Please join us for the panel, Living with the Trinity River: a talk with artist Laray Polk and canoeist Charles Allen. Gabriela Paiva de Toledo, curator of the fall 2022 exhibition, Aquatic Channels in the Hawn and Pollock Galleries, will moderate this discussion. It will take place at Hamon in the Reading Room, 1st floor. Guests may park in the Hillcrest Parking lot during this time or in SMU visitor parking spaces. For information, call 214-768-2796 or email hawngallery@smu.edu.
Aquatic channels: waterways, water resources, fluvial imagination reflects on rivers as complex systems shaping human and non-human existence in their multiple roles as fundamental resources for sustenance of life, spaces of political dispute, sites of memory and construction of discourses about possible futures. Presenting the works of Laray Polk (Dallas, Texas), Carolina Caycedo and David de Rozas (Los Angeles, California), Gabriel Bicho (Porto Velho, Brazil), and Ubiratan Gamalodtaba Suruí (Cacoal, Brazil), this exhibition engages in an ecocritical approach to present-day water issues through dialogues among artists from various regions in the Americas. Panel discussions with these artists are also planned for fall 2022 and spring 2023. This exhibition will be held in both the Hamon Arts Library/Hawn Gallery and Pollock Gallery simultaneously.
Opening reception: Saturday, October 29, 1 -5 pm in Hawn Gallery, Hamon Arts Library and Pollock Gallery, Expressway Tower.
For more information, call 214-768-3813 or visit https://www.smu.edu/libraries/hamon or https://www.smu.edu/Meadows/AreasofStudy/Art/PollockGallery.
On-n-On: Ciara Elle Bryant in Conversation with Octavia E. Butler will place Bryant’s new media installation work in dialogue with Butler’s literary influence on contemporary art practices. The exhibition will showcase Hamon Arts Library holdings related to Octavia Butler’s writing alongside a mixed media installation by Dallas artist Ciara Elle Bryant pertaining to identity, bibliography, and virtuality. The exhibition will embrace the influence of Black speculative fiction on technology and futurity in contemporary art while also recognizing the ways in which artists may reinterpret or reinvent this legacy. The exhibition will take place in the Hawn Gallery in the Hamon Arts Library, leveraging the space’s connections to literature, art exhibition, and art education as well as its proximity to practicing artists.
September 1 – October 16
Opening reception September 1, 5 – 7 pm
Bios
Ciara Elle Bryant is a multidisciplinary creative working and residing in Dallas, TX. Bryant is a Southern Methodist University graduate with a Masters of Fine Art. Bryant uses photography, video and mixed media installations to discuss identity and culture and how it exists in the new millennium.
Sophia Salinas is the curator of On-n-On and a second-year PhD student in the RASC/a art history program. Her research interests include modern and contemporary art with attention to themes of gender, race, and embodiment, as well as new media art.
Featured image: Ciara Elle Bryant, Brood, digital archival print (2022)
More information: https://hamonarts.omeka.net/exhibits, or email hawngallery@smu.edu.
The exhibition is open during Hamon’s hours. Information about hours and visitor parking at SMU.
Ten works by contemporary Black artists from the Jessica and Kelvin Beachum Family collection are on view at Hamon’s Hawn Gallery until May 22. The exhibition, Narrative as Reality: A World Reimagined, presents the work of artists, Dominic Chambers, Ryan Cosbert, Robert Hodge, Nelson Makamo, Delita Martin, Sungi Mlengeya, Mario Moore, Robert Pruitt, Athi-Patra Ruga, and Ferrari Sheppard. As described by the exhibition’s curator, Dr. Valerie Gillespie, on the installation, “Each composition within the collection offers a unique story. These non-linear narratives on the Black experience, with their own distinct actualities exhibit a reality not often portrayed, yet a collective, lived experience that strives to represent a livelihood untouched.”
This selection of works represents a fraction of the collection owned by the Beachums, who began acquiring works by Black artists in 2013. Of the works in their collection, they express a personal approach to their acquisitions, “We want to look back on each piece and know it represents something we love, something we remember, something historically significant, or something we never want to forget. The intergenerational component is what is most special.”
