Meadows Museum director collaborates with Texarkana arts council
SHREVEPORT, LA — Sean FitzGibbons, director of the Meadows Museum of Art at Centenary, was recently invited to jury the Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council (TRAHC)’s 30th annual Juried Exhibition. FitzGibbons was given the task of evaluating, curating, and judging more than 300 entries for the exhibition, representing the work of 98 artists from 19 states.
TRAHC representatives visited Centenary and FitzGibbons earlier in the year to coordinate the transport of sculptor George Tobolowsky’s work from the College to Texarkana. Tobolowsky’s large found object steel sculptures were the first installation in the new Meadows Outdoors sculpture series and graced the Centenary campus from October 2017 through May 2018.
“When the TRAHC team visited, we had some great conversations and realized that we had many shared goals for strengthening the art community in the Ark-La-Tex region,” says FitzGibbons. “A couple of months ago, the exhibitions director contacted me and asked if I would be interested in jurying their 30th annual National Juried Exhibition. I jumped at the chance.”
While FitzGibbons was impressed with the quality of all 332 submissions for the exhibition, he narrowed his selections to just over 100 pieces using a specific set of criteria that he shared with patrons at the exhibition’s opening reception on July 27.
“Every selection I made for this exhibition passed through the following two contextual lenses: does the artwork tell a story and is the artist present within the piece?” explained FitzGibbons. “Ultimately, my intent for the underlying curatorial theme can be described as presenting a visual narrative. When making my selections, I also considered whether the artist unveiled a narrative of the creative process that unfolded within the finer details of the work’s execution.”
For FitzGibbons, jurying this exhibition was “a fantastic experience.”
“When I was in Texarkana to give my remarks, I was thrilled to meet so many regional artists and ‘talk shop’ with them,” says FitzGibbons. “One of the reasons I entered into a career in the arts is that I have a deep love of finding new artists and their work.”
The 30th annual Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council Juried Exhibition runs through August 25th at the Texarkana Regional Arts Center. For more information, visit trahc.org.