For Immediate Release

Contact: Kara Timberlake, PR coordinator

(409) 832-3432

 ktimberlake@amset.org

AMSET to showcase permanent collection pieces with a seaside theme

(Beaumont, TX; May 16, 2019) The Art Museum of Southeast Texas (AMSET) will exhibit Gulf Coast Lore & Lure, featuring selections from AMSET’s permanent collection. Works in this exhibition will relate to the rich wonders of the Gulf Coast, whether through imagery or storytelling. The exhibition runs from June 15-September 1, 2019 in the main galleries.

Modern and contemporary works by artists such as John Alexander, Derek Boshier, Keith Carter, Dixie Friend Gay, Melissa Miller, Richard Stout, and many more, will be on view, as well as a dynamic selection of regional folk art works. Also on view will be a selection of recent acquisitions, giving visitors a window into the actively growing permanent collection.

On Friday, June 21, 2019, 6 – 8 p.m., AMSET will host a free and open to the public opening reception, featuring a Reading and Gallery Talk with Pete Gershon, author of Collision: The Contemporary Art Scene in Houston, 1972-1985, executive director Lynn Castle, and curator of exhibitions and collections, Mariah Rockefeller. Light appetizers and beverages will be provided complimentary of AMSET.

Gershon is also the author of Painting the Town Orange: The Stories Behind Houston’s Visionary Art Environments. From 1997 to 2013, he was the founding publisher of Signal to Noise: the Journal of Improvised and Experimental Music. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Non-Fiction from Hampshire College (1995) and a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science from the University of North Texas (2015).

AMSET strives to provide education, inspiration and creative vision throughout Southeast Texas through our unique collections, exhibitions and public programs. Over the years, AMSET’s permanent collection has grown from 200 to nearly 2,000 objects, focusing its collections on contemporary Texas artists and regional folk art. The generous donations of museum patrons, collectors and artists allow the museum to continuously build its collections. This exhibition of selections, solely from the permanent collection, will feature works of art that draw inspiration from our rich coastline.

For more information, visit www.amset.org or call (409) 832-3432.

This exhibition is generously funded in part by an award from the Texas Commission on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, the City of Beaumont, the Wesley W. Washburn, M.D. and Lulu L. Smith, M.D. Endowment Fund, the C. Homer and Edith Fuller Chambers Charitable Foundation, and the members of the Art Museum of Southeast Texas.

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David Bates, Low Tide, 1990, oil on canvas, 86 x 48 inches, 

Museum purchase with funds provided by the Carol Tyrell Kyle bequest and the gift from Mrs. Anna Marie Brown

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For Immediate Release

Contact: Kara Timberlake, PR coordinator

(409) 832-3432

 ktimberlake@amset.org

Step into a new world at AMSET’s Free Family Arts Day

(Beaumont, TX; April 18, 2019) The Art Museum of Southeast Texas (AMSET) presents its spring Free Family Arts Day on Saturday, May 18, 2019 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Art activities are inspired by AMSET’s current exhibitions. JOOYOUNG CHOI: Big Time Dreaming in the Age of Uncertainty features soft sculptures, mixed media paintings, and a video station, and JULES BUCK JONES: Future Fossils includes large-scale, mixed media paintings, drawings, and an installation featuring a 36-foot suspended sculpture of a Mosasaur, influenced by biological concerns, mythology, fact and fiction. Children and their families will create their own innovative artwork such as Felt Flowers, Mosasaur Mask-Asaurs, Nature Silhouettes, Puppets, and Potato Rocks.

Complimentary cookies and punch will be provided as well as live entertainment.  A concession stand serving ballpark-style food will be available, as well as free face painting. 

Admission to this event is free and open to the public.  For more information, visit amset.org or call (409) 832-3432.

