Cultural Art Happenings
 June 2014  

After a year of planning, we are excited to present the 2014 Children's Art & Literacy Festival!

We are thrilled to honor a true friend to Abilene - William Joyce, an Academy Award-winning filmmaker, illustrator and author. Nearly 20 years ago, Joyce inspired the creation of the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature, as well as the "Childhoods' Great Adventure" sculpture and that of our giant green friend, "Dino Bob."

So many arts groups and community partners made this year's C.A.L.F. possible. The NCCIL and The Center for Contemporary Arts are displaying Joyce's original artwork. The Paramount Theatre is showing his movies. The Grace Museum, the Abilene Public Library and Frontier Texas! are hosting dramatic readings and art activities. The Abilene Philharmonic is hosting an instrument "petting zoo." The Abilene Zoo and other groups are bringing real animals.

Hundreds are volunteering their time and resources. Businesses, family foundations and individuals made donations to keep the cost of festival passes down. Donors also made it possible to add six more characters - Joyce's "Guardians of Childhood" - to our Storybook Sculpture Project downtown that will be unveiled June 12 at ArtWalk. 

We are so grateful for the tremendous support from this generous community! I hope to see you at the festival!

 

Artfully Yours,

Lynn Barnett

Executive Director

Abilene Cultural Affairs Council 

325.677.1161 

Q&A with Steve Neves: Professor, Childhood Guardians sculptor
Hardin-Simmons University art professor Steve Neves draws inspiration for his art from a variety of sources. For his most recent large-scale project, Neves drew inspiration from the pages of William Joyce's Guardians of Childhood series to create sculptures of five Guardians: Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, Sandman and Jack Frost. A sixth Guardian, the Man in the Moon, was created by Pedro Rivera. The Storybook Sculpture Project is a program of the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council. All the sculptures will be unveiled with Joyce the night of Thursday, June 12 during the Children's Art & Literacy Festival.
Q. Was this your most ambitious undertaking or have you done larger projects?
A. I've created a few sculptures on a larger scale, some of which included electronics and moving parts whose complexity made them pretty ambitious projects. That said, working on the five Guardians has familiarized me with some new challenges. Most of the work I have produced has been entirely of my own design.The Guardians are based on the preexisting designs William Joyce and it has been a priority to satisfy his vision.
Q. What was the process for creating the Guardian sculptures?
A. Each sculpture required a slightly different approach, but generally I began by drawing each character from different perspectives in order to get an understanding of it in three dimensions. Then I created a "bone" structure out of wood, bulked up the figure with expanded polystyrene and then finished it with plaster, plasticine and various other items.

Q. Do you have a favorite Guardian? 

A. Toothiana is probably my favorite as she required the most complex pose and the most varied textures. Also, she has a scimitar (backsword with curved blade), so there's that.

Q. When did you know you loved art?

A. I HATE art. Just kidding. I've enjoyed making art from my earliest memories. It is something that I've always done.
Q. What would be your dream project?
A. I would love to telekinetically mutate Martian sand into a floating gyroscopic glass fortress of solitude. If you want me to rein in my dreams a bit I would settle for building a cast concrete full scale physeter macrocephalus, (sorry, its common name always make people snicker) with a hollow interior, oculus and internal waterfall. I'm serious. I can show you some pictures and a 1/30th scale model that I've already built.
Jody Klotz Fine Art Gallery brings in Randy Bacon exhibit
Jody Klotz Fine Art is proud to announce a new exhibition including renowned local artist Randy Bacon, on view at the gallery now through June 30. The gallery will serve cocktails from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 29 to show new works by Xiang Zhang and Bacon.
Born and bred in Abilene, Bacon now resides in Albany. Bacon, a regional artist, has always been attracted to the quality of light, the precise colors, and the big skies of his native state. In communicating a sense of place, Bacon often draws upon the people and venues of his life to bring about work where past, present and future become blended, where memory and reality connect. The Grace Museum hosted a solo exhibition of Randy Bacon in 2007 and his work is included in the permanent collection.
Jody Klotz Fine Art is at 1060 North 2nd St. Contact the gallery by calling 325-670-9880 or by email [email protected].
Paramount Film Series: "The African Queen"
The Paramount Film Series presents "The African Queen" on June 6 and June 7. Humphrey Bogart plays a booze-guzzling East African boat captain opposite Katharine Hepburn as an iron-willed missionary in this romantic adventure set during World War I. 1951, color, 105 minutes, Not rated. Paramount Film Series tickets are $6 for adults and $5 for students, seniors, military, and children.
Paramount Film Director Robert Holladay continues his film lecture series with a look at "The African Queen" at 6:30 p.m. Friday, June 6. You must purchase a film ticket to attend the lecture. Show times are 7:30 p.m. June 6 and 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. June 7.
To order tickets, go to https://paramount-abilene.thundertix.com/

