Everything Nac

Stephen F. Austin State University’s Janice A. Pattillo Early Childhood Research Center will hold its 10th anniversary celebration at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20, in front of the ECRC, located at 2428 Raguet St. in Nacogdoches. The dedication of the Baker Pattillo Memorial Flagpole will be included in the celebration.

The ECRC opened its doors July 19, 2009, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, children’s singing performances and public tours. Ten years later, guests at the anniversary celebration will be treated to cake, cookies and beverages, as members of the Lumberjack Marching Band, Spirit Teams and choir perform. The event is free, and the public is invited.

“Throughout its decade of existence, the ECRC’s faculty and staff members have worked to improve the quality of life for children and families in East Texas by integrating teaching, research and dissemination of information,” said Lori Harkness, director of the Early Childhood Lab and campus coordinator for the charter school.

The facility is named in honor of Dr. Janice A. Pattillo, who retired from SFA in 2011 as a professor and chair of the Department of Elementary Education, after serving 42 years at the university. She is the wife of Dr. Baker Pattillo, who served as the university’s president from 2006 until his death Dec. 29, 2018.

The $30.8 million, 120,000-square-foot center houses the nationally accredited Early Childhood Laboratory and the SFA Charter School, where approximately 230 children, ranging from infants to fifth grade, are enrolled in education programs. Each fall and spring semester, more than 430 SFA students use the lab and charter school for observation, participation and other education purposes as they prepare to enter the workforce as teachers.

“Almost a century ago, SFA began as a teachers college,” Harkness said. “The research center has helped us build on SFA’s strong tradition of teacher preparation while expanding its research capacity. We are blessed to have this facility in Nacogdoches. It offers outstanding opportunities for SFA students to work firsthand with children, and it provides a place where families can bring their children to learn and grow.”

The dedication of the Baker Pattillo Memorial Flagpole will take place toward the beginning of the anniversary celebration, with SFA’s ROTC members presenting the colors and Harkness dedicating the flagpole in Pattillo’s honor. Afterward, attendees will join under the alumni association tent, located at the corner of Raguet and Hayter streets, for refreshments.

For more information about the event or charter school, contact Harkness at (936) 468-4006.

Two events will take place on Saturday, Sept. 21, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House, Stephen F. Austin State University’s historic downtown art gallery.

A reception for the exhibition “The Color of Grief” is at 3 p.m., followed by a gallery talk by Wesley Berg, assistant professor of drawing and painting in the School of Art, at 6 p.m.

“The Color of Grief” features art created by children who attended a youth grief camp through Hospice in the Pines. The small paintings on canvas, created by children ages 4 through 16, express the feelings each experienced in the loss of a loved one.

Berg will discuss his work in the exhibition “Shadow Plane: Works on Paper by Wesley Berg,” which is the featured faculty show in this year’s School of Art Faculty Exhibition. The faculty exhibition traditionally features a wide variety of artwork in ceramics, sculpture, photography, painting, prints, metal work and mixed media.

“The Color of Grief” runs through Oct. 12, and the faculty show and Berg’s exhibition run through Oct. 13. The Cole Art Center hours are 12:30 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Art exhibitions and receptions are free and are sponsored by William Arscott, the Flower Shop, Nacogdoches Junior Forum and the Friends of the Visual Arts. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.

The School of Art at Stephen F. Austin State University will host the exhibition “Denali: Artists Respond to Music Inspired by Wilderness” Sept. 17 through Nov. 21 in Griffith Fine Arts Gallery, located on the SFA campus.

Two languages – music and visual art – combine to create works of art made in response to chamber music composed in Denali National Park. The exhibition is a collaboration between the Elements Artist Group and composers from the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival’s Composing in the Wilderness Program, directed by SFA composing professor Dr. Stephen Lias. The Elements Artists Group is made up of six artists anchored in Alaska: Charlotte Bird, Susan Campbell, Nancy Hausle-Johnson, Marybee Kaufman, Margo Klass and Ree Nancarrow.

SFA senior composition student Corinna Hogan of Gatesville is among the collaborating composers. Other composers included Jesse Budel, Christian Dubeau, Aaron Keyt, Brent Lawrence, Libby Meyer, Christina Rusnak, Dawn Sonntag and Jennifer Wright.

The idea for the project was originally sparked by a painting Elements artist Marybee Kaufman rendered while listening to music written by Christina Rusnak in 2012, according to Nancarrow.

“Their successful collaboration resonated with other Elements artists who were eager to explore a new challenge – making visual art in response to music inspired by a place they all love, Denali National Park,” she said. Lias shared the proposal with his Composing in the Wilderness musicians, and they enthusiastically agreed to the project.

In 2017, Lias led nine experienced composers into the backcountry of Denali National Park where they composed original chamber music inspired by their wilderness experiences and shared recordings of their compositions, musical scores, ideas and inspiration with the Elements artists. The artists worked in a variety of media including fiber art, ceramic tiles, painting, poetry, and artist books to create 18 works of visual art, each one a personal response to a musical composition.

“This was an incredible experience that I feel inclined to repeat,” Hogan said. “I saw views no photo can adequately capture, discovered a love of hiking, made lasting friends from around the world, and wrote some of my best music. I recommend all composers do their best to be a part of Composing in the Wilderness.

“Two years ago I never would have guessed I’d be part of such a unique and fruitful collaboration, but here we are,” she added of the collaboration with the Elements group. “This artwork gave me a surprising and exciting new lens through which to see my own work, which is a very thought-provoking and enjoyable experience. Plus, it’s gorgeous.”

“Denali: Artists Respond to Music inspired by Wilderness” has been one of the most rewarding and inspiring exhibition collaborations in which Elements artists have participated, according to member Margo Klass.

“Denali: Artists Respond to Music in the Wilderness” represents “a fruitful collaboration of visual artists and musicians,” Klass said. “Composers we worked with said, ‘We have often responded to visual art, but no artist has ever responded to our compositions.'”

In experiencing the exhibition, a smart phone enables access to the music that inspired each artistic response. QR codes, posted throughout the exhibition, provide links to the music so that the music and art it inspired can be experienced at the same time. Binders of the musical scores and program notes are also on display as part of the exhibition. Catalogs of the exhibition include images, artist statements and biographies of artists and composers.

Support of a Community Arts Development Grant from the Alaska State Council on the Arts helped fund the project along with sponsorship by The National Park Service, Alaska Geographic, Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival and Composers in the Wilderness. For more information about the project, visit https://www.composinginthewilderness.com/elements.

A reception with performance is planned for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17, in the gallery. Griffith Gallery is located inside Griffith Fine Arts Building, 2222 Alumni Drive.

This exhibition and reception is sponsored in part by William Arscott, The Flower Shop and the Friends of the Visual Arts. Admission is free. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.