18th annual sculpture garden opening this weekend

Richard Carter
·4 min read

What: 18th Annual Sculpture Garden Exhibit and Artist Reception

When: The Artist Reception is 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, May 14th. Afterwards, the exhibit is available to view whenever the Kemp Center is open.

Where: Kemp Center for the Arts, 1300 Lamar

Admission: Free and open to the public. Information at (940) 766-3347 or www.artscouncilwf.org.

The 18th Annual Sculpture Garden Exhibit will open from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the Kemp Center with an Artist Reception. Nine of the 10 sculptors whose work will be featured will be in attendance, along with the show’s juror, Dewane Hughes. Admission is free, and everyone is welcome to attend.
The 18th Annual Sculpture Garden Exhibit will open from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the Kemp Center with an Artist Reception. Nine of the 10 sculptors whose work will be featured will be in attendance, along with the show’s juror, Dewane Hughes. Admission is free, and everyone is welcome to attend.

The 18th Annual Sculpture Garden Exhibit and Artist Reception is from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, May 14, on the grounds of the downtown Kemp Center for the Arts. Admission is free and everyone is welcome to attend.

Dewane Hughes, professor of Art at University of Texas at Tyler, juried the exhibit. The Troup, Texas sculptor has exhibited in a significant number of previous Sculpture Garden shows, according to Kristine Thueson, ACWF Programming Coordinator.

Nine of the 10 sculptors, whose work was selected for the new exhibit, will be present at the Kemp Saturday evening along with Hughes and long-time Sculpture Garden installer Joe Barrington.

The 2022-23 exhibit features 10 new pieces that will be added to the 11 permanent sculptures on the Kemp grounds. The new pieces will be on exhibit until May 2023, when next year’s exhibit will be installed.

The new exhibit includes works by Jeffie Brewer (Nacogdoches), Glenn Downing (Waco), BC Gilbert (Wichita Falls), Jack Gron (Kingwood), Jim Robertson (Trinity) Luke Sides (Oak Point), Brian Wedgworth (McAllen) and Jon Whitfill (Slaton). All reside in Texas.

Other new sculptures are by Frank Morbillo (Tesuque, New Mexico) and Dani Schacht (Pontotoc, Mississippi).

The Saturday event will feature live music by pianist Anthony Ailey, and complimentary appetizers and beverages. Awards for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places will be presented. The Kemp Center galleries are open during the reception.

“We use a different juror each year,” said Thueson. “We try to use a well-respected national sculptor, particularly an outdoor sculptor, and have them come from all over the country. This year we decided to go with Hughes, because he knows the exhibit so well.”

From left, then-exhibit juror Robbie Barber talks to MSU art professors Suguru Hiraide and Steve Hilton at the 2021 Sculpture Garden Exhibit (17th) at the Kemp Center of the Arts. Everyone is welcome to attend the opening of the 18th Annual Sculpture Garden Exhibit from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the Kemp. Nine of the 10 featured sculptors will be in attendance. Admission is free.

Hughes juried the 2022 exhibit by examining images of work submitted by 45 sculptors from around the country. “Dewane has a unique vision, if you have seen his work, so he selected very interesting pieces,” said Thueson. “The new works are very different from each other, but I think they will work very well together as a whole and fit very well in our space.”

Hughes was very pleased to be asked to jury the exhibit. “Preparator Joe Barrington is one of my best friends,” he said, “and every year this happens around his birthday, so I always enter hoping I can come up and visit him for his birthday.” Last year, Hughes had a sculpture in the exhibit, plus he was part of a major Kemp exhibit that featured artwork by him, his wife and two children.

In this 2021 photo, sculpture artist and installer Joe Barrington talks with artist Amy Hoagland about her powder coated welded steel piece, "Ice Frame", at the Kemp Center for the Arts.
In this 2021 photo, sculpture artist and installer Joe Barrington talks with artist Amy Hoagland about her powder coated welded steel piece, "Ice Frame", at the Kemp Center for the Arts.

When considering the submissions, Hughes said that the outdoor sculpture community in Texas is a pretty tight and recognizable community. “I wanted to bring in some that were sort of unrecognizable (in terms of styles) to sort of breath some fresh air into the exhibition.

“This exhibit been going on for 17 years, and I was looking for some newer fresher stuff that I hadn’t seen a lot of before.”

Hughes wanted good quality, respectable sculptures, that were also substantial in scale. “When you go outside with a sculpture, it has a tendency to shrink it down a little bit.”

Hughes said interested people shouldn’t miss the opportunity to see the sculptures in person as well as talk with the artists. The sculpture garden reception is an excellent opportunity for people to ask questions and to learn more about the medium.

Sculptors are very approachable, he said. “I think it has to do with the fact that sculptors work with their hands, and so they’re sort of the blue-collar group of artists. We’re stuck in our studios all day long with loud machines, so it’s nice to get out to a quieter event to have a chance to talk with viewers and people. We’re always anxious and available to do that.”

For those who will be unable to attend the opening, the Sculpture Garden exhibit will be available to view any time during regular Kemp hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Open late Thursdays until 8 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: 18th annual sculpture garden opening this weekend