This program is made possible in part by Anonymous, Carla and Josh Allen, American Valve and Hydrant, Bill Clark Pest Control, Edaren Foundation, Goodyear Beaumont Chemical, Helen Caldwell Locke and Curtis Blakey Locke Charitable Trust, National Endowment for the Arts, Stanley K. Price, Sheila and Jerry Reese, Regina Rogers – In loving memory of Julie & Ben Rogers, Rob Clark & Jerry Thacker, Wesley W. Washburn, M.D. and Lulu L. Smith, M.D. Endowment Fund, the Texas Commission on the Arts, the C. Homer and Edith Fuller Chambers Charitable Foundation, and the City of Beaumont.

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For Immediate Release

Contact: Kara Timberlake, PR coordinator

(409) 832-3432

 ktimberlake@amset.org

Beaumont native Sandy Walker inspired by natural world in Café Arts Series

(Beaumont, TX; April 12, 2019) The Art Museum of Southeast Texas (AMSET) will host Sandy Walker: Nuances April 18 – June 23, 2019 in AMSET’s Café Arts Series for Local Artists.

Walker is an artist directed by her own sense of color, form, and light inspired by the natural world. Although she studied drawing at the University of Houston under Beaumont native John Alexander during her college years, Walker dedicated her career to social work and retired after 45 years as a curriculum developer and director of community services programs. She has always incorporated drawing into her daily routine, sketching interiors and design elements that come alive in her newest paintings. She also spends time in Sanderson, Texas, where she is constantly inspired by the landscape and sky colorations that call so many artists to the west Texas region. Her work has been exhibited at the Beaumont Finder’s Fayre, and is included in private collections throughout Texas.

Her paintings evolve much like children to Walker – playing with one another, becoming disobedient, learning from and teaching lessons to the artist as she nurtures them into their final realized compositions.

The paintings in Nuances are abstract revelations of Walker’s search for truth in natural beauty, and her dedication to studying the processes and interactions between paint and the canvas. To her, abstract art is “total freedom,” and she enjoys allowing the paintings to tell her where they want to go.

For more information, visit www.amset.org or call (409) 832-3432.

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Sandy Walker, The Tropicale, 2014, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches, Collection of the Artist  

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For Immediate Release

Contact: Kara Timberlake, PR coordinator

(409) 832-3432

 ktimberlake@amset.org

LU professor to give talk on AMSET spring exhibitions

(Beaumont, TX; April 9, 2019) Lamar University art professor, Xenia Fedorchenko, will give a talk on JOOYOUNG CHOI: Big Time Dreaming in the Age of Uncertainty and JULES BUCK JONES: Future Fossils at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas’s spring Taste of the Arts Lecture Series, Monday, April 29 at 12:30 p.m. The talk, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the galleries with lunch to follow in the Two Magnolias café, Dutch treat style.

Fedorchenko received her Master of Fine Arts in printmaking from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and her Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts. Joining Lamar’s art department in 2006, Fedorchenko serves as the associate professor of color theory, drawing and printmaking. She is represented by Water Street Studio in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Her work is in the permanent collections of several museums as well as university, corporate and private collections throughout the country.                                                                                                                                              

Per Fedorchenko’s faculty bio on the Lamar University website, in teaching, she aims to balance formal training and commitment to a high level of craftsmanship with an environment that cultivates community, honesty, curiosity and willingness to push the challenge inherent to any piece. Instruction in her courses occurs through incremental skill-building exercises that lead to assignments based on content. Overall, Fedorchenko wishes her student to find the visual language that propels her or him to get excited, discover and articulate his or her knowledge. In her research, Fedorchenko is drawn to the human figure as a universally comprehensible symbol for our kind and to the baggage it contains.           

JOOYOUNG CHOI: Big Time Dreaming in the Age of Uncertainty and JULES BUCK JONES: Future Fossils will be on view from March 16-June 2, 2019 in the main galleries.                

For more information, visit www.amset.org or call (409) 832-3432.

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For Immediate Release

Contact: Kara Timberlake, PR coordinator

(409) 832-3432

 ktimberlake@amset.org

Registration open for Summer ArtVentures 2019

(Beaumont, TX; April 2, 2019) Join the Art Museum of Southeast Texas (AMSET) for Summer ArtVenture courses from June 3 through July 12, 2019.

