Exhibition to feature images of old, contemporary West

The Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts and School of Art will open “Contemporary Western Art” with a 5:30 p.m. reception Thursday, Jan. 17, in Griffith Gallery on the SFA campus.

Selected from the David Dike Fine Art Gallery and Dallas collectors, the exhibition showcases images of the old and contemporary West by today’s top Texas, Western and American artists whose works are found in prominent private and public collections throughout the West.

“The show will represent seminal contemporary western artists working from the 1950s to today,” John Handley, director of SFA galleries, said. “The exhibition will highlight how modernist painting has influenced contemporary artists.”

Among the featured artists are Chapman Kelley, William Wells Bomar, Jon Flaming and Daryl Howard.

“Contemporary Western Art,” which will run through March 8, is sponsored in part by the Nacogdoches Junior Forum and SFA Friends of the Visual Arts. The exhibition, which is part of the School of Art’s Gallery Series, will complement another exhibition, “Big Skies, Brave People: Southwest American Art from the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum,” which opens Jan. 26 in The Cole Art Center in downtown Nacogdoches.

Griffith Gallery is located in the Griffith Fine Arts Building, 2222 Alumni Dr. The Gallery’s regular hours are 12:30 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and admission is free. The gallery is temporarily closed for the holiday break and will reopen with the exhibition reception on Jan. 17. For more information, please call (936) 468-1131.