MEDIA CONTACT:
Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager
(361) 320-2064 / vanessa@rockportartcenter.com
FALL LINEUP AT ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Artist-in-Residence Sadie Sheldon’s “Unison Fugues” and Stan Irvin’s “In The Flow” make October debut
ROCKPORT, Texas (Sept. 23, 2024) — “Unison Fugues,” showcasing the unique repurposed creations of textile artist Sadie Sheldon, and “In The Flow” featuring the stylish ceramics of clay artist Stan Irvin, highlight the fall lineup of exhibitions at Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA).
Sheldon’s work will be on view and available for collection Oct. 1–Nov. 9 in the H-E-B Gallery while Irvin’s pieces will be on display Oct. 8–Nov. 17 in the Jeanie & Bill Wyatt Gallery. A public artist reception with both artists will be held on Saturday, Oct. 12, from 5–7 p.m., to coincide with the monthly Austin Street Art Walk a free, alfresco, walkable art experience featuring RCA and other galleries located in downtown Rockport. The shows and reception are free and open to the public.
“Both Sheldon and Irvin demonstrate a deliberate and thoughtful approach to their work,” said Catey Arnold, The Barrow Foundation Curator of Exhibitions for RCA. “Each artist delves into their process with energizing enthusiasm. I believe guests will enjoy the very unique style of these two talented artists.”
Sadie Sheldon is a project-based artist working across a diverse range of media from fabrics to plastics. Her work is often made from found and forgotten objects, which are disassembled and recontextualized through a series of textile-based practices. Projects explore the nuances of our interactions with the natural and material world and explore community identity from the things we leave behind.
Based in Brooklyn and New Orleans, Sheldon travels to feed her curiosity and to understand the abundance of perspectives in our world, finding encounters with people and places regularly brings her into new relations with her surroundings and leads to new ideas calling previous norms into question.
“My work reshapes the way we experience, and often take for granted, the stuff of our world — both its raw materials and ideas,” said Sheldon. “I have deep gratitude to all of the communities that continue to support and engage with my work and look forward to sharing more.”
Sheldon is this year’s RCA Artist-in-Residence, working from a temporary studio in Rockport during her fall exhibition. Made possible by the generosity of an anonymous donor, the RCA program started in 2012. Sheldon also has been an artist-in-residence at The Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, Vt.), Basement6 (Shanghai, China), The Birdsell Project (South Bend, Ind.), Sitka Center for Art and Ecology (Otis, Ore.), Elsewhere Museum (Greensboro, N.C.), Kuona Trust (Nairobi, Kenya), the Textile Arts Center (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Stove Works (Chattanooga, Tenn.), Breckenridge Creative Arts (Breckenridge, Colo.) and the Tides Institute (U.S./Canada border), all of which profoundly impacted her life and work. Her next residencies will be at the Joan Mitchell Center (New Orleans) and Sculpture Space (Utica, N.Y.).
Stan Irvin is known for pushing the boundaries of working with clay, particularly through his altered wheel-thrown forms, but also through his usage of diverse glaze and surface techniques such as printing on clay and sgraffito. His “In The Flow” exhibition showcases altered wheel-thrown "boat" forms that are anything but round, leaving only traces of how the forms originated and suggesting a double meaning to the term "vessel."
“I am continually amazed by the rewarding nature of working with clay,” said Irvin. “At the same time, the physical demands and the technical challenges of the medium and the uncertainty of the outcome are humbling. Often It is as if the clay has a mind of its own and the best I can do is to be attentive and ‘In The Flow’ with it.”
Growing up in a small Arkansas town, Irvin relocated to Texas where he developed a ceramics program for Laguna Gloria Art Museum while completing his MFA degree in art at the University of Texas at Austin. After earning his degree, he developed a ceramics program for St. Edward's University (SEU) in Austin where he taught ceramics and sculpture courses for 38 years. Now a retired Professor Emeritus of Art and Rockport resident, he maintains a downtown studio, teaching various clay workshops and exhibiting in numerous state and national juried competitions, the most recent being the 2024 San Angelo North American competition. Past awards include Best of Show at the Greater Austin Clay Arts Association and first place in the Texas Teapot Tournament.
For more information on “Unison Fugues” and “In The Flow” visit rockportartcenter.com follow RCA on Facebook, or call (361) 729-5519.
About Rockport Center for the Arts
The new 1.2-acre Rockport Center for the Arts, the Coastal Bend’s first multidisciplinary arts organization, is located a block away from Aransas Bay in the heart of the Rockport Cultural Arts District. Designed by the award-winning team at Richter Architects, the state-of-the-art campus features a two-story, 14,000-square-foot, visual arts and education building with four galleries and five classrooms (204 S. Austin St.); The Rockport Conference Center, a one-story, 8,000-square-foot conference and event center, known as The ROCC, (106 S. Austin St.); with a 16,000-square-foot Sculpture Garden serving as a visually inspiring transition space between the two buildings. The hours of operation for the showroom, galleries, and gift shop are Tuesday–Saturday from 10 a.m.–5 p.m., and Sunday from noon–4 p.m. Admission is always free. For information on event space, or to book an event, call (361) 450-8033. For general information and to become a member, visit rockportartcenter.com, follow RCA on Facebook, or call (361) 729-5519.
About the RCA Artist-in-Residence Program
A cultural and humanities benefit to the communities of Rockport and Fulton, the Rockport Center of the Arts Artist-in-Residence program brings fresh perspectives and art forms from around the state and country. Since 2012, the program has allowed artists to enjoy and utilize time and space away from their typical environment, practice and obligations, providing a venue for presentation, production, reflection, and research. Prior artists: Ewoud de Groot, Holland (2012); Judith Selby and Richard Lang, California (2013); Diane Pike, North Carolina (2014); Bob Lockhart, Kentucky (2015); Ellen Heck, North Carolina (2016); skipped post-Hurricane Harvey (2017); Rabecca Signoriello, Pennsylvania (2018); Tyler Vouros, Massachusetts (2019); Evelyn Contreras, California (2020); Jeff Horton, Arkansas (2021); William Tersteeg, Pennsylvania (2022); Quinn Antonio Briceño, Missouri (2023).
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