Kelvin Beachum graduated from SMU in 2010 with a B.A. in Economics and earned a Master of Liberal Studies in Organizational Dynamics in 2012. A four-year starter as offensive tackle for SMU Mustang football, he serves as a member of the Executive Boards for the Simmons School of Education and Human Development and Lyle School of Engineering. Named an SMU Emerging Leader in 2018, Kelvin honored the late Dennis Simon, his political science professor and mentor, by endowing SMU’s annual Civil Rights Pilgrimage in Simon’s name.
Drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2012, Kelvin has played for the Jacksonville Jaguars, the New York Jets and now the Arizona Cardinals during his 10-year NFL career.
Jessica Beachum graduated from Baylor in 2011 with a degree in Sociology. She earned her B.S. in Nursing in 2017 from Duquesne University and her M.S. in Healthcare Delivery in 2021 from Arizona State University.
An exhibition catalogue of Narrative as Reality is available in print and pdf through the website.
Two other exhibitions at SMU Libraries offer excellent opportunities for visitors this spring and summer.
Continuing to May 23, In Search of Belonging at the Hamon Arts Library, first floor reading room presents an exhibition organized by Pride@SMU, founded by SMU senior and Queer Senator Bri Tollie. Drawing upon oral history interviews and University archives, this student-led exhibition looks at the history of LGBTQ+ organizing on campus for equality and representation.
At the Hillcrest Exhibit Hall, Send Me a Postcard: Women on the Road Across 19th – 20th Century America explores the travel experience for women from the DeGolyer Library’s holdings of rare books, pamphlets, ephemera and manuscripts, including the Archives of Women of the Southwest. This exhibition continues to August 31.
More information: https://www.smu.edu/Libraries, or email hawngallery@smu.edu.
In 2011, the Princeton Review ranked Southern Methodist University as the eleventh worst university for gay students. Then, in a dramatic shift a decade later, Campus Pride listed it among ten religious schools living up to LGBTQ-inclusive values in August 2021. However, the struggle for LGBT campus acceptance has lasted far longer than just one decade. For LGBT students at SMU, there is a wide legacy that has yet to be honored in a multidisciplinary, public-facing project synthesizing the documented history of LGBT students.
Building on the research of the PRIDE@SMU capstone project, In Search of Belonging explores stories of LGBTQ+ student organizing — struggles for equality and recognition — through oral history and archival documents. From the eight-year fight to charter the first Gay and Lesbian Student Organization (GLSO), to the founding of SMU’s first ever gay fraternity, to the present-day work and testimonies of queer Mustangs, these past and present queer narratives elevate both the roots of the SMU LGBTQ+ community and the truth of what “Mustang Pride” looks and feels like today. Most of the LGBT student experience does not fit neatly into newspaper headlines; however, by outlining some of the key events, setbacks, and successes of the LGBT rights movement at SMU, this work initiates a conversation about LGBTQ+ acceptance on the Hilltop today, ultimately showing that there’s more work to be done.
In Search of Belonging challenges SMU to reckon with its long and recent history of LGBTQ+ marginalization, to acknowledge the pain and pride of its students, faculty, and alumni, and to live up to its stated values of equity and inclusivity — both on paper and in practice, so that every student feels like they belong.
What is the PRIDE@SMU Project?
Founded by SMU senior and Queer Senator Bri Tollie, PRIDE@SMU is a student-led, interdisciplinary research team investigating LGBTQ+ history and experiences at SMU. The project launched in August 2021 with the help of SMU’s Office of Engaged Learning and over 10 campus partners and mentors. Since its launch, the PRIDE team has interviewed 14 queer SMU students, faculty, staff, and alumni, as well as hosted the first-ever Queer State of the University Address at SMU on February 11th, 2022. Along with this event, this research is contributing to the In Search of Belonging exhibit, as well as informing students and administrators for ongoing community event planning and campus policy reform. Managed by a diverse group of LGBTQ+ students and allies, PRIDE@SMU combines archival, oral, and institutional history to better understand the queer community’s roots at SMU.
Opening reception on April 23, 1 – 3 pm:
RSVP for the Opening Reception here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/in-search-of-belonging-opening-reception-tickets-304755591177. This exhibition runs from April 23 – May 23, 2022.
