OJAC exhibits to open next week
By Donnie A. Lucas
Members of the Old Jail Art Center will get an advance look at two new exhibits during a dinner reception on Saturday, Sept. 11, but tickets must be reserved by today’s deadline.
The featured exhibits include Bill Wittliff’s “Swallowed Light” and Bruce Lee Webb’s “Hootenanny,” and both will continue to hang through January 2022.
The evening is open free of charge to members of the local art center, but an RSVP must be received by Sept. 9. The festivities will start at 7:00 p.m.
“This will be a great way for people to enjoy a fun start to the fall season,” Susan Montgomery, OJAC development and membership coordinator, said. “I think people are really going to enjoy these exhibits – they are so different and really interesting.”
Works of art from the center’s permanent collection have also rotated into other galleries for the fall season.
Old Jail registrar Amy Kelly has curated the exhibit from the permanent collection, entitled “When Line Becomes Form.” Those pieces are being exhibited in the Project Gallery.
Montgomery said that 45 to 50 pieces by Wittliff will be displayed throughout the Jones, Hooker, Myers, and Nail galleries.
Webb’s “Hootenanny” is part of the Cell Series that highlights living Texas artists will be on display upstairs in the original portion of the jail building.
“We are planning to host the reception and the meal in the courtyard, weather permitting,” Montgomery said. “Should we be forced inside, masks are highly recommended as a precaution against COVID-19, but they will not be mandatory.”
She added that it is not too late to join and still be part of the opening reception. Membership levels range from $25 to $1,500. For more information, contact the Old Jail Art Center at 325-762-2269.
Montgomery said the meal will feature fried chicken and all the trimmings.
The exhibits will open to the public next week.
Bill Wittliff:
Swallowed Light
Recognized as an award-winning screenwriter, filmmaker, book designer, and publisher, Bill Wittliff was equally talented as a photographer. He utilized less conventional approaches to photography, capturing images with pinhole cameras and solar graphic technique.
“Through his handmade cameras that employed a simple box with a tiny hole as a lens which directed light onto photographic emulsion, he created his series La Vida Brinca,” OJAC executive director Pat Kelly said. “These dream-like images recorded Hispanic life including fiestas, religious observations, and street scenes, as well as portraits and landscapes.”
Kelly said that Wittliff also made solar graphs at his Plum Creek ranch in central Texas, again using a pinhole photography method but incorporating unusual receptacles to serve as a light-tight box, such as empty beer cans and PVC pipe.
“The resulting images are surprisingly abstract and beautiful recordings of both time and space,” Kelly said. “The cylinders with photo paper inside were affixed to fence posts, trees, and other objects for a period of six months or more to accomplish extremely slow exposures.”
Wittliff’s exhibition is supported by Melinda and Henry Musselman, with additional funding from John R. Caldwell, John and Ginger Dudley, Betsy Senter, Lynne and Cliff Teinert, and Bill Wright.
Wittliff is now deceased, but his wife and other family members are planning to attend the opening.
Bruce Lee Webb: Hootenanny
Webb incorporates his love of hobo lore, train graffiti, folk traditions, and music to create works of art. Often executed on materials that had former lives as book pages, bed linens, tarps, and musical scores, he creates “memory vessels” to expose others to his eclectic interests.
“This series of artwork rings from my inspiration of Albany and the mysteries of West Texas,” Webb said. “I had a show in Lubbock about 10 years back and spent a lot of time traveling the Bankhead Highway through Albany with all of its culture, spiritual definition, and roadside attractions.”
The 2021 Cell Series is supported by McGinnis Family Fund of Communities Foundation of Texas, Kathy Webster in memory of Charles H. Webster, and the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional funding from Jenny and Rob Dupree.
