Friday, November 30, 2007

For Immediate Release : 'Make Space for Art' Jury Announced

La Reunion TX, a not for profit artist residency, launched a call for entries for ‘Make Space for Art’ on Monday, September 17, 2007. Thus far, La Reunion TX has entires from Egypt, Sweden, Hong Kong, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, The Slovak Republic, Finland, UK, among others.

The purpose of ‘Make Space for Art’ is to generate ideas for a future artist studio and short-term housing space in Oak Cliff. The registration deadline for ‘Make Space for Art’ is December 17, 2007 and entries will be due January 31, 2008. Architects, students, and artists are welcome to register and submit entries.

Jury Facilitator for ‘Make Space for Art’ is Mark Gunderson, AIA of Fort Worth. Other jurors include: Rick Brettell of UTD, Rick Lowe of Project Row House in Houston, Louise Harpman of UT-Austin, and Max Levy, FAIA of Dallas. These jurors will honor the most creative entries with cash prizes and a chance to be a part of a 2008 touring exhibition in North Texas. Details of the tour will be announced later.

Facilitator: Mark Gunderson, AIA – Gunderson is a practicing architect in Fort Worth, Texas and is past president of the Dallas Architecture Foundation. He currently serves on the board for Dallas Architecture Forum and writes and lectures frequently on architecture. In 2006, his alma mater, Texas Tech University, presented Gunderson with Distinguished Alumnus Award from its College of Architecture. He has been a visiting critic at both Texas Tech and the UTA School of Architecture. Currently at work as a co-author to Buildings of Texas, a new 1,000-page double volume in the series “Buildings of the United States,” published by the University of Virginia Press for the Society of Architectural Historians.

Richard Brettell, PhD. – Dr. Brettell is founding president of the Dallas Architecture Forum, former Director of the Dallas Museum of Art and holds three degrees from Yale University. He has taught at the University of Texas, Northwestern University, The University of Chicago, Yale University, and Harvard University and is currently Margaret McDermott Distinguished Professor in the Interdisciplinary School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Texas at Dallas. He has begun to publish architectural criticism, including “Beyond the Golden Age: Three New Art Museums for Texas” in Southwest Review and “Lost in Translation: Ando’s Building for The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth” for CITE. Brettell established and curated the “Five Modern Architects” exhibit for University of Texas at Dallas in 2002.

Rick Lowe – Lowe is the founder of Project Row Houses, an arts and cultural community located in a historically significant and culturally charged neighborhood in Houston, Texas. As an artist, Rick has participated in exhibitions and programs nationally and internationally. From 1996 to the present, he has exhibited at the Phoenix Art Museum, the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston and several other art museums around the world. In 1997, Rick and Project Row Houses were awarded a silver medal by the Rudy Bruner Awards in Urban Excellence. He was the year 2000 recipient of the American Institute of Architecture Keystone Award. In 2002, he was awarded by Theresa Heinz the Heinz Award in the arts and humanities. Rick was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University from September 2001-June 2002. In 2006, Rick received the Brandywine Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2007, he has been an Osher Fellow at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, and received the Houston Spirit Award given by the Mayor of Houston.

Max Levy, FAIA – Fort Worth native Max Levy is a Dallas-based principal, adjunct associate professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, and fellow with the American Institute of Architects. He has lectured across Texas, written for Texas Architect, and authored Chasing the Modernist Rainbow (2000). Recent honors include a 2007 Best in Show award from the Dallas AIA; a 2006 National Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects; a 2002 AIA Dallas House of the Year Award fromD Magazine and a 2001 AIA National Honor Award. His design capacities and poetic sensibility have caused his office to receive more design awards from the Texas Society of Architects than any other small practice in the history of the TSA Awards program.

Louise Harpman – Louise Harpman is a partner at Specht Harpman. Before founding Specht Harpman, she worked as a designer at Eisenman Architects and Buttrick White & Burtis Architects. She is currently serving as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs at the University of Texas at Austin, where she is also the Harwell Hamilton Professor of Architecture. Before joining the UT faculty, she taught for eight years at the Yale School of Architecture and for four years at the University of Pennsylvania. Louise Harpman received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University where she concentrated in East Asian Studies. She holds a Master of Philosophy degree from Cambridge University and received her Master of Architecture degree from Yale University, where she was awarded the AIA Henry Adams Certificate and the Janet Cain Sielaff Prize. Louise Harpman is the co-editor of Perspecta 30:Settlement Patterns (1999). She is the author of the Brooklyn Public Library Design Guidelines (1996) and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Design Trust for Public Space.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Art Chicas Unidas

Art Chicas Unidas, a four way-collaboration between La Reunion TX, Dallas Art Dealers Association, Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, and CityGallery was held on on Saturday, November 10, 2007.

