Everything Nac

The next in an ongoing science, technology, education and mathematics lecture series organized by the Stephen F. Austin State University College of Sciences and Mathematics will continue this month with presentations from two long-time ExxonMobil employees.

“The purpose of the Patent Lecture Series is to expose SFA students and faculty members to an array of professionals who share experiences of how a STEM background broadens career opportunities and increases marketability,” said Dr. Jana Redfield, assistant director of the SFA STEM Center. “The speakers range from innovators to entrepreneurs, patentees, business owners, professors, legal counsel for major corporations, engineers, mathematicians and others.”

Nancy Lin, retired ExxonMobil senior adviser, and C. Morris Smith, retired ExxonMobil venture technology manager, will give presentations at noon and 1 p.m. Monday, April 11, in the Math Building, Room 101. The pair is CEO and president of Lin and Smith Consulting Inc., respectively.

“The STEM Center is excited to host C. Morris Smith and Nancy Lin,” Redfield said. “The lecture will highlight their many years and experiences working in STEM fields, how they attribute their successes to strong STEM backgrounds, and the emphasis on women in STEM-related fields and careers.”

Holding a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a master’s degree in finance from New York University STEM School of Business, Lin will give an overview of U.S. women in engineering today and a personal story of her own career at ExxonMobil and work-life integration. Lin is a member of the Society of Women Engineers and retired from ExxonMobil as a senior adviser in 2013, where she led the development of long-term global supply/demand outlook for natural gas.

As a retired petroleum engineer and now an adjunct professor at Princeton University, Smith will speak of how he attributes his many years of success to building fundamental knowledge through rigorous experimentation and mathematics modeling of complex systems, taking a “problem-solving” approach to the many issues he encountered during his career.

The Patent Lecture Series is made possible through funding provided by Deborah Nichols Pruitt and Tom F. Pruitt of Nacogdoches.

“This opportunity will further distinguish STEM education provided at SFA from that of other universities,” said Dr. Kimberly Childs, dean of the college. “This generous gift will attract additional talent to our programs, in particular our engineering program, and SFA graduates who complete these studies will be able to take steps to qualify for lucrative employment in patent-intensive fields.”

For more information, visit cosm.sfasu.edu/stem/lecture-series; or contact the STEM Center at (936) 468-5814 or STEMcenter@sfasu.edu.

Distinguished photographer Abelardo Morell will serve as juror for the 22nd Texas National, Stephen F. Austin State University’s acclaimed art competition and exhibition, which opens April 9 and runs through June 11 in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

Texas National features an assortment of art, including photography, painting, sculpture and mixed media, according to John Handley, director of SFA galleries. This year’s exhibition includes 93 pieces of art by 98 different artists from 29 states.

The School of Art’s annual juried competition and exhibition attracts entrants from across the United States, providing artists an opportunity to have their work juried by highly acclaimed artists and critics, such as Morell, Handley said.

“Each year for our Texas National Competition and Exhibition, we seek to engage a well-respected artist, historian and critic to act as the juror for this national exhibition,” Handley said. “Abelardo Morell has covered a broad spectrum of subjects through his photographic lens. His subjects include childhood, money, still life and book illustration. He is also known for his unique experimentation and reinvention using the camera obscura where he transforms a room into a picture of the outside world.”

An exhibition of Morell’s own work will open simultaneously April 9 in Reavley Gallery at The Cole Art Center. Born in Havana, Cuba, in 1948, Morell immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1962. He received his undergraduate degree in 1977 from Bowdoin College and an MFA from The Yale University School of Art in 1981. In 1997, he received an honorary degree from Bowdoin College.

Morell’s work has been collected and shown in many galleries, institutions and museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York, The Chicago Art Institute, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Houston Museum of Art, The Boston Museum of Fine Art, The Victoria & Albert Museum and more than 70 other museums in the United States and abroad. Among his publications is a photographic illustration of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1998) by Dutton’s Children’s Books and “A Camera in a Room (1995) by Smithsonian Press.

Morell will give an artist’s talk at 5 p.m. Saturday, April 9, at the art center, followed by the announcement of this year’s Texas National winners during the exhibitions’ opening reception, which begins at 6 p.m.

The exhibitions and reception are sponsored in part by the SFA Friends of the Visual Arts, Nacogdoches Junior Forum and Texas Commission on the Arts, and corporate sponsors Hampton Inn and R&K Distributors, Inc.

Additionally, the School of Art and Friends of the Visual Arts will present a free, one-night screening of the documentary “Shadow of the House,” an intimate portrait of Morell’s life and work, at 7 p.m. Friday, April 1, in Cole Art Center. The film, directed by Allie Humenuk, skips across time and space from Morell’s early childhood escape from Castro’s regime to his status as a world-renowned photographer. It explores his daily working life as an artist and his eventual return to Cuba after 40 years of living in exile, according to imdb.com.

The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.

The Beta Phi cast of Alpha Psi Omega National Theatre Honor Society at Stephen F. Austin State University will host a playwriting workshop with SFA’s playwright-in-residence, Jack Heifner.

The workshop is scheduled for 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 10, in Room 303 of the Griffith Fine Arts Building on the SFA campus. Cost is $25 for community members and $10 for students attending any college or university.

