Texarkana Entertainment Blog

I’ve seen four juried student art exhibits at the Regional Arts Center during my time as the Gazette’s arts and entertainment reporter, and this year’s exhibit is the best I’ve seen. The 19th Annual Juried Student Art Exhibit has roughly 130 works displayed through June 11, and I encourage local arts lovers to get down and see it.

Middle school to high school students from all over the area submitted their best efforts and show both great imagination and solid technique at work. Among the exhibit works you’ll find a human figure on a swing set, copper-colored assemblages and layers of dripping, colorful paint. There are some interesting experimental pieces and impressive representational works alike to be discovered on the three Arts Center floors housing the exhibit. Truly an eclectic mix.

Admission is free. See tomorrow’s Gazette for full coverage of the exhibit, including a winners list. Below are snapshots of three works I really enjoyed seeing.

- Aaron Brand

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Sometimes going home is not all it’s cracked up to be. Home may be a cardboard box with only a thin protection from the elements or home may be the hard city streets. Home may be a shelter where you’re greeted by unfamiliar people. Home may be a doorway you can’t enter, an entrance to an abandoned building, perhaps. “Home,” in that sense, is something of a misnomer. For the homeless, each day is a struggle to find something we often take for granted.

The Texarkana Homeless Coalition’s new project “Doorways Home” speaks to that sense of daily discomfort and seeks to raise awareness about the issue of homelessness in our society. Using doors from the demolished public housing project Stevens Courts, different area artists have transformed those doors into works of art, taking a cue from last year’s “CHAIRS” project organized by the Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council.

On Thursday, April 28, the doors will be auctioned to raise funds for TXKHC transitional support work with the homeless. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. that night at the Regional Arts Center and the auction starts at 6 p.m. Check it out to support a great cause and see what inspired local artists are up to creating.

- Aaron Brand

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The folks at TRAHC host a public reception tomorrow, Thursday evening (5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.), to say thanks to local Boy Scouts and introduce a new exhibit at the Regional Arts Center, “The Art of Scouting.”

When I was a kid, the museum exhibits that stirred my imagination most were ones that had tangible, physical gadgets, gizmos, and doodads to see, and this new RAC exhibit has a bit of that. (Examples from my past: dinosaurs at the Field Museum and airplanes at the Museum of Science and Industry, two stellar museums in Chicago.) Set up right now on the Regional Arts Center’s first floor are a Boy Scout camp, tent included, as well as old backpacks that recall bygone days of trekking through the wild. There’s also much more helpful, colorful information to give insight into Boy Scout life and lore and celebrate the Boy Scouts of America’s 100-year anniversary. (The organization was founded in 1910.) Norman Rockwell and Joseph Csatari paintings are displayed, as are photographs, patches, flags, and an assortment of other memorabilia.

The exhibit will be on three floors of the RAC through the end of the year, and in addition to tomorrow’s reception associated with the exhibit there is an Occasional Thursday, “For God and Country,” planned for Nov. 11; that event will be a tribute to veterans by the Caddo Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Tomorrow’s reception is a chance to enjoy refreshments, mingle, and get an intro to the exhibit. Catch it if you can. It’s free.

- Aaron Brand

Staff photo by Christena Dowsett. Boy Scouts volunteer Bennie Raney sets up a camping display in the lobby of the Regional Arts Center for “The Art of Scouting” exhibit.

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One of the more unique and engaging new programs at the Regional Arts Center is the “Voices of Freedom” theatrical production, now in its second year. On the heels of the successful “Crowns” reader’s theater event (and exhibit) two years ago, the Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council and its African-American Advisory Committee started “Voices of Freedom: Overcoming Barriers” last year. This year’s theatrical production features dramatic monologues depicting the lives, words, and perspectives of some amazing people in history: Bessie Coleman, Ruby Dee, Angela Davis, and Thurgood Marshall among them. Plenty of talented locals are involved in portraying these people who indeed fought for freedom and overcame great odds: Vicki Parks, Chiquita Burks, Brian Matthews, Barbara Larry, Linda Harlston, William Taft Wilson, Charlotte Maxwell, Rita Williams, Rev. Anthony Ware, Rev. James Larkins, and Rhonda Dolberry. “Voices of Freedom: Overcoming Barriers 2″ will be staged tomorrow night and Friday at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free, and it’s a great, powerful show to see. Here’s our advance story from last Friday’s Gazette: ‘Voices of Freedom’:
Local performers honor those who worked to bring down the barriers.

- Aaron Brand

Staff photos by Eric J. Shelton:

Taft Wilson and Linda Harlston, who portray Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, rehearse for TRAHC’s theatrical event titled “Voices of Freedom.”

Rhonda Dolberry, left, along with other members of the cast, rehearse for “Voices of Freedom.”

