Exhibit goes online at Regional Arts Center

Amanda Langley has created two video tours of the Regional Arts Center.
Amanda Langley has created two video tours of the Regional Arts Center.

TEXARKANA, Texas - Art exhibits in the age of a coronavirus pandemic present a tricky proposition, including the Regional Arts Center's current art show.

A recently installed exhibit featuring the work of Four States Regional Art Club artists is up and running, but with social distancing and shelter-in-place orders now in effect, there is no way to see it in person.

That's where the Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council's Amanda Langley stepped up to bring it to viewers online. At the arts agency's page on Facebook, Langley has presented two videos about the exhibit, giving an up-close-and-personal view of the art included. She'll be doing more, too.

"We'd just put up the show, and before anyone had the chance to come and see it we had to close down the building due to the pandemic," said TRAHC's visual arts assistant about the project. "I really just wanted a way that the public would be able to experience the show and keep everybody safe at the safe time."

Therefore, Langley started making these videos but gearing them toward a younger audience because the pandemic led to canceled school tours. "So I still wanted them to get that educational experience from home," she said.

As of the middle of this past week, she had posted two videos, one featuring the art of Amber Fenix, the other the art of Mary Jane Orr. Both of these local artists have had work at TRAHC shows before. Langley will go artist by artist, presenting a new video at least once a week.

"So that we can prolong it and keep everybody interested," Langley said. She's including important art terms in her chats, too, a nod to the art camps for kids they still hope to hold this summer where they talk art definitions and art processes.

In the first video tour, Langley was in the building presenting it. Before the shelter in place was instituted for the county, she took footage of everything inside the Arts Center building. Now she's working from home, putting the pieces together to make more videos with voice-overs. She's not allowed to go inside the RAC anymore.

"So it's a little extra challenge for me," Langley said. She had the forethought to take lots of footage just for this instance.

She brought a particular focus to each of the first two videos posted on TRAHC's Facebook page.

"For Amber Fenix's, she used the same subject piece in both of her art pieces but ended up with two vastly different-looking pictures, so I wanted to show the use of color and the use of mediums can make a huge difference in the story that you're trying to tell," Langley said. The story? Rescuing a dog, but each work evokes different emotions.

As for Orr, her artwork is a still life.

"In hers I really wanted to zoom in and show the hours and hours she spent putting in those details and layering the paints," Langley said. Without an up-close look, the audience may not appreciate those aspects of Orr's art. "I also wanted to show how you can get those kinds of details by painting something that you have right in front of you in a still life."

Langley said it's hard to know how long the exhibit will be up at the Regional Arts Center. It really depends upon the pandemic. But via video tours or by opening the building, TRAHC will ensure that every single piece is viewable by the public, she said.

(More info: TRAHC.org or call 903-792-8681. Videos about the exhibit can be seen at www.facebook.com/trahc.)

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