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2 new exhibits to open Saturday at OJAC

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By Melinda L. Lucas

Drawings by Cheyenne warriors are being hung on the walls of the Old Jail Art Center this week, and Fort Worth artist Corrie Thompson is installing her works in the upstairs galleries as preparations are made for the opening of the summer exhibitions.

The opening will start with a members’ viewing and reception, along with a time to meet Thompson, on Saturday, June 10 from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m.

The exhibitions are ready just in time for the Fandangle performance season, which gets underway on Friday, June 16. They will continue to be on display throughout the summer.

Exhibition Details

In the ongoing Cell Series of Exhibitions, Thompson is installing drawings on canvas and fabrics entitled Drought and Deluge.

In the OJAC exhibit, she explores elements of the Texas landscape in drought and deluge weather states, considering them as indicators of the state of the world. While looking through news articles and state archival materials, the artist admits she finds “poetic and bizarre moments in states of disaster.”

Her drawings on canvas and fabrics with applied text develop another layer of content within the confines of the OJAC’s historic jail structure that has witnessed more than 146 years of change.

Cheyenne Ledger Drawings: Stories of Warrior Artists features 52 deeply personal works by three Cheyenne artists who were part of a national forced assimilation project.

The warrior artists were among 72 prisoners of war taken by the U.S. government to Ft. Marion in Florida in 1875 following the Red River War. They artfully  documented their own version of the journey east and the life they left behind, often contrasting with the narrative told by historians and goverment agents.

Nineteenth-century Plains Indian drawings have often been called “ledger” drawings because they were made with pencil, ink, and watercolor on pages of old ledger or account books. These works are on loan from the Arthur and Shifra Silberman Collection at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

For more information or to become an Old Jail Art Center member, call 325-762-2269 or visit theojac.org.