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Andrew Kilgore’s exhibit at Texarkana’s Regional Arts Center, “Portraits of Arkansas,” is a startling series of photos taken from three different photo sets depicting Arkansas folks, both the everyday and unusual. The exhibit takes work from three different Kilgore portfolios: “Fayetteville Townfolk,” “We Drew a Circle,” and “Developing Character at the Arkansas Rep.” This fascinating exhibit truly captures the unique character of Kilgore’s subjects and just opened last week at the RAC. Here’s our Friday Accent piece on the exhibit: Portraits of Arkansas.

- Aaron Brand

Staff photo by Tanner Spendley:

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Thomas Jennings. George Washington Carver. Lewis Howard Latimer, Sarah Goode, Dr. Charles Drew, Elijah McCoy, Madame C.J. Walker, Judy W. Reed. The list of African-American inventors whose ingenuity has made a permanent mark on American life is a long one. This year, TRAHC takes a bit of a different approach to its annual exhibit on African-American art. The focus is on inventions, including some examples of those things that have influenced our daily lives. The exhibit runs through March 16. Here’s our story from Friday: Inventive insights: RAC exhibit focuses on African-American inventors.

- Aaron Brand

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There’s quite a bit of family theater to enjoy the next two weekends in Texarkana. With families coming together for Christmas and the other winter holidays, it’s a natural time for it, I suppose. TAMU-T and TRAHC have partnered for a production of “Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins,” a fun musical about a hero named Hershel who strives to save a town’s Hanukkah celebrations. Goblins, however, are getting in the way. Dr. Brian Billings, assistant professor of English at TAMU-T, even wrote a song for this production. Goblin masks were made out of recycled materials. The show helps out Harvest Texarkana; admission is a non-perishable food donation. Times: 2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Regional Arts Center (4th Street and Texas Blvd.). More info: 903-792-8681.

The Downtown Youth Theater  presents “A Christmas Carol,” a story familiar to that theater group (as they did a production of this play a few years ago)  and anyone who’s read the 1843 Charles Dickens tale (or seen one of several movie adaptations, the latest of which is Disney’s 3D animated version with Jim Carrey). Scrooge sure has some staying power; there must be something about his transformation that we enjoy seeing. About 60 local folks will be involved in this theatrical production, which DYT will stage at its unique, intimate second-floor performance space inside the Historic First United Methodist Church, 401 N. State Line Ave. Times are 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 12, and 2 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 13. Tickets are $10 suggested donation. More info and reservations: 903-792-7136.

See tomorrow’s Gazette for full stories on both productions.

- Aaron Brand

Staff photo by Tanner Spendley:

Children act out a scene from "Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins" during rehearsals for the play Tuesday night at Cabe Hall at the Regional Arts Center.

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I got a chance to hang out with Bryan Phillips, the Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council’s community programs director, and talk art this morning—always a worthwhile experience but then again I’m pretty much of an art nerd. TRAHC has two new exhibits up at the Regional Arts Center, one of which is the Gary Bacher solo show in the open gallery. The other is “Dichos: Words to Live, Love, and Laugh By,” and it explores a colorful folk art whereby Latin American truck and bus drivers add a saying and art to their vehicle. These sayings are painted onto the bumpers. Elsewhere on the bus or truck are paintings and decorative art to accompany the saying. According to Phllips, this tradition started in Panama after World War II with a religious theme to it, and from there it spread geographically and was enlarged thematically to include witty sayings or declarations of love. The exhibit shows different photos of these fascinating vehicles. It’s a colorful and lively exhibit and runs through Oct. 3. I’ll have a story on it in Friday’s Accent page of the Gazette. Down below is an example of this art.

- Aaron Brand

Submitted photo:

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One of this weekend’s Sunday Accent stories covers the 2009-2010 Visual Arts Series at the Regional Arts Center. It’s a fairly interesting roster of shows coming up this next year at the RAC, starting Sept. 1  with some Latin American folk art in “Dichos: Words to Live, Love, and Laugh By.” Dichos are the sayings inscribed by the drivers on buses and trucks from Mexico to South America; they come with colorful art and speak to many different things, whether it’s love, advice, or a pun. It should be a fun exhibit. New Boston artist New Boston, Texas, Gary Bachers has an exhibit of new work on the way, and there’s another that explores Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant. Check Sunday’s Accent page for a look at what’s in store. 

- Aaron Brand

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This week is the last to catch a truly unique show at the Regional Arts Center in downtown Texarkana at the corner of 4th Street and Texas Boulevard. “Carnaval!” runs through Saturday. The lively, interactive exhibit gives a glimpse at the many different ways this celebration honors carnival, joyfully practiced here in the States as Mardi Gras. The Arts Center is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (until 7 p.m. on Thursdays) tomorrow through Saturday. Don’t miss it! 

- Aaron Brand

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