 1930s

In both Houston and Dallas during the 1930s, Modernism became the central focus for two small groups of local artists, made up mostly of youngsters, along with their forward-looking mentors: in Houston, the Cherry-McNeill Group; and the Dallas Nine (plus) up north. Though not even 250 miles apart, the approaches to Modernism of the two groups in the two cities were markedly different, and were in some respects a microcosm of the different paths to Modernism on the national level. Considering these two groups of artists together, both working in parallel to develop modern ways of art-making, demonstrates that Modernism, when it came to America, was not limited exclusively to the art centers of the East and that it was not a single thing, even in a relatively contained region such as Texas. It was, rather a liberating force that could take its disciples along markedly different routes toward the shared ideal of creating a modern art for America.

Betty Moody and Sarah Beth Wilson

Betty Moody 

Owner and Director
Moody Gallery
Houston, TX

Sarah Beth Wilson

Director of Exhibitions and Curatorial Projects
Art League Houston

A Conversation: Betty Moody and Sarah Beth Wilson

Betty Moody, Owner and Director of Moody Gallery, will join Sarah Beth Wilson, Director of Exhibitions and Curatorial Projects at Art League Houston, in a conversation about her iconic Houston gallery – celebrating its 45th anniversary in 2020. Moody Gallery is the longest female owned gallery in Texas and one of the longest operating galleries in the country. Moody and Wilson will discuss a selection of Moody’s artists over the years, including Roy Fridge, Luis Jimenez, Lucas Johnson, Jim Love, David McManaway and Arthur Turner. Moody is a long time champion of Texas artists; her gallery has supported and established numerous artists throughout their careers, and has nurtured many collectors as they build their collections. This conversation will examine the early history and founding years of the gallery, as well as Moody’s stable of artists and experiences. 

Carmen Champion

Professor of Art History
Director Central Campus Art Gallery
San Jacinto College
Houston, TX

The Artist as Citizen: Frank Freed's Lessons on the Importance of Social Commentary

Houston-based artist Frank Freed took to painting late in life, executing mostly representational works of art documenting his life experiences. Although the diversity of subject matter and range of execution is evident, he has generally been dismissed as a "Sunday painter." This presentation will attempt to defy that classification by arguing the importance of Freed's work in revealing critical social tensions and anxieties during some of the most tumultuous decades of the 20th century.

Earlie Hudnall and Danielle Burns Wilson

Earlie Hudnall 

Photographer
Texas Commission on the Arts 2020 Artist of the Year
Houston, TX

Danielle Burns Wilson

Curator | Manager
Houston Public Library
The African American Library at the Gregory School
Houston, TX

Archetypes of the African American Experience:  Artist Talk: Curator Danielle Burns Wilson in conversation with Photographer Earlie Hudnall Jr.

Known for his unique approach to photography, Earlie Hudnall Jr. embodies African American culture. While pursuing his Bachelor’s Degree in Art Education, Hudnall was greatly influenced and mentored by artist Dr. John Biggers. In the 1970's under the director of Dr. Thomas Freeman, Hudnall joined the Model Cities Program, and began extensively documenting the African American neighborhoods of Houston. Join us as his talk will span a five decade journey documenting the African American experience.