Photo: Ashe Thye, SMU Pride, Student, ’23.
The exhibition Octavio Medellín: Spirit and Form is now open at the Dallas Museum of Art. This exceptional retrospective exhibition features many fabulous works of art on loan from Bywaters Special Collections.
Bywaters Special Collections holds the Octavio Medellin Artwork and Papers. A detailed finding aid and extensive digital collection are available.
https://www.smu.edu/libraries/digitalcollections/med
https://txarchives.org/smu/finding_aids/00272.xml
Image credit: Octavio Medellin with Hammer and Chisel. Medellin Studio, Bandera, Texas
Bywaters Special Collections, Southern Methodist University
Several paintings by contemporary Black artists from the Jessica and Kelvin Beachum Family collection will be on view at Hamon’s Hawn Gallery beginning February 18 and continuing to May 22. The exhibition, Narrative as Reality: A World Reimagined, presents the work of artists, Dominic Chambers, Ryan Cosbert, Robert Hodge, Nelson Makamo, Delita Martin, Sungi Mlengeya, Mario Moore, Robert Pruitt, Athi-Patra Ruga, and Ferrari Sheppard. As described by the exhibition’s curator, Dr. Valerie Gillespie, on the installation, “Each composition within the collection offers a unique story. These non-linear narratives on the Black experience, with their own distinct actualities exhibit a reality not often portrayed, yet a collective, lived experience that strives to represent a livelihood untouched.”
This selection of paintings represents a fraction of the collection owned by the Beachums, who began acquiring works by Black artists in 2013. Of the works in their collection, they express a personal approach to their acquisitions, “We want to look back on each piece and know it represents something we love, something we remember, something historically significant, or something we never want to forget. The intergenerational component is what is most special.”
Kelvin Beachum graduated from SMU in 2010 with a B.A. in Economics and earned a Master of Liberal Studies in Organizational Dynamics in 2012. A four-year starter as offensive tackle for SMU Mustang football, he serves as a member of the Executive Boards for the Simmons School of Education and Human Development and Lyle School of Engineering. Named an SMU Emerging Leader in 2018, Kelvin honored the late Dennis Simon, his political science professor and mentor, by endowing SMU’s annual Civil Rights Pilgrimage in Simon’s name.
Drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2012, Kelvin has played for the Jacksonville Jaguars, the New York Jets and now the Arizona Cardinals during his 10-year NFL career.
Jessica Beachum graduated from Baylor in 2011 with a degree in Sociology. She earned her B.S. in Nursing in 2017 from Duquesne University and her M.S. in Healthcare Delivery in 2021 from Arizona State University.
An exhibition catalogue of Narrative as Reality is available in print and pdf through the website.
Two other exhibitions at SMU Libraries offer excellent opportunities for visitors this spring. At DeGolyer Library, the exhibition, Black Lives, Black Letters: Primary Sources in African American History, opens February 10. It features archival holdings of the Library including rare books, pamphlets, broadsides, sheet music, prints, photographs, manuscripts, and ephemera documenting aspects of the Black experience in America, from the colonial period to the present. Among figures represented in the exhibition are documents from Phillis Wheatley to Toni Morrison, from Frederick Douglass to Barack Obama. Other figures, some who are unknown, portray Black lives in many fields.
Bridwell Library’s exhibition, A Symbiosis of Script, Font, and Form: A Selection of Artists’ Books, open through March 31, draws from the Library’s Special Collection. The selections for this exhibition offers artists’ books “in which artists or circles of collaborators have integrated corporeal elements of the book form into the literature in sensitive and sometimes astounding ways.”
More information: https://www.smu.edu/Libraries, or email hawngallery@smu.edu.
Skin Hunger is a telematic installation that plays on the zoom-style video-chat that has recently become ubiquitous. Participants can reach across their screens to virtually ‘touch’ one another. By touching or moving together, participants create visuals and sounds that emerge and evolve from participant relation and interaction making the intangible connection tangible and also giving it life.
