Beaumont, Texas - >From May 17 through July 13, 2008, the Art Museum of Southeast Texas is excited to present Climates, two separate and impressive, large-scale installations by internationally-renowned artist Sharon Kopriva. Southeast Texans are invited to come and meet the artist and learn about the exhibit and its political undertones at the opening reception from 6-8 p.m. on Friday, May 16.

 

One of the installations in Climates, called Conclave, is a three-dimensional piece referring to a secret gathering. “As a young Catholic I knew the word used in a specific reference to the meeting of Cardinals which elected a Pope,” Kopriva said of the piece. “In this particular installation, however, it is a secret government meeting which has been going on for a long time. So long, in fact, that it is at a stalemate and life is disintegrating around it.”

 

Kopriva is best known for her use of papier mache to create macabre, life-like figures inspired from her Catholic religious childhood. Her work is also influenced by many other different cultures and traditions: her experiences with Latino and African-American communities in Houston, a fascination with ancient Egyptian rites, and the religious practices of indigenous Peruvian peoples. Kopriva’s installations, sculptures and paintings echo with the brutality of ritual and myth while connecting nature with her own spiritual sojourn.

 

The other installation featured at AMSET, Winds of Change, refers to the constant climate changes which our earth has been experiencing since its existence. “It is not a judge and jury on the subject of global warming,” Kopriva said, “but one artist’s visual, imaginative view of what our world might look like as conditions change.”

 

Kopriva, of Houston, has an impressive repertoire of exhibitions dating from the 1980s to the present. Voted 2001 Texas Artist of the year by the Art League of Houston, Kopriva’s work has been exhibited across the United States and internationally.

 

The Mission of the Art Museum of Southeast Texas is to provide education, inspiration and creative vision to the people of our culturally diverse region through our collections, exhibitions, public programs, and outreach in the visual arts.