No matter how much Lee Ruth and Meaux Johnson’s pieces look decidedly different, these two regional artists share a strong sense of originality in their work now on display at Texarkana’s Regional Arts Center.

Ruth’s in-your-face portrayal of the insect world’s brilliance and Johnson’s colorful, expressive mixed-media pieces both show artists testing form with energy and passion.

For Ruth, his photo portraits of insects in his yard became a relatively recent obsession, one honed with a Nikon 7900 digital camera.

“It’s a point and shoot about the size of a pack of cigarettes,” said Ruth. It fits perfectly in his pocket as he roams his yard, observing and noticing. The exhibit, in fact, is called “Backyard Safari.”

He uses the camera to get up close to the insect critters that populate his yard. “Probably 80 percent of the photos I take are within sight of my mailbox,” he said, noting the camera he uses is essentially useless to him for other kinds of photographs.

But for showing the bright colors, incredible shapes and intricate body parts and patterns you can see in an up-close insect, it’s absolutely priceless, judging by his photographs on display.

“I tried landscapes and stuff like that but the little pocket camera just doesn’t capture it,” he said. He likes, though, the cost-effective nature of his tool and the way digital photography can be manipulated.

He discovered the unique world of bugs while taking wildflower photos.

“It gave me a good opportunity to get familiar with bugs,” Ruth said.

About his subjects, many are so small they’re less than an eighth of an inch long. But with his camera, he’s able to capture the wonder and beauty in the minute worlds of butterflies, caterpillars, dragonflies and spiders.

“I’m always excited about anything new I find,” said Ruth, who lives near Wright Patman Lake.

He says bugs are available as subjects nearly the whole year round. And often (but not always) they like to sit still and return to the same spot, calling it “home.”

For this work, he must spend a lot of time observing, a trait that’s essential to an artist.

“It gets easier ... nothing beats observation. If you don’t see it, you’re not going to get the picture of it,” Ruth said.

Equally unique are the worlds Meaux Johnson creates in his energetic, inventive and colorful mixed-media pieces.

Johnson’s something of a “Renaissance man,” equally at home cooking as he is painting; he recently auditioned for the TV show “Hell’s Kitchen.” And his work feels nourishing to experience, as shown in the vibrant art in “Expressions of Meaux.”

Works like “Mask of the Twins,” “Pieces of a Dream,” “9/11,” “Urban Mask,” and “Blue Kimmie” capture his feelings, what he calls “an abstract from within.”

“This is basically spur-of-the-moment, whatever I felt at the time. It spans over a period of basically from ‘99 up until this year. So it’s got different phases and some of my stuff that I did when I did my first show in Atlanta, Ga. It’s kind of a larger spectrum of what I do,” Johnson said.

He’s exhibited in the past with local African-American artists at the RAC.

Alicia Keys remains something of an inspiration as someone whose aura inspired an artistic attachment in Johnson. His Alicia Keys pieces reflect her musical energy. In much of his work, the lines move with such energy that they seem to represent a sort of musical dialogue.

Johnson, though, is not sure how to explain some pieces, but he knows how they’re made and take shape over time.

“I can’t explain it. Some of the pieces ... (are done) in an unconscious mode. You know you’re working on it all night, you go to sleep, and you don’t know what it really looks like until the next day,” he said. “It’s kind of like you get in a zone, you’re cutting and pasting, you’re putting this here and you’re not thinking about it. And then next day you come back and sit back after you’ve got some rest, and look it and (say), ‘Oh, man that’s pretty nice.’”

He favors mixed media, a way to fuse it all together.

As an artist, Johnson, who lives in Linden but travels a lot, is also considering positive and instructive dreams for the future.

He’d like to start a recycling program to give people incentives to recycle things like electronic waste or bottles and cans.

“I want to do a show based all on recyclable materials because I’m a big advocate of recycling. I hate waste. And I want to try to bring awareness up and do what I can to help,” said Johnson.



(Both exhibits run through Jan. 8. Admission is free. The Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council’s Regional Arts Center is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a 7 p.m. close on most Thursdays. It is closed on Thanksgiving Day. More info: 903-792-8681.)