UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
Art League Houston is proud to host for the first time whARTon nARraTives, an exhibition of over sixty pieces of beautiful and expressive artwork and writing based on the theme of community heroes by second and third grade students from the Wharton K-8 Dual Language Academy, who have been taking part in Art League Houston's Artbound! and Writer in the Schools (WITS) In-School residency programs. The exhibition opens with a free public reception between 2:00 - 3:30 pm on Saturday, February 11, 2012, and runs through March 2, 2012 in the Project Gallery. ArtBound! Artbound! is a collaborative art project between Art League Houston and Wharton K-8 Dual Language Academy, which brings Art League Houston art teacher Armando Rodriguez and WITS writer Yolanda Schulte-Ledbeck into the classroom with Wharton faculty teachers; Ms. Alma Sifuentes; Ms. Maria Hernandez; Ms. Maribel Michel, Ms. Irma Vazquez; Ms. Brenda Cavazos and Mr. Miguel Orozco, to teach second and third grade students how to express themselves through the language of art and word. Art League Houston and Wharton K-8 offer sincere thanks to Target for funding the Artbound! residency. From national partnerships to local initiatives to its own programs, Target is committed to making communities better places to live. Target gives more than $3 million every week to support education, the arts, social services and volunteerism. Writer in the Schools Writers in the Schools (WITS) is serious about the business of teaching writing. Since 1983, WITS has supported area schools in their efforts to engage students in the joy and power of reading and writing. External evaluations of the program report that WITS not only helps students enjoy writing and improve their communication skills, but it also has a positive effect on their standardized test scores. WITS in-school programs focus on the writing process and address key objectives in language arts, including original voice, inventive word choice, sentence fluency, and clear organization. WITS long-term programs allow students to develop relationships with professional writers while receiving intensive instruction and time to practice and master new techniques. Through innovative approaches, WITS writers build skills in reading and analysis, expose students to multi-cultural literature, and emphasize the importance of revision. Wharton K-8 Dual Language Academy William H. Wharton Elementary opened its doors in 1929. Today it is considered a part of the Montrose area and closely identifies with Houston's old Fourth Ward. The school was named for William H. Wharton who came to Texas in 1827 and built a plantation called Eagle Island. Wharton was a member of the Convention of 1832 which asked for separate statehood for Texas. He served as Judge Advocate of the Texas Army during the early part of the Texas Revolution, but resigned this post to become Commissioner to the United States so as to secure aid for Texas. He was Secretary of State under Stephen F. Austin and was the first Minister to the United States.Wharton County is also named in his honor. Throughout its history, Wharton Elementary has placed strong emphasis on the basics of education, and this emphasis prevails today. With the combined efforts and support of its faculty, PTO, and community businesses, Wharton K-8 Dual Language Academy continues its rich tradition of academic excellence and leadership. Wharton K-8's philosophy promotes both Spanish and English as languages of equal value. By placing importance on both languages, Wharton K-8 is not only preparing students for the multi-lingual, multicultural world we are living in, but students are also learning the importance of and value in respecting other cultures in our increasingly global society. |
Art League Houston is excited to present Baroque on the Border, a series of paintings by Mexican-American artist Rigoberto Gonzalez that portray the violent confrontations between drug cartels, Mexican federal troops, and people involved in undocumented immigration, in the artists home town of Reynosa; a border city in the northern part of Mexico. The paintings offer an artistic snapshot of what is happening across the Texas-Mexico border, and taps into a rich historical tradition of artists exploring difficult issues within their culture through the beauty of painting. The artist paints in a Baroque-style found in the 17th century paintings by artists such as Caravaggio and Jusepe de Ribera. This style often incorporates storytelling as away to depict great historical dramas, with rich colors, and symbolism. Rigoberto brings an additional voice to this story with a reference to the rich tradition of storytelling by placing the portraits of two musicians into his paintings. The musicians are playing songs known as a corridos, which are a narrative tradition in northern Mexico and usually express unpleasant stories about oppression and violence. Rigoberto sees his paintings as contemporary visual corridos, which are not made up of rhyme and verse, but instead of paint and movement. Rigoberto Gonzalez Born in 1973, Reynosa Tamaulipas, Mexico, Rigoberto Gonzalez lives and works in Harlingen, Texas. Graduating from The University of Texas at Pan America in 1999, and the New York Academic of Art in 2004, Gonzalez has had solo shows throughout Texas, New Mexico and Mexico at venues including The Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts, El Paso TX (2011) Rosewll Museum and Art Center, Roswell NM (2009), Harlingen Heritage Museum. Harlingen, TX (2008), Art House, McAllen, TX (2006) Casa de la Cultura, Reynosa Tamaulipas, Mexico (2006) and Richardson Art Gallery, The University of Texas at Brownsville, Brownsville, TX (2005). Rigaberto Gonzalez was awarded an artist residency at the Roswell Artist Residency Program. Roswell, New Mexico (2009) and was selected to show in the 2011 Texas Biennial (2011). |
Art League Houston is delighted to present Tie-Breaker, a playful exhibition of two-dimensional decorative relief-works by Houston-based artist Roberta Stokes, which transforms over three hundred and fifty re-cycled ties into a series of whimsical and inventive art objects. "The ties produce a wide range of recognizable imagery and patterns to work with" says the artist "ranging from cartoons, flowers, nature, sports and children activities to abstract and seasonal". The works in this exhibition include a series of eccentric dresses, alongside a collection of complex tie-weaved paintings that spill out of their gold frames and into the gallery space. Stokes also uses hundreds of the small rectangular labels, which are sewn onto the backs of ties to create multi-colored and textured grid-like collages that are mounted onto pieces of re-salvaged wood. These collages create hypnotic landscapes of design that combine elements of text and image, featuring hundreds of popular culture logos and designs that range from Looney Tunes to Armani. The exhibition opens with a free public reception between 6:00 - 9:00 pm on Friday, March 9, 2012 and runs through April 27, 2012 in the project Art League Gallery.
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