Breckenridge Fine Arts Center’s newest exhibit features three West Texas artists
By Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan
The Breckenridge Fine Arts Center will host an exhibit featuring the works of three West Texas artists March 19 through May 31. A reception for the artists will begin at 2 p.m. April 6 at the BFAC, 207 N. Breckenridge Ave.
The exhibit “Yesterday’s Toils Are Today’s Treasures” will include the artwork of Lisa Curry and Nathana Cox, both from San Angelo, and Doylene Land, who is originally from Midland but lives in Breckenridge now and is serving as the interim director of the BFAC.
Doylene Land’s oil painting, “Listening to Butterflies,” is one of the pieces of art featured in the Breckenridge Fine Arts Center’s latest exhibit. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
Land’s work in the exhibit includes her oil paintings, as well as a large installation piece in the middle of the Main Gallery titled “My Ancestors’ Memories.” The assemblage features mannequins or dress forms with elaborate outfits created by Land, depicting their roles: The Gardener, The Believer, The Traveler, The Changing Woman, The Protector, The Star Gazer and The Survivor.
Each mannequin’s decorations were crafted by Land using items she’s collected throughout her lifetime, such as vintage quilts, doilies, a deer skull, animal skins and other items. In some instances, she painted directly onto the fabric, and for others, she transferred images that she copied from some of her paintings. The Believer includes the vintage rosary cards that belonged to a friend’s parents. The Gardener’s fringe on the back of her dress is made from small packets of seeds.
In addition to the installation piece, several of Land’s oil paintings are in the exhibit lining the walls of the Main Gallery. Land started working on her contributions to the exhibit before she accepted the interim director position at the BFAC late last month.
Interspersed with Land’s oil paintings is the artwork of Nathana Cox of San Angelo. Cox and fellow artist Lisa Curry own Raw 1899, a combination art gallery and lounge in San Angelo’s historic downtown district. Cox has both acrylic and oil paintings in the exhibit.
The BFAC’s East Gallery features the work of Curry, including her gold-leaf covered ranch wire, as well as some of her oil paintings. There are also several photographs by John Allison that show the places where Curry finds her ranch wire.
Lisa Curry of San Angelo uses gold leaf in her paintings and her ranch wire art. The framed piece she’s holding is titled “Let Your Heart Shine.” (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
Curry and Allison were in Breckenridge recently to drop off their artwork for the exhibit. She makes it clear that her work features ranch wire — not barbed wire — and that she doesn’t shape the wire; she leaves the twisted pieces of wire as she finds them.
“It started out because I’m the gatekeeper — you know, when you drive around on a ranch and the passenger has to get out and open the gate,” she said. “So I just started picking up pieces of old wire. And, I thought, ‘Oh, that looks like a cowboy or that looks like a family.'”
She likens the process to seeing shapes in clouds.
But, Curry said, she’s not the type of person who just likes pieces of rusted wire. “I thought, what can I do with these?” she said. “I do a lot of gold leafing. It’s in my other art. And so I just decided one day to gold leaf it.”
The wire is kept in its natural form — except for the gold leaf — and some pieces are more abstract than others, Curry said.
“To me, the wire has been through a lot of distress in its life. It’s been tumbled and ran over and fallen out of trucks or workers have twisted it and stuck it on a piece of fence, and I just like the history of that and keeping it in its natural state,” she said. “And, to me, what I’ve done is just allowed it to have its life continued.”
In addition to working with the ranch wire that she finds on her own, Curry also does work for ranchers, who often bring her wire they’ve found on their property.
The “Yesterday’s Toils Are Today’s Treasures” exhibit will open on Tuesday, March 19. The BFAC is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays during the winter. The BFAC is closed on Sundays and Mondays.
For more information, call the BFAC at 254-559-6602 or visit the fine arts center in person at 207 N. Breckenridge Ave. or online at www.breckenridgefineart.org.
Artist Nathana Cox co-owns Raw 1899 in San Angelo with Lisa Curry. Cox’s acrylic and oil paintings are featured in the “Yesterday’s Toils Are Today’s Treasures” exhibit at the Breckenridge Fine Arts Center, March 19-May 31. (Photo by Deena McKeown Richardson for the Breckenridge Texan)
“Dancing Shadows” by Nathana Cox
“Balancing Faith and Abundance” by Doylene Land
All of the ranch wire art that Lisa Curry creates is left in its natural state — aside from the gold leaf she applies. She says determining what each piece looks like is similar to seeing shapes in the clouds. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
Cutline, top photo: Doylene Land’s assemblage installation features several mannequins or dress forms that she outfitted and decorated with items she’s collected, as well as with her artwork. For example, on The Believer, she painted the image directly onto the muslin fabric with watercolors. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
