Everything Nac

– Every summer incoming SFA freshmen and parents travel to Nacogdoches to attend one of the five orientation sessions on campus. During each of these orientation sessions, the Nacogdoches Convention & Visitors Bureau offers two complimentary tours of Nacogdoches to the new students and parents.

“When the students and parents come to orientation, they spend the majority of their time on SFA campus,” said Media & Community Relations Coordinator Jannette Watts. “Parents and students stay in the residence halls during orientation, and orientation keeps them pretty busy with all of the activities on campus. Therefore, the students and parents have limited exposure to the town itself. We want them to know that there is a life outside the campus, and we want them to experience all Nacogdoches has to offer. We want them to shop, dine and explore here.”

So 15 years ago the Nacogdoches Convention and Visitors Bureau partnered with the SFA Orientation department and started offering hometown tours as a way to introduce parents and students to the town. The shuttle tour lasts approximately 1.5 hours, and during that time, volunteer tour guide and Jackbackers Bookstore owner Pam Fitch shows them historical sites, attractions and other various places of interest, such as pharmacies, grocery stores and more. The tour makes one stop at the Visitor Center, 200 E. Main, so students and parents can pick up city maps, phone books, brochures and any other information they may need. Then the tour returns the students and parents to the SFA Campus. There are two tour times, one at 9:45 a.m. and another at 11:15 a.m., to accommodate arriving students and their families.

The SFA Hometown Tours have been very popular with parents and students alike. “We typically have a full busload each tour,” said Watts. “The parents are always commenting on how informative the tour was and how much they enjoyed it.”

The Nacogdoches Convention and Visitors Bureau will be offering two more tours, one at 9:45 a.m. and one at 11:15 a.m., for the last orientation session on July 24th.

For more information about SFA Orientation Hometown Tours, contact the Nacogdoches Convention & Visitors Bureau at 936-564-7351, visit www.visitnacogdoches.org, and friend us on facebook @ Visit Nacogdoches.

This year’s 12X12 scholarship fundraiser benefiting students in the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art culminates with the annual sale and party at 6 p.m. Saturday, July 19, at The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House.

The silent auction bidding began earlier this month for the event, which is sponsored by the SFA Friends of the Visual Arts, and a separate special auction will feature the last artwork of the late Gary Frields, beloved SFA art professor who died last year.

The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. in downtown Nacogdoches. For more information about 12X12, call The Cole Art Center at (936) 468-6557.

An exhibition that runs July 25 through Sept. 5 at The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House will feature the work of Texas artist Sedrick Huckaby.

“Sedrick Huckaby: Quiet Dialogues” features expressive oil paintings with heavy applications of impasto depicting members of his African-American family, according to John Handley, director of art galleries for Stephen F. Austin State University’s School of Art. The exhibition will also present a selection of prints and drawings from his recently completed “99 percent” suite.

Handley first saw Huckaby’s work last year when he visited Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden in Dallas, which is the lender of this exhibition.

“As is so often the case for me, I was immediately drawn to the expressive nature of his work without knowing anything about the artist,” Handley said. “His imagery just popped off the canvas and confronted me. ‘Who are the people in these pictures?’ I wondered.

“His work reminded me of the California figurative painters of the 1960s – highly expressive, bold brush strokes and a lot of paint,” he said. “To build up paint like that, often working wet on wet, is truly a skill. Huckaby has mastered this technique, creating at times works that are as sculptural as they are pictorial.”

In his paintings, Huckaby’s focus is his family, Handley explained. The “99 Percent” suite includes small portraits of people both known and unknown to the artist.

Phillip Collins, who wrote an essay for the 2008 exhibition catalog on Huckaby, states, “The canvases are full of energy.” According to Huckaby, “the compositions are not informed by any noted artist of history in particular; they evolved naturally from my formal training and the process of painting.”

“Huckaby’s work is anchored in his life and reflects a deep commitment to his principles and his belief in the future of his community,” said Cheryl Vogel, curator for Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden. “At the core of his paintings in this exhibition is a long standing investigation about family, faith and heritage.”

Huckaby was born in Forth Worth in 1975. He earned a B.F.A. from Boston University in 1997 and an M.F.A. from Yale University in 1999. He is an assistant professor of painting at the University of Texas at Arlington.

A closing reception with the artist in attendance is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5, at Cole Art Center, which is located at 329 E. Main St. in downtown Nacogdoches. For additional information, call (936) 468-1131.