Each Summer ArtVentures camp is offered Monday through Friday with two workshops per day. Morning classes are from 9 a.m. to noon and afternoon classes are 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Campers are divided into three age groups with each course designed with age-appropriate art activities. All courses are taught by artists and art professionals, and the participants work closely with these respected artists in a variety of mediums.

Young ArtVenturers, children ages 5-7, will sample clay, paint and mixed media through simplified projects formatted for their age group. These classes will be augmented with art-related story times and outdoor activities.

ArtVenturers, children ages 8-11, will have many courses to choose from including melt-able media, clay, mixed media, and sculpture.

TeenVentures in Art, for ages 12-14, will allow campers to investigate America’s exceptional modern art movements in order to gain the inspiration needed to create their own unique works of art.

Summer ArtVentures camps are $75 for AMSET members, $135 for non-members for the first child’s first class, $75 for each additional child, and $70 for each additional class. The non-member fee includes a one-year family membership. Scholarships are available. To avoid a late registration fee, enroll by May 31, 2019.

Course descriptions and registration forms are available at www.amset.org.  Please contact Curator of Education, Christle Feagin at cfeagin@amset.org or call (409) 832-3432 for more information.

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For Immediate Release

Contact: Kara Timberlake, PR coordinator

(409) 832-3432

 ktimberlake@amset.org

AMSET to host annual Go for the Gold fundraiser, March 21st

(Beaumont, TX; February 21, 2019) The Art Museum of Southeast Texas (AMSET) will host its annual Go for the Gold party and reverse drawing fundraiser on Thursday, March 21, 2019 at 6:30 p.m. at the museum.

Tickets cost $100 and admit two people into the party with a number of prizes given away throughout the evening, including a chance to win $10,000 in gold coins for the first place prize, $1,500 in gold coins for second place prize and $1,000 in gold coins for third place prize. Winners need not be present to win. The gold prizes are given in American Eagle coins and have value that depends on the price of gold and value on the collectors’ market.

One ticket includes dinner for two catered by Two Magnolias and an open bar serving the signature drink, Dark and Stormy.   

All proceeds benefit AMSET’s exhibitions and educational programs.

This year’s Go for the Gold, chaired by Albert “Lafitte” Nolen, is pirate-themed with attendees encouraged to come dressed in their best pirated clothing or casual seaside attire.

Participants will be entertained by emcees Bret “Peg-Leg” Babineaux and Eric “Hell-Pirate” Berg.

Only 450 tickets will be sold to maximize participants’ chance of winning; advance purchase is recommended.  Tickets must be presented at the event to gain admission. To purchase tickets, visit www.amset.org or call (409) 832-3432.

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2018 Go for the Gold 

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For Immediate Release

Contact: Kara Timberlake, PR coordinator

(409) 832-3432

 ktimberlake@amset.org

AMSET to open two new vibrant spring exhibitions March 16th

(Beaumont, TX; February 19, 2019) The Art Museum of Southeast Texas (AMSET) will exhibit JOOYOUNG CHOI: Big Time Dreaming in the Age of Uncertainty and JULES BUCK JONES: Future Fossils from March 16-June 2, 2019 in the main galleries.

On Friday, March 22, 2019, 6 – 8 p.m., AMSET will host a free and open to the public opening reception featuring a gallery talk by artists JooYoung Choi and Jules Buck Jones. Light appetizers and beverages will be provided complimentary of AMSET.

A “world building artist” who lives and works in Houston, Choi uses puppets, props, home videos, toys and drawings inspired from her childhood to explore her on-going and fictional world, the Cosmic Womb. As an adopted child and one of the only Asians living in her New Hampshire community, Choi grew up feeling different and lonely – her imagination became her creative salvation. Viewers will enter the Cosmic Womb, which will include soft sculptures and video installations, as well as puppets and mixed media paintings. The artist will participate in a weeklong residency at AMSET during her installation, interacting with museum visitors throughout the process. Choi will also teach a flower workshop, March 2^nd, to guests prior to her installation, inviting them to create pieces that will be included in the installation. AMSET will also present a documentary film about Choi and her work as part of our interpretative programming.