The day began at 8AM with La Reunion TX artist set-up at CityGallery. Artists chosen earlier in the summer by the La Reunion TX artist selection committee included Erica Felicella, Ivonne Acero, Loretta Gonzales, Linka Behn, Johanna Hulsey, Catalyna Mendez, VET, and Lizzy Wetzel. High school girls from select Dallas area high schools started arriving at 8:30AM. What happened next was magical.

The girls were divided up among the selected artists and an all-day workshop began. Each group started on a project and began a day-long process in a variety of media. From digital photography to felt-making, each group fully explored process, design, materials, camaraderie. At lunch, DADA made a presentation in different careers in art as well as how to get started in a gallery by presenting a comprehensive portfolio.

After the workshop was complete, all the art created over the course of the day was installed in the gallery and the general public started arriving at 7PM. All the art sold by silent auction and proceeds were re-invested in the Art Chicas Unidas program. Pending funding, we will replicate this program at a Girl Scout camping facility in a "Total Art Immersion" experience in late April 2008. Stay tuned.

Shout outs and thank yous are in order to the following generous souls:
Lara Arp, Mattie Jenkins, Teri Walker, Rebel Calhoun, Lenita Davis, Clare Dempsy, Kevin Nash, Allison Graham, Catherine Cuellar, Andrea Roberts, Leah Shafer, Cathey Miller, Lisa Zimmerman, Lisa Taylor, Laura and Fred Fregin, Caroline Finlay, Maloree Banks, Dallas Women's Foundation, Kroger, and Central Market. Last - all the girls and the LRTX artists.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

La Reunion TX Workshop



Last Spring, David Hopkins lead a very cool workshop about comics and graphic novels at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary. Above is an excerpt. Enjoy!

Monday, November 05, 2007

SMU kids clean-up La Reunion TX

The SMU kids have come through for us again in 2007, thanks to the amazing Bob Curry with the City of Dallas! Back in January, a team of fraternity brothers cleaned up what we called "Tire City" - where literally hundreds of tires had been illegally dumped just off the road on the La Reunion TX land. This time we weren't dealing with tires, but brush! Lots of it!

We made a huge pile of organic debris that the good folks at Preservation Tree later chipped for us. We had mostly juniors and seniors - male and female - this time. After the clean-up effort, I had the best time talking with some of the group about the project. As their eyes grew wider, I grew more and more happy to share. I hope they left inspired, invigorated, and happy too. Thanks ya'll!

Thursday, November 01, 2007

ART CHICAS UNIDAS!

Come celebrate the launching of our new mentoring program, Art Chicas Unidas, on Saturday, Nov. 10 from 7 to 9 p.m. at CityGallery, 3601 Routh St. This free evening will feature Girl Scout cookies, live music and ART- what else does one need?

La Reunion TX collaborated with Dallas Art Dealers Association, Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas and CityGallery to create Art Chicas Unidas, which pairs high school girls with Dallas visual artists.

The girls will spend November 10 with Dallas artists creating the artwork that will be on display and for sale for the evening event. At lunch that day, DADA members will discuss artist portfolios and careers available in the visual arts.

Art Chicas Unidas targets high school girls from North Dallas High School, Adamson High School, Hillcrest High School, and Jasper High School. The mission of Art Chicas Unidas is to provide high school girls in the targeted DISD schools the opportunity to develop art-related leadership skills by 1) enabling these girls to work with and learn from professional artists; 2) providing a vision for a future profession in the arts and/or media; 3) teaching girls how their skills in art can be used to facilitate a college education; and 4) allowing girls to produce art in new and traditional media that portrays a contemporary image of Girl Scouts in the community.

The Dallas artists selected for this event include Erica Felicella, Johanna Hulsey, Catalyna Mendez, Lizzy Wetzel, Linka Behn, VET, Ivonne Acero, and Loretta Gonzalez.

There will be another opportunity for artists and high-schoolers to be involved in Art Chicas Unidas in April 2008 (if funding becomes available). How do you help that happen? You can sponsor a girl! Visit our site for a form. Email sarah@lareuniontx.org if you would like to volunteer for the Nov. 10 event.

Art Chicas Unidas is currently funded by Dallas Women's Foundation and supported by Central Market and Kroger.