Two rare volumes of a Spanish modernist journal, Pèl & Ploma, are on display at the Meadows Museum until August 8. After this date, the works will return to Hamon’s unique collections housed in the library’s Limited Access. Published in Barcelona, the art and literary journal dates from 1899 – 1903. The poems, stories, and essays are written in Catalan with illustrations by the artist Ramón Casas, and much of the prose by Miguel Utrillo. Casas also contributed drawings for the covers and advertisements. Utrillo and Casas developed the concept and execution of this journal along with two other journals, Quatre Gats and Forma, both of which had shorter runs than Pèl & Ploma.
According to Eliseu Trenc, essay contributor to the Cleveland Museum of Art’s 2006 exhibition catalogue, Barcelona and Modernity: Picasso, Gaudí, Miró, Dalí, in which these volumes from Hamon were on display, Pèl & Ploma and Quatre Gats were inflected by the Parisian style. The journals “represent the French realist and synthetic school of the art of Toulouse-Lautrec and Steinlen.” 1 A few of the other artists represented in the journal were Santiago Rusiñol, Joaquin Mir, Joaquin Torres-Garcia, and others. 2
1 65.
2 66.
Blog post: Beverly Mitchell, Assistant Director, Hamon Arts Library
Two museums, the Meadows Museum and the Centre Pompidou, are featuring the work of Barbara Maples, a well-known printmaker. On loan from Bywaters Special Collections to the Meadows Museum’s Fossils to Film: The Best of SMU’s Collections, is Maples’ Taos Fiesta. In addition, she is one of several female artists featured in the Centre Pompidou’s exhibition, Elles font l’abstraction (Women in Abstraction), which opened May 5, 2021. This exhibition also has a second venue at Guggenheim Bilbao.
Born in Temple, Texas, Barbara Lucile Maples (1912 – 1999) graduated from Mary-Hardin Baylor College in Belton, with a BA degree in 1933. Six years later she received a MA degree from Teachers College, Columbia University in New York. She began her teaching career in Temple and Fort Worth before joining the Dallas Independent School District in elementary and secondary art from 1937 – 1964. In 1965, Maples became the Assistant Professor of Art Education, and in 1974, Associate Professor of Crafts Design at SMU. She taught at the University until retiring in 1978.
In the mid-1980s, when interest in Texas Regionalism re-emerged, Maples encouraged the exhibition, The Texas Printmakers, at the Meadows Museum at SMU. The 1990 exhibition again highlighted the group. The exhibition catalogue, written by Dr. David Farmer, former director of DeGolyer Library at SMU, and guest curator, Paul Rogers Harris, is available in both the Hamon Arts Library and Bywaters Special Collections.
Maples practiced painting, photography, and metalsmithing, but was known as a printmaker. She joined the Printmakers Guild (renamed Texas Printmakers in 1952) in Dallas and served as its president from
1945 – 1946. Her color block print, Taos Fiesta, presents an image of the historic carousel, Tío Vivo (Uncle Lively), a main feature at the Taos Fiesta. The carousel is turned by hand-operation of a cog wheel to the accompaniment of Spanish music from fiddle and guitar. It was built in Germany, and originally owned and operated by a traveling circus. In the late 1800s, it was discovered abandoned and broken in the mountainous community of Peñasco in Taos County. In 1938 the Taos Lions Club purchased and restored the carousel with the help of the Taos Society of Artists. Members Oscar Berninghaus and Ernest Blumenschein repainted several of the horses. Other artists and photographers used the carousel as a subject in their work. A mystery writer in Santa Fe, Dorothy Hughes, wrote Ride the Pink Horse, basing the theme on Tío Vivo. In 1947, Robert Montgomery directed and starred in a movie based upon the novel.
Tío Vivo continues to be a highlight of the Taos Fiesta.
Blog post: Ellen Buie Niewyk, Curator, Bywaters Special Collections.
Images credit: Elles font l’abstraction, entrance to Centre Pompidou exhibition with view of portraits of female artists, and wall of portraits. © Centre Pompidou, Audrey Laurans
Image credit: Barbara Maples, Taos Fiesta, ca, 1947, color block print on paper, 14.25 x 13.25 in. (36.20 x 33.66 cm). Bywaters Special Collections, Hamon Arts Library, Gift of Susan Kennon Carruth in memory of Barbara Maples.
