Lay’s & Doritos brand executives will celebrate their Black History Month Art Contest winner Theo Ponchaveli at an artist reception on Thursday, September 29th, from 6:00pm-9:00pm at South Side on Lamar.

Theo Ponchaveli is a self taught painter and visionary who found his passion for oil painting on canvas just five years prior to entering the art competition hosted by the Lay’s & Doritos brands and benefitting The United Negro College Fund. Artists from across the nation submitted artwork, and the contest website logged more than 50,000 votes.

At the end of the competition, Theo Ponchaveli was declared the Grand Prize Winner and Lay’s & Doritos donated $35,000 to UNCF. This exhibit will embody icons from history, art, old Hollywood, music and people who have exemplified Theo’s life motto of “By Any Means Necessary.”

“The Lay’s & Doritos Art Contest allowed over 300 people to showcase their artistic talents in celebration of Black History Month,” said Linda Bethea, senior director, Marketing, Frito-Lay North America. “Congratulations to Theo Ponchaveli on his winning submission. We are excited to host a gallery show to display this inspirational artwork in his hometown of Dallas.”

“UNCF is grateful for our partnership with Frito Lay and their generous investment in our students. Their support is helping many underserved youth attend college and gain the skills and knowledge necessary for successful careers” said Diane Stephenson, Area Director UNCF.

Lay’s and Doritos will celebrate artist Theo Ponchaveli and his work at The Janette Kennedy Gallery at South Side on Lamar. Guests will enjoy acoustic guitar, refreshments by Pepsi, Buffalo Trace Whiskey cocktails, hors d’oeuvres by The Cedars Social, and complimentary valet parking. Admission is FREE to the public.

What: “Beyond What The Eyes Can See”

 Artist Exhibition

Where: Janette Kennedy Gallery at South Side on Lamar – 1409 S. Lamar Street, Dallas, Texas 75215

When: Reception: Thursday, September 29, 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Exhibit dates: September 24 -September 29

Gallery hours: 9 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. everyday

Cost: Free

Over seventy students from South Dallas/Fair Park area schools will debut their visual and written pieces in the “Through the Eyes of Our Children – Something Beautiful” annual exhibition. The opening reception at the Dallas Museum of Art will be held on Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 6:30 pm – 9:00pm. The exhibit will remain open through July 24, 2011.

The photography and mixed-media exhibit showcases the work of 4th and 5th grade students from Charles Rice Learning Center, H.S. Thompson Learning Center, and Martin Luther King Learning Center elementary schools who have participated in Preservation LINK’s Point of View photojournalism course (5th graders), and Visual Literacy Workshop (4th graders) media arts programs.

The guest speaker for the event is Annette Lawrence, Professor of Drawing and Painting at the University of North Texas, College of Arts and Design. Annette is a visual artist, whose work is widely exhibited and held in museums including The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Dallas Museum of Art, The Rachofsky Collection, ArtPace Center for Contemporary Art, Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, and American Airlines. She was recently commissioned for an installation titled Coin Toss at Cowboys Stadium.

The opening of “Through The Eyes of Our Children” will mark the beginning of a summer-long engagement for Preservation LINK student photographers. Through participation in DMA First Tuesdays, students will lead exhibition tours and give gallery talks discussing the inspiration behind their work with Museum visitors.  Preservation LINK, Inc. is a 501c3 non-profit education agency that has impacted thousands of youth through its media and visual arts programs and many partners. Its mission is to teach youth, through literacy, art, and technology education, how to explore, express, and experience the growth and empowerment gained from learning.

The resulting work will be displayed at the Janette Kennedy Gallery of the South Side on Lamar during a reception held April 21st and will run through April 27th.  Meeks will be on hand to discuss his work and some of the models will be in attendance as well.  Please join us in celebrating the brave men and women who participated in the unique project

Program Sponsors

South Side Public Improvement District

Journey to the intersection of reality and perception as you explore the art of Midge Lynn featured in Beside the Point Art Exhibition from March 2 through March 23 in the Janette Kennedy Gallery at South Side on Lamar. The gallery will showcase her works incorporating paint, pencil and canvas Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Additionally, this creative visionary will be available to meet guests during the Artist’s Reception on March 5 from 5 to 9 p.m. Lynn has received several awards for her artwork including first place in the “Inland Exhibition” at the San Bernardino County Museum as well as the “Irving Block Achievement Award” at California State University, Northridge.

Her work has been exhibited both locally and internationally including the Scapular Gallery Nomad in the Philippines and Barnsdall Municipal Gallery in Los Angeles. Midge Lynn’s remarkable artwork captures life experiences and ties together perception and reality like no one else. Whether visiting the gallery on opening night or closing day, these masterpieces will leave an indelible impression. For more information contact Shannon at 214-485-7015 or Shannon@southsidelamar.com

What:     Beside the Point Art Exhibition

Where:   Janette Kennedy Gallery, South Side on Lamar
1409 S. Lamar Street – Dallas, Texas 