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Recent Acquisitions Releases Press Release Archive |
Two Texas-born Artists at TMA A.C. Gentry and Albino Hinojosa Exhibitions Open Tyler, TX—Part of Tyler Museum of Art’s focus is collecting, exhibiting and celebrating early and contemporary art produced by Texas artists. Two new exhibitions do just that, with a special East Texas flair. The Past is Present: Watercolors by A. C. Gentry features works of this prolific and popular Tyler native son. Albino Hinojosa: An Awareness of Familiar Things showcases the work of this long-time artist, illustrator and educator who was born in the Deep East Texas town of Atlanta. The dual exhibitions will be shown in the Museum’s North Gallery from November 17 through January 14, 2007. Admission is free to the public. Gentry, born in Tyler in 1927, began drawing as a young child to occupy his time as his mother cared for his older brother who was handicapped and suffered from hemophilia. After graduating from high school, Gentry went to war in the 25th infantry division of the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946. After the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, Gentry lived in Japan for a year, where he continued to sketch as time allowed. Upon his return to Tyler, he enrolled at Tyler Junior College, graduating in 1948, then went on to study art at the University of Texas at Austin. It was at UT where Gentry taught himself to use watercolors. He said he was also influenced in his work by New York City artist Ed Whitney, who taught a watercolor workshop Gentry attended in Dallas. “I originally wanted to be a portrait painter, but I didn’t like the social part of that,” Gentry confessed. “I did do some portraits, but not many in oil. I started in watercolor mostly because of my children. I always worked out of the house, and they liked to get into the oils!” Gentry was called back to active duty during the Korean Conflict from 1950 to 1951, but was finally able to complete his bachelor of fine arts degree at UT in 1952. After college graduation, Gentry taught at Hogg Middle School in Tyler, commuted to Austin as he worked on his master’s degree in fine arts, and even worked as an adjunct art instructor at Tyler Junior College. His own art professors at UT-Austin included such noteworthy Texas artists as Ralph White and Charles Umlauf. Gentry supported himself in sales and in a Tyler frame shop he owned for about a decade, but has worked full-time as an artist since 1959. He sells most of his works through invitational shows, festivals and a few private venues, like Brady’s Coffee Shop in Tyler, where the back wall is covered in Gentry’s watercolor landscapes. “A.C. Gentry has established himself as a watercolorist with his renderings of nostalgic weathered buildings and scenes of East Texas from a bygone era,” said Ken Tomio, Tyler Museum of Art curator and exhibition organizer. “It is primarily these rural scenes that have made him a favorite East Texas artist.” “This exhibition shows that Hinojosa’s paintings are significant for reasons far beyond his obvious expertise in representational realism,” Tomio noted. “Indeed some of his paintings cross over into the realm of the trompe l’oiel.” Tomio, who also organized the Hinojosa exhibition for the Tyler Museum of Art, said the artist’s still life paintings of pottery, flowers, fruit, toys, tools, etc., all attest to a keen awareness of seemingly mundane objects. Tomio said Hinojosa’s depictions of these ordinary items resonate with people, enhancing their awareness of their daily lives and creating a common ground of intimate experience between the artist and his audience. Hinojosa was born in Atlanta, Texas in 1943, but was raised by his Cherokee mother and Mexican-American father in the smaller East Texas town of Kildare. After graduating high school, Hinojosa attended Texarkana College, where he studied under the well-known artist Otis Lumpkin. He completed his studies in art in 1966 at East Texas Statue University in Commerce (now Texas A&M at Commerce.) Hinojosa supported himself for several years as a commercial advertising artist, then returned to studio art to earn an MFA at Louisiana Tech University. That school became his professional home, where he taught as an associate professor of art from 1972 until his retirement in 2001. He now works full-time as an artist. “We were pleased to add one of Hinojosa’s pieces, Dad’s Chevy, to our permanent collection in 2001,” said Kimberley Tomio, Tyler Museum of Art director. “The high quality of his work and the subject matter places it in context with our existing collection of works by Texas regional artists, especially Ancel E. Nunn, whose early works were similar in their representation of architecture and exterior views of the East Texas landscape. And now we are delighted to present this major exhibition of this talented artist’s work.” Special events complementing the exhibition include an artist reception and gallery talk where both Mr. Hinojosa and Mr. Gentry will speak about their work on November 16 from 5:30 to 7 p.m., and a First Friday Art Tour of the exhibition set for December 1 at 11:30 a.m. Reservations are requested for the reception and gallery talk, and required for the art tour, and can be made by calling 903-595-1001. In addition to these two newest exhibitions, the Museum’s Bell Gallery features Tyler Collects IV: Love for This Land—Paintings of the Southwest from the Southside Bank Collection. Museum hours for all three free exhibitions are Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sundays 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The Museum will be closed Thanksgiving Day, but will re-open Friday, November 24, including the Museum Gift Shop for those who want to select unique holiday gifts in a relaxed, less crowded atmosphere. |