MEDIA CONTACT:
Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager
(361) 320-2064 / vanessa@rockportartcenter.com
SPRING BRINGS DIVERSE OFFERINGS TO ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS
“Higher Ground” and “Conversations in Stone” featured April through June
ROCKPORT, Texas (March 27, 2025) — With spring comes all things fresh and beautiful including “Higher Ground,” presented by Tito’s Handmade Vodka, featuring the colorful paintings of artist Sarah Hull, and ”Conversations in Stone,” showcasing the sleek stone carvings of Ryoichi Suzuki.
Hull’s work will be on view and available for collection April 5–June 1 in the H-E-B Gallery, while Suzuki’s exhibition will be featured April 8–June 8 in the Jeanie and Bill and Wyatt Gallery. An artist reception for both, which is free and open to the public, will be held on Saturday, April 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.
Interested in how perspective, angles and shadows can evoke tension and mood, Hull’s paintings in “Higher Ground,” presented by Tito’s Handmade Vodka, depict familiar scenes and landscapes from unfamiliar angles and perspectives to explore emotional distance and intimacy, while Suzuki engages line and form to convey a subtle sense of peace and reflectiveness in his sculptures for “Conversations in Stone.”
“Hull and Suzuki approach their respective media and subject matter with a fascination that is contagious,” said Catey Arnold, Barrow Foundation Curator of Exhibitions for RCA. “I’m excited to introduce our community to these two out-of-state artists.”
A self-described curious onlooker and empathetic observer of behavior, Sarah Hull left a decade-long career as a certified nurse midwife to pursue painting full-time. Her work is fueled by a sense of wonder and long-standing drawing practice, often exploring how perspective, angles, and shadows shape mood and emotional distance. The paintings on view include intimate, larger-than-life florals, small portraits of individual birds, vacation scenes, and wetland landscapes rendered from an elevated point of view, each composition offering a distinct perspective on the tension between closeness and separation.
“My intent is to evoke a sense of isolation one might experience in a crowd,” said Hull, “the juxtaposition of isolation and loneliness co-existing within a relaxed, leisurely recreational space, voyeuristically looking into, but not being part of the world below.”
Hull has maintained a full-time studio practice since 2011, currently based in Tampa, Fla. She earned her Master of Fine Arts from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2021, following previous studies at the Rhode Island School of Design and the New York Studio School. She also holds a B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross, a B.S.N. from Johns Hopkins University, and an M.S.N. from East Carolina University. Her award-winning work has been featured in solo, invitational, and traveling exhibitions across the U.S. and internationally, including venues in Tokyo, New York, Maryland, California, Minnesota, New Mexico, Virginia, and Florida.
A Tokyo-born sculptor now based in Utah for more than 40 years, Ryoichi Suzuki received both his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees from Utah State University, where he has taught sculpture since 2010. Often working in the abstract—drawing inspiration from the human torso, water, wind, clouds, and natural currents—Suzuki shapes stone, wood, and bronze into forms that seem to emerge effortlessly from their environments. His work evokes a sense of calm immediacy, inviting viewers to pause, explore, and reflect. The “Conversations in Stone” exhibit will feature a range of hand-carved works in Persian red travertine, Yule marble from Colorado, and translucent Honeycomb calcite sourced in Utah.
“I am drawn to the interplay of light and the tactile experiences it evokes,” said Suzuki. “Through the deliberate use of lines, planes, shapes, and forms, I strive to distill the purest expressions of aesthetic grace.”
A member of the National Sculpture Society and the Royal British Society of Sculptors, his work is internationally exhibited and collected.
For more information on “Higher Ground,” presented by Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and “Conversations in Stone,” 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.
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