100s got you hot under the collar? Cool off, pilgrim, at 3 downtown Abilene art sites

Greg Jaklewicz, Abilene Reporter-News
·3 min read
"John Wayne No. 7" by Chuck Roach, an acrylic on canvas on display in the group show "Heritage" at the Center for Contemporary Arts.
"John Wayne No. 7" by Chuck Roach, an acrylic on canvas on display in the group show "Heritage" at the Center for Contemporary Arts.

100.

100.

100.

It's hot outside, and not officially summer yet.

The pool would be cool.

But the AC is cranked up at three downtown art sites, where an array of creativity can be viewed.

Within a few steps of each other — maybe 100? — are The Grace Museum, Center for Contemporary arts and Jody Klotz Fine Art. There is an admission charge at The Grace, unless you enter between 5-8 p.m. Thursdays. The other two galleries are free.

While it's the same old heat outside, the art styles and themes inside vary greatly.

The galleries are within a few more steps of rolled ice cream, cold craft beers, cocktails and coffee, and the cooling water feature at the pocket Minter Park.

Maybe a scooter jaunt in the cool of the evening.

Relief from the heat.

The Grace

"My mouth is shut, but my tongue is wide open" is a 2021 cast pigmented resin and wood piece by Simeen Farhat.
"My mouth is shut, but my tongue is wide open" is a 2021 cast pigmented resin and wood piece by Simeen Farhat.

The sunny first-floor atrium gallery at The Grace features the three-dimensional work of Simeen Farhat. She was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and has been in the United States since 1992. Her MFA is from TCU in Fort Worth.

Her exhibit, titled "Scripted," works into a broader theme of "A Shared Conversation: Art & Language."

She said her wall-mounted sculptures are "revolutionary poems, appropriated mostly from famous Farsi and Urdu poets."

Freedom of thought and speech are emphasized.

"My goal is to translate their poetic dynamism into visual energy," Farhat writes.

A 1972 series of lithographs by Jack Boynton, an American artist (1928-2010) at The Grace Museum.
A 1972 series of lithographs by Jack Boynton, an American artist (1928-2010) at The Grace Museum.

Other exhibits in "A Shared Conversation" are:

  • Cara Barer: Obsolescence

  • Anna Mavromatis: Material Culture

  • Ruscha & Roth: The 1960s Artist Book Revolution

  • Fine Art Limited Edition Artist Books from the Permanent Collection

► Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, and until 8 p.m. Thursday. Admission is $6 for adults; $3 for children ages 4-17, seniors (65+), students and educators (with ID) and non-active military (with ID); and free for museum members and active-duty military and families (with ID). Free Thursdays 5-8 p.m.

CCA

A clay work by Linda Stricklin titled "The Shapeshifter ... Mudpie O'Hare" at the Center for Contemporary Arts.
A clay work by Linda Stricklin titled "The Shapeshifter ... Mudpie O'Hare" at the Center for Contemporary Arts.

A group show in its first-floor Breed Gallery focuses on "Heritage" through Saturday.

There is a definite western flavor brought forth by the two- and three-dimensional pieces by familiar names in the Abilene art scene.

► Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. The gallery is open from 5-8 p.m. the second Thursday of the month for ArtWalk. There is no admission charge.

Jody Klotz

A rifle is positioned above the improbable meeting of Jesse James and Frankenstein's offspring in "Frankenstein's Daughter: A Match Made in Hell" displayed at Jody Klotz Fine Art. Imagine if the famous outlaw hid from Marshall MacPhee in the baron's castle? It was a 1966 movie.
A rifle is positioned above the improbable meeting of Jesse James and Frankenstein's offspring in "Frankenstein's Daughter: A Match Made in Hell" displayed at Jody Klotz Fine Art. Imagine if the famous outlaw hid from Marshall MacPhee in the baron's castle? It was a 1966 movie.

While doors to The Grace and CCA open onto to Cypress Streets, a few steps east from its intersection with North Second Street is a private gallery that showcases a wide range of art.

Currently on exhibit is the work of Colette Copeland, titled "My Jesse James Adventure."

Think you know everything about Jesse James?

Maybe not.

The exhibition include a James family timeline, beginning with the marriage of Robert James and Zerelda Elizabeth Cole in 1841. It continues to the death of son Frank James on Feb. 18, 1915, at the age of 72.

In between was a lot of action involving brothers Jesse and Frank.

Jesse James was gunned down by Robert Ford on April 3, 1882.

Is Jesse James buried in Texas and not Missouri? Learn more about the famous outlaw in the Colette Copeland exhibit "My Jesse James Adventure" at Jody Klotz Fine Art.
Is Jesse James buried in Texas and not Missouri? Learn more about the famous outlaw in the Colette Copeland exhibit "My Jesse James Adventure" at Jody Klotz Fine Art.

Or was he? There are photographs of the headstone in Granbury for a Jesse Woodson James, who died in 1951. He would've been 103.

Copeland employs the solar plate process for her etchings on environmentally friendly Arnhem paper. This gives the prints an aged appearance.

► Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, evenings and weekends by appointment (325-670-9880). There is no admission charge for weekday visits.

Greg Jaklewicz is editor of the Abilene Reporter-News and general columnist. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com. 

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: 100s got you hot under the collar? Cool off, pilgrim, at 3 art sites