Young Audiences of Abilene brings in summer shows
This summer, Young Audiences of Abilene is bringing puppets, a storyteller, music and the Legend of King Arthur to the auditorium of the downtown Abilene Public Library, 202 Cedar St. All four shows are free and last about 45 minutes. Each performance is at 10:45 a.m. and 3 p.m. Please arrive early! This summer's shows are:
June 10: Nancy Burks Worcester - FIZZ BOOM READ! This talented ventriloquist and puppeteer brings a host of characters dedicating to making a positive different in people's lives.
June 24: Shelly Tucker - "Spin Me a Yarn!" Enjoy tales with a twist from this energetic storyteller. Stories come alive and evoke emotion with her vivid imagination. 
July 8: "The Legend of King Arthur" -  The Hampstead Stage Co., of New Hampshire, brings classic literature to life with live theater. Join King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table in the fight for Camelot.
July 22: Key City Brass - "Melody & Rhythm" - The Key City Brass is a brass quintet made up of local music teachers. They perform classical music to popular children's songs and teach about their instruments.
William Joyce themed ArtWalk kicks off C.A.L.F. festival 20134
The Center for Contemporary Arts is hosting a "Guardians of Childhood" themed ArtWalk on Thursday, June 12 in conjunction with the Children's Art & Literacy Festival. Festivities start at 4 p.m. with a William Joyce-themed costume contest followed by a parade, Artist Talk at the Paramount and the unveiling of six Guardians of Childhood sculptures. On Friday and Saturday, the festival continues with dramatic readings all day of Joyce's books followed by art activities. A William Joyce movie fest at the Paramount will feature four flicks. There's also train rides, balloons, bubbles, magic shows and more. Joyce will sign books at the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature, where his artwork is on display. You can all see his "Epic" movie artwork at the Center. Festival passes are $10 for children and $15 for adults. The festival ends on a high note with a 6:30 p.m. concert Saturday by the Grammy-nominated Trout Fishing in America. Tickets are $5 with a festival pass and $10 without. Register at www.abilenecalf.com or in person at the T&P Depot, 1101 N. 1st St.
NCCIL, Center open new exhibits from Guardian of Childhood

"William Joyce: A Guardian of Childhood" will be the summer exhibition at the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature beginning June 12. It will showcase 80 pieces of original artwork, including 35 new pieces from Joyce's most recent books. Joyce is the creative partner, along with Brandon Oldenburg, of Moonbot Studios in Shreveport, La. 

