Four Local Artists Will Exhibit At The Artlington Museum Of Art

Written by Sylvan Druze Sunday, 08 January 2012 21:39

Arlington, TX. - A new exhibition at the Arlington Museum of Art from April 6 to May 29 2011 celebrates 4 local artists from the Dallas and Forth Worth area. "The Innovative Eye: Art by Four DFW Artists" features works by Bonny Leibowitz and Enrique Fernández Cervantes of Dallas and Soon Warren and Mazie Pannell of Fort Worth. The distinctive styles and diverse media of these four area artists are emphasized in this show and includes innovative visual perspectives in watercolor, oil, acrylic, encaustic and photography. Bonny Leibowtiz owns the Bonny Studio and teaching workshop in Richardson, Texas. Her work concerns itself with moments that effect change and create new realities. A myriad of choices emerge as layered busyness forms life's patterns, tones and textures. These essential qualities speak to the consequence of relationship, transitions, wounds, healing and growth both interpersonal and universal. Leibowitz is currently working with combinations of wax, digital painting, photography, abaca fiber, seeds, ink and oil, finding these mediums give an intriguing combination of both control and loss of control. Using these mediums allows for internal exploration, deelopment and expression.




Enrique Fernández Cervantes is an active visual artist, exhibition curator and graphic designer. His paintings and fine art photographs have been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums. Since 1999, Enrique has held the position of Visual Arts Coordinator and Curator of Exhibitions at the Bath House Cultural Center. The Bath House, an arts facility of the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, is dedicated to fostering the development and quality of multi-cultural arts within the city of Dallas. Enrique's curatorial record includes exhibitions such as “Primera Luz: Photographs by Mariana Yampolsky,” “Elemental,” “Latino Cultural Center Inaugural Exhibition,” “Office of the Mayor Exhibition Series,” “¡Lotería, Lotería!,” “Stories: Real, Dreamed and Invented” and “Digno Invitational Photography Exhibition,” among many others. Enrique's photo-paintings reveal mystical and metaphorical narratives about common people.




Soon Y. Warren is a full time artist and teacher. She has an Associate degree in commercial art from Thomas Nelson Community College in Hampton, Virginia. Soon Y. has held several exhibitions and earned numerous awards. She published a watercolor painting technique book "Vibrant Flowers in Watercolor" with F&W Publication, (North Light Book) in March 2006, and her second book and "Painting Vibrant Watercolor: Discover the Magic of Light, Color and Contrast" published in 2009. She is represented by Southwest Gallery in Dallas Texas and Your Private Collection Art Gallery in Granbury Texas. Mazie Pannell Pannell, a young-at-heart octogenarian, paints lyrical fantasy portraits in acrylic. She and her husband moved to Fort Worth, Texas, in the second year of their marriage and soon had three daughters. As the girls grew, went to school, and had interests of their own, Mazie began seeking some creative outlet and found the Fort Worth Art Center. There she studied painting with Emily Guthrie Smith, Dickson Reeder, and Jan Herring. Later, she also studied sculpture with Evelyn Sellers. Calligraphy has been a great interest in Mazie’s life as well. In 1991, Mazie became interested in doll making and studied sculpting with Dana Kirk and doll making with Loretta Hagar. She and her husband Bill traveled and sold dolls through international doll shows in Washington D.C., San Franciso, and Orlando, Florida. She won several awards, and her dolls have been shipped to many parts of the world. Some are now being reproduced by Linda Rick of the Doll Maker Company of Tamiami, Florida. Returning to her first artistic love, Mazie has set other artistic endeavors aside and is concentrating on oil painting. She especially loves painting women and children. Actually, almost anything, as she just loves to paint. Her favorite artists are Renoir, Pino, and John William Waterhouse. Her goal is to become as strong in her own painting as each of these renowned artists is in his own style of expressing himself through painting.

The Arlington Museum of Art exists to champion creativity and provide access to art for the cultural enrichment and economic development of our community. Located in an art moderne 1950s former department store building with a two-story expansive open gallery, the AMA is the anchor of a revitalizing downtown Arlington. The oldest art organization in Arlington, it began 45 years ago as an art association and fulfilled its dream to become a museum in 1989. In 1937 Arista and Howard Joyner came to Arlington to teach at what is now UTA. Howard was hired to start the art department and Arista taught art. Both had studied and completed programs at the Kansas City Art Institute. In 1952, to promote art and interest in the community, they established the Arlington Art Association. Founding members included Anna Wynette and Tom Vandergriff, Eleanor Grace and James Martin, the Hawkes families, Mattie Lewis and the Shakespeare Club. Around 1970 Carolyn Snider, a mover and shaker in Arlington, was elected president. Mrs. Snider upgraded the juried shows, raising funds to award cash prizes. Jurors, heretofore primarily artists, were selected from the ranks of art museum professionals, university art professors, art critics and professional curators. This policy continued into the eighties. For most of that time the Arlington Art Association juried show was the only one of its kind in the Metroplex. In the early 80s the Arlington Art Association started annual art auctions to raise funds for college scholarships and to start saving for the purchase of a building. Scholarships totaling $2000 each year ($500 for a graduating senior from each of four high schools) were awarded for several years and the savings account for the building grew to $60,000 by 1986. In 1987 the JC Penney building was purchased from an Arlington group that included the Ross families; a significant part of the selling price was donated by that group and the remainder was financed. With the purchase of the building the name was changed and the organization incorporated as the Arlington Museum of Art. In May of 1990 the first major show of contemporary art at the AMA, Woodwork, attracted the interest of the Dallas art patrons Nona and Richard Barrett.  Visit the museum's website at http://www.arlingtonmuseum.org

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