Published: January 03, 2009 12:45 am         

‘Embrace’ event goes solo this month

Museum exhibit, reception to showcase Ayers’ work

Austin artist Ryan Ayers — illustrator of the recent Herald-Press Newspapers in Education serial, “The Time Bridge Travelers” — will be featured in a solo exhibit and reception at the Museum for East Texas Culture tonight.

The reception, held from 5-8 p.m. in the museum’s art gallery, is a spin-off of the now quarterly Embrace the Arts art walk series entitled “Embrace the Arts Presents...”

“In 2009, the museum will host ‘Embrace the Arts Presents’ on the first Saturday of each month at the museum, with exhibits changing monthly,” Palestine Tourism Director Susan Cottle-Leonard said recently, “This will be great for visitors and residents alike.

“Judith Summerville (owner of Judith Summerville Arts) is now working on the museum’s art program, and the exhibits promise to be very exciting,” Leonard added. “The Arts Advisory Board will sponsor the ‘Embrace the Arts’ art tours — involving the museum, library, Texas Art Depot and Charlene & Associates — quarterly on April 4, Aug. 1 and Nov. 7.

“We plan to make the tours very special events.”

Ayers’ works featured at the museum’s “My work is…my life” exhibit are in no way similar to the illustrations seen in his mother’s books, but are more “surreal, abstract and just generally weird,” he said.

“There is no blanket statement that I can make about my entire body of work,” the artist said. “I could no more summarize the variety of concepts and themes addressed in my artwork in a few short paragraphs than I could summarize my entire life in that space.”

While many artists find a niche that they fit into — focusing on a single theme or subject — Ryan Ayers tries to avoid that.

“I want to be able to address any subject and to capture any moment, and to explore the full range of human experience and emotion as I search for my place and humanity’s place in the cosmos,” the artist said. “I became a painter because it was a doorway to a universe without rules or boundaries — a world where the only limits are those of my imagination,” he continued.

“For me, painting is both a means of communicating with others and a process of self-discovery,” he explained. “If I could tell you exactly what each of my paintings is about, I would have no need to paint them. I would simply write the idea down, or mention it to you in conversation.

“My paintings express those things for which words find themselves to be inadequate."

Ryan Ayers received his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design in early 2008. His interest in art began as a child, but didn’t peak until he discovered painting in his second year of college. He now resides in Austin, where he spends as much time as possible painting in his downtown studio.

Ayers’ brother will be playing live electric keyboard music during Saturday’s reception. To view more of Ryan's work visit lucentvisions.com

The Museum for East Texas Culture is located at 400 Micheaux Ave. in Palestine’s Reagan Park. Call 903-723-1914 for more information.

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Mary Rainwater may be reached via e-mail at mrainwater@palestineherald.com

     

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