Joyce has achieved world-wide recognition as an author, illustrator and pioneer in the digital and animation industry. His "Guardians of Childhood" books inspired the recent movie "Rise of the Guardians." One of his books also inspired the movie "Epic," for which Joyce served as a producer, writer and production designer. His artwork from "Epic" will be on display at The Center for Contemporary Arts this month in conjunction with the Children's Art & Literacy Festival June 12-14.
Purchase your William Joyce books from the NCCIL and he will sign them at the festival! 
History of female pilots in World War II lands at Chautauqua
Carol Cain, the National WASP Word War II Museum administrator, will deliver a talk from 11 to 12 p.m. Saturday, June 14 as part of the Chautauqua Learning Series at the Buffalo Gap Historic Village. The Sweetwater museum is located in a former airport hangar on the same landscape as the old Avenger Field, where Women Air Service Pilots were trained during the war to fly military planes. Between September 1942 and December 1944, WASP were ferrying more than 50 percent of the high speed, pursuit type aircraft in the continental U.S. There were 1,078 women who graduated from flight training at Avenger Field. Today, 177 are living. Info: http://waspmuseum.org/

 

"Bonnie & Clyde" musical busting into Paramount Theatre  

Paramount Productions brings the thrilling and shameless story of "Bonnie & Clyde" to audiences June 27-29 in a new musical with a non-traditional, Tony-nominated score that includes blues, gospel and rockabilly music. The musical premiered on Broadway in 2011 and was nominated for several awards. Paramount Artistic Director Barry Smoot is directing the musical's Abilene presentation. He called the story a cautionary tale. "Fame at any price is hollow," Smoot said. "Infamy is the shallowest path of all."      

Clint Morgan will conduct the 10-piece band. The show is 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10 to $20. Purchase tickets online at https://paramount-abilene.thundertix.com/  

Grace Museum launches Friends program, reduces fees
The Grace Museum celebrated with all of its closest Friends on May 8 the launch of the pilot program Grace Friends. More than 100 museum goers became Grace Friends by enrolling at an iPad at the kiosk and started their journey toward earning free rewards by visiting exhibits and attending programs. Later that day, the museum debuted its summer exhibition, "Home on the Range, Where the Prairie Meets the Plains in Central West Texas." The museum hosted more than 450 guests that night.
Admission prices were recently reduced to $6 for adults and $3 for seniors/students/non-active active duty military. Children 3 and under, museum members and active-duty military are free.
BOOK BUZZ: Book sale benefiting library is gigantic
The Friends of the Abilene Public Library group hosts their gigantic book sale June 19-22 at the Abilene Civic Center. The sale includes books, CDs, records, DVDs, videos and cassette tapes. Proceeds benefit the Abilene Public Library. Admission is free. Most books are $1.75. Mass-market paperbacks are 75 cents. Prices vary in the "Antiques and Uniques area." The Corner Store offers new or almost new books at lower prices.          The schedule this year: Thursday: 5-8 p.m. Friends preview sale. Members only (memberships start at $15 and are available at the door). Friday: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday: 1-4 p.m. Bag-O-Books day when $6 will get you a bag of books. Bags furnished.

 

June 2 - New exhibit opening

"Recent Works by Patty Rae Wellborn" in the Wellborn - Knight Studio 204. Runs through June 30.

Cockerell Galleries and Studios │ 1133 N. 2nd St.

 

June 2 - 6 - ArtCamp 

10 a.m.-Noon

"EPIC: The Leafmen and the Good Brave Bugs." Ages 9-13. $125. Campers will paint an ArtCar and create wearable art in the form of Leafmen and women costumes, which will be worn in the 2014 ArtWalk: Guardians of Childhood parade on June 12. Instructor: Patty Rae Wellborn.

The Center for Contemporary Arts

220 Cypress St. │ 325.677.8389 │ www.center-arts.com 

 

June 5 - Tot Spot

9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.  

The Grace Museum
102 Cypress St. │ 325.673.4587 │ www.thegracemuseum.org

 

June 6 - Tot Spot

9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.  

The Grace Museum
102 Cypress St. │ 325.673.4587 │ www.thegracemuseum.org

 

June 6-7 - Paramount Film Series: "The African Queen"

7:30 p.m. Friday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday

6:30 p.m. Friday: Robert Holladay lecture on film

Humphrey Bogart is a boozing East African boat captain and Katharine Hepburn is an iron-willed missionary in this romantic adventure set during World War I.