Led by Broadway playwright Heifner, the workshop is an introductory course designed for those who have little or no playwriting experience.

“We had a wonderful turnout last year, including high school students, SFA faculty and students as well as members of the Nacogdoches community,” Heifner said. “If you are interested in playwriting, this is an introductory workshop with exercises to help you get over your fear of facing the blank page or blank computer screen.”

Organizers recommend not attending if you have taken Heifner’s playwriting course in the past. Participants should bring writing utensils and paper.

Seating is limited to 30, and payment will be taken at the door in cash or check form. Proceeds benefit Alpha Psi Omega scholarships. Participants should RSVP to apobetaphi@gmail.com to reserve a seat.

Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre will present the student-directed play “The Lover” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 8, and at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 9, in the Downstage Theatre on the SFA campus.

Directed by senior theatre major Robert Malbrough of Houston, “The Lover,” a one-act play by Nobel Prize-winning English playwright Harold Pinter, is a comedy in which a married couple creates sexual games to liven up their relationship.

“‘The Lover’ explores the way we tend to compartmentalize our lives and how that affects our relationships, in particular,” Malbrough explains. “The games the characters play serve primarily as a distraction, so the question we have to ask ourselves is: what happens when games aren’t enough and we have to face the real issues?”

The cast includes Burleson sophomore Paige Farley as Sarah; Houston sophomore Jason Trevino as Richard; and Wichita Falls sophomore Travis Brasher as John.

The production staff includes Emily Rohrman, Grand Saline senior, stage manager; Megan Poole, Houston junior, assistant stage manager; Alexa Weeks, Mathis junior, scenic designer; Elizabeth Bielstein, Houston sophomore, costume designer; Katy Morton, Marshall senior, lighting designer; Lane Davidson, Denton junior, sound designer; Taylor Solice, Mesquite junior, properties designer; and Samantha Friedrich, Bay City senior, hair and makeup designer.

Malbrough most recently served as assistant director and dialect coach for the School of Theatre’s production of “Clybourne Park.” Previous SFA acting credits include “Spamalot,” “Macbeth” and “The Importance of Being Earnest.” Houston area acting credits include “Assassins” for SRO Productions and “Black Comedy,” “Love’s Labor’s Lost,” “Night of January 16th,” “Little Women: The Musical,” “Picasso at the Lapin Agile,” “Assassins” and “Macbeth” for Lone Star College-Kingwood. Directing credits include “Abandon All Hope,” “Don’t Talk to Strangers,” “The Unexamined Life” and “A Shield No Longer.” Malbrough is currently revising and expanding his short play, “Dangerous Goods,” which was originally produced in 2011.

“The Lover” is recommended for mature audiences. Faculty production advisor is Slade Billew.

Tickets are $4. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit theatre.sfasu.edu. The Downstage Theatre is located in the Griffith Fine Arts Building, 2222 Alumni Drive.

The Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts and School of Art will present an exhibition of the works of Vera Barnett March 30 through May 6 in Griffith Gallery on the SFA campus and in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

The exhibition will feature oil paintings, as well as examples of the artist’s plastic models used to make her paintings, according to John Handley, director of galleries at SFA, who first saw Barnett’s work while he was visiting Valley House Sculpture Garden and Gallery in Dallas.

“I found her work unique, curious, humorous, and honoring an awareness of art history unlike any I had seen before,” he said. “As with many artists over the years, Barnett is very aware of the history of art – of the great master painters who have lived and worked and to whom all contemporary artists owe a debt.

Barnett draws upon earlier artists – Hieronymus Bosch, Masaccio and Grant Wood – bringing them into the 21st century with her own unique and personal interpretation, Handley said.

Barnett explains that she is drawn to images that can represent dual interpretations and reactions. “Plastic has the qualities of a false self of perfection; smooth, flawless and with the illusion of permanence,” she said. “This is juxtaposed against the reality of wrinkles and vulnerability.”

In the 2010 exhibition catalogue of Barnett’s work, the artist wrote: “I have been working for several years on a group of oil paintings that explore classical themes in art. I am drawn to art that explores the emotional relationships between people, their environment and circumstances that they find themselves in. I wish to reconstruct these ideas through my own vision, my life experiences. These ‘classic’ themes are chosen because they are timeless in nature, explore emotions that are universal and cross boundaries of time and distance. I reinterpret these themes using plastic ‘inflatable’ people.”

Art historian Frederick Turner describes Barnett’s figures as “full of human feeling.”

“Their faces are so expressive, so full of trepidation, resignation, bemused happiness, anxiety, affection, woe,” he said. “The eyes are especially striking, with their innocent and meditative gaze, almost never directly out of the picture into the viewer’s eyes, but always inward into the drama of the scene itself or into their own thoughts.”

The artist’s reception on April 21 will depart from the usual format, Handley said. Barnett will speak at the Griffith Gallery, where the majority of the pieces will show, at 5 p.m., followed by a wine-and-cheese reception at 6 p.m. in Cole Art Center, where Barnett’s work will also be exhibited.

The exhibition is sponsored in part by Nacogdoches Junior Forum, SFA Friends of the Visual Arts and Texas Commission on the Arts. Admission is free.

Griffith Gallery hours are 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. Cole Art Center hours are 12:30 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. For additional information, call (936) 468-1131.