Although the Creative Arts Center of Dallas (CAC) celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016 as an institution, the center marks 30 years operating in East Dallas this year. In those 30 years, East Dallas has seen a large increase of artists living and working in the area. It’s not a coincidence that the rise of the arts community known as Little Forest Hills grew as CAC grew in its current location on Laughlin in the historical Bayles Elementary School with many of the current and former teaching artists now living in that neighborhood.
CAC was originally established as the Octavio Medellin School of Sculpture, founded in Frank Reaugh’s studio in Oak Cliff. The renowned Mexican-American artist, Medellin developed a community-based approach to arts education. His independent spirit still lives on at the Creative Arts Center and over five decades has fostered the careers of generations of Dallas artists. You can find most of the school’s nearly 50 teaching artists active in other spaces around North Texas, including galleries, educational institutions, public spaces, festivals and DIY venues.
The work displayed throughout the gallery is a representation of the school’s current roster of teaching artists.
The exhibition features artwork by Sally Ackerman, Lynn Wilkes Armstrong, Katherine Baronet, Melanie M. Brannan, Mack Brim, Anne Cameron, Glo Coalson, Rebecca Collins, Katrina Doran, Cathy Drennan, Barbara Dybala, Annie C. Foster, Merry Fuhrer, Art Garcia, Susan Giller, Linda G. Gossett, Nahalie Houghton, Dave Kramer, Emily LaCour, S. Chuck McCarter, Suzanne Morgan, Benjamin Munoz, Nathan Potnoy, Daniel Sellers, T Stone, Rebecca Swann, Terri Thoman, VET, and Kat Warwick.
SAM IVIE: Works on Paper
The art of Sam Ivie, an artist born in Midland, Texas, who now lives in North Texas, is primarily figurative work in the form of portraiture and invented imagery with careful gradations of value and color. Ink drawings, which bear similarities to graphite, are created with dots or line through a meticulous surface process. Portraits make statements about individual depiction, while invented paintings or drawings are autobiographical in nature.
The images in this exhibition are watercolors and ink drawings created by the artist over the past several years. The newest images consist of line drawings that are based on their ball point counterparts – these works are experiments with positive and negative space utilizing the strength of black and white forms as they are played off of one another.