Jules Buck Jones lives in Austin and teaches at Texas State University. He is represented by Conduit Gallery in Dallas, Texas, and David Shelton Gallery in Houston, Texas. Jones is recognized nationally for his artwork and installations focusing on animals and the environment. His Animal Facts Club creates and envisions interactive performances for children, educating them on animal and biological facts. His exhibition at AMSET will feature artwork inspired by the birds of America, including vibrant paintings, sculpture and a mixed-media, site specific installation, which will blend together to create an environment type ecosystem where predator/prey relationships, mating behaviors, and other transformative actions play out between the paintings and sculptures. The artist will take part in an artist residency at AMSET during his installation. A monograph published by the artist will be available during the exhibition, and a book signing will take place at the opening reception.

For more information, visit www.amset.org or call (409) 832-3432.

Both exhibitions are generously funded, in part, by an award from the Edaren Foundation, the Texas Commission on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, the City of Beaumont, the Wesley W. Washburn, M.D. and Lulu L. Smith, M.D. Endowment Fund and the C. Homer and Edith Fuller Chambers Charitable Foundation. JOOYOUNG CHOI: Big Time Dreaming in the Age of Uncertainty is additionally funded, in part, by an anonymous donor. JULES BUCK JONES: Future Fossils is additionally funded, in part, by Rob Clark & Jerry Thacker and Sheila & Jerry Reese.

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JooYoung Choi, Tourmaline, the Celestial Architect, 2018 (detail), acrylic paint and paper layered on canvas,

60 x 48 inches, Loan Courtesy of the Artist, photo credit Tom DuBrock

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Jules Buck Jones, Wrong Wind (detail), 2018, ink, watercolor, and pastel on paper, 72 x 114 inches, Loan Courtesy of the Artist

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For Immediate Release

Contact: Kara Timberlake, PR coordinator

(409) 832-3432

 ktimberlake@amset.org

AMSET hosts 33rd Annual Protégé High School Art Competition and Exhibition

(Beaumont, TX; January 30, 2019)  Artwork by local high school seniors, selected for the Annual Protégé Competition and Exhibition, will be on view February 21 through March 24, 2019 in the Conn Take pART gallery at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas (AMSET). Works will then travel to area schools for exhibition and outreach in the community.

 Protégé Competition and Exhibition provides local 12th-graders exposure to the art world. AMSET believes it is important for young artists to have an opportunity to experience art competitions and learn to properly exhibit their artwork. Protégé is offered to senior students in Chambers, Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Newton, Orange, and Tyler counties.

This year's Protégé juror is JooYoung Choi, a multi-disciplinary artist who uses puppets, props, home videos, toys and drawings inspired from her childhood to explore an ongoing and continuing fictional world she has created and calls the Cosmic Womb. Choi’s fantastical world will be featured in the solo exhibition, JooYoung Choi: Big Time Dreaming in the Age of Uncertainty, at AMSET from March 16 until June 2, 2019.

Artists, whose works Choi selected, will attend an archival framing workshop given by the AMSET curatorial department. Prizes for winners include scholarships to Lamar University's Art Department and gift certificates for art supplies.

AMSET will host the Protégé Reception and Awards Ceremony on February 21, 2019 from 6 - 7:30 p.m. Cookies and punch will be provided. This event is free and open to the public.

For more information, call (409) 832-3432 or visit www.amset.org.

This program is made possible through the generous support of Market Basket Food Stores and the Department of Art of Lamar University through a donation by the Friends of the Arts. Additional funding is provided by the Wesley W. Washburn, M.D. and Lulu L. Smith, M.D. Endowment Fund, and the City of Beaumont.

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2018 First Place: Presley Landry, Influenza

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