Historic Paramount Theatre

352 Cypress │ 325.676.9620 │ www.paramount-abilene.org 

 

June 7 - Flutes and Feasts

7 p.m. Abilene Woman's Club

The Abilene Opera Association kicks off a 12-month journey of entertainment and opera education with a night of Flutes and Feasts. Guests will be treated to an Italian feast complete with wandering troubadours of local talent. The evening also includes a silent auction. $50 a person.

Abilene Opera Association

P.O. Box 6611 www.abileneopera.org

 

June 8 - "Masquerade" spring recital

2 p.m.  at the Abilene Civic Center

Tickets are $5.

Patty Harper Dance Studio

3114 N. 1st St. │ 325.677.6442 │ www.pattyharperdance.com 

 

June 10 - "Fizz Boom Read!"

10:45 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Young  Audiences of Abilene brings talented puppeteer Nancy Burks Worcester to the Abilene Public Library as part of its free summer show series. Shows are 45 minutes long.

Young Audiences of Abilene

1101 N. 1st St. │ 325.677.1161 │ www.abilenecac.org 

 

June 12-14 - 3rd annual Children's Art & Literacy Festival

Celebrate the art of children's picture books with a three-day festival starting with ArtWalk honoring William Joyce, whose characters inspired the recent movie "Rise of the Guardians" and whose artwork is on display at the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature and The Center for Contemporary Arts.

Passes are $15 for adults and $10 for children.  

Abilene Cultural Affairs Council

1101 N. 1st St. │ 325.677.1161 │ www.abilenecalf.com  

 

June 12 - ArtWalk

5-8 p.m.

Theme: Guardians of Childhood

This month's ArtWalk kicks off the beginning of the Children's Art & Literacy Festival, which is honoring author/illustrator William Joyce this year.

 

June 12 - New exhibit opens

"William Joyce: A Guardian of Childhood" will be on display through September. Artist Talk at 6:30 p.m. June 12 at Paramount Theatre followed by book signings.

National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature 

102 Cedar St. │ 325.673.4586 │ www.nccil.org  

 

June 14 - Chautauqua Learning Series

11-12 p.m.

Presentation by Carol Cain with the National WASP World War II Museum in Sweetwater.

Buffalo Gap Historic Village

133 N. William St.│ 325.572.3365 │ www.buffalogap.com 

 

June 15 - Father's Day celebration

The Abilene Zoo

2070 Zoo Lane 325.676.6085 www.abilenezoo.org 

 

June 15 - Craft Sunday

2-4 p.m.

Craft: Turtle herb planters. Children ages 12 and under receive free admission.

Buffalo Gap Historic Village

133 N. William St.│ 325.572.3365 │ www.buffalogap.com 

 

June 15 - Military Appreciation Day

12-5 p.m.

All current and former military and their families receive free admission.

Buffalo Gap Historic Village

133 N. William St.│ 325.572.3365 │ www.buffalogap.com 

 

June 16 - 20 - Culinary Camp

9 a.m.

The Grace Museum
102 Cypress St. │ 325.673.4587 │ www.thegracemuseum.org
 

 

June 18 - Mid-Month Movie Matinee

12-1 p.m.

"Art in the 21st Century: History"

The Grace Museum
102 Cypress St. │ 325.673.4587 │ www.thegracemuseum.org

 

June 19 - Reading in the Children's Museum

10 a.m.
The Grace Museum
102 Cypress St. │ 325.673.4587 │ www.thegracemuseum.org
 

 

June 19 - Gallery Teacher and Attendant Training

11:30 a.m. 

The Grace Museum
102 Cypress St. │ 325.673.4587 │ www.thegracemuseum.org
 

 

June 19 - Museum Matters: Tom Perini and the "Decline of the Great Texas Herd"

6 p.m. 

The Grace Museum
102 Cypress St. │ 325.673.4587 │ www.thegracemuseum.org
 

 

June 19 - Spots and Stripes Concert

Dusk

Featuring Abilene Community Band and Model T exhibit.

The Abilene Zoo

2070 Zoo Lane 325.676.6085 www.abilenezoo.org 

 

June 21 - World Giraffe Day

The Abilene Zoo

2070 Zoo Lane 325.676.6085 www.abilenezoo.org 

 

June 23 - 27 - Kaleidoscope Art Camp

9 a.m.  

The Grace Museum
102 Cypress St. │ 325.673.4587 │ www.thegracemuseum.org

 

June 23 - 27 - ArtCamp 

10 a.m.-Noon

KAMI ATO (Japanese for "paper art")is for ages 7-10. $125. The Japanese art of paper will include instruction on handmade paper, origami, carp kites, and wood block printing. At least one heirloom piece, suitable to be used as a Christmas ornament, will be created.

The Center for Contemporary Arts

220 Cypress St. │ 325.677.8389 │ www.center-arts.com 

 

June 23-27 - Kids Summer Camp at Buffalo Gap Historic Village

9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday (after hours care available). Pre-register by June 15. Go to www.buffalogap.com for fees and more information.

 

June 24 -blur. Series of classes blurring the line between art and craft

10 a.m.

The Grace Museum
102 Cypress St. │ 325.673.4587 │ www.thegracemuseum.org

 

June 26 - Adult Art Class: Watercolor

6:15 p.m. 

The Grace Museum
102 Cypress St. │ 325.673.4587 │ www.thegracemuseum.org

 

June 26 - Talk by Historian Jay Moore featuring Historic Regional Pioneers (Part 2)

6 p.m. 

The Grace Museum
102 Cypress St. │ 325.673.4587 │ www.thegracemuseum.org

 

June 26 and 28, July 3 - Abilene Shakespeare Festival's "Macbeth"

"Macbeth" unleashes the horror of murder and witches and prophecy in a powerful new production set in the heart of the 1940's Mafia. Directed by Adam Hester.

Abilene Christian University's Department of Theatre 

 

June 27 and 29, July 2 and 5 - Abilene Shakespeare Festival's "William Shakespeare's Land of the Dead"

A comedic homage to zombie films and a "carefully" researched drama about Shakespeare and his authorship. Written by John Heimbuch; directed by Gary Varner.

Abilene Christian University's Department of Theatre

 

June 27-29: "Bonnie & Clyde" the musical

7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday

2 p.m. Sunday

 At the height of the Great Depression, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow went from being two small-town nobodies in West Texas to America's most renowned folk heroes and the Texas law enforcement's worst nightmares. Tickets are $10-$20. Buy tickets online here.

Historic Paramount Theatre

352 Cypress │ 325.676.9620 │ www.paramount-abilene.org 

 

June 28 - "Salute to America" concert

6 p.m.

Featuring the 36th Infantry Division Band, also known as the "Lone Star Band," the premier musical organization of the Texas Army National Guard. Event will celebrate the military and area first responders. Free admission.

The Abilene Zoo

2070 Zoo Lane 325.676.6085 www.abilenezoo.org 

 

June 28 - Adult Art Class: DIY Projects for the Home

1 p.m.  

The Grace Museum
102 Cypress St. │ 325.673.4587 │ www.thegracemuseum.org

 

June 30 - July 1 - Kindercamp

9 a.m.  

The Grace Museum
102 Cypress St. │ 325.673.4587 │ www.thegracemuseum.org

 

June 30 - Last day for exhibit

"Recent Works by Patty Rae Wellborn" in the Wellborn - Knight Studio 204. Runs through June 30.

Cockerell Galleries and Studios, 1133 N. 2nd St.


 

Arts Calendar

 


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We want to hear from you! Please let us know what you would like to see included in this newsletter as well as any other ideas you have to strengthen Abilene's cultural arts community. Send your emails to Sidney Levesque at [email protected] 

or Executive Director Lynn Barnett 325.677.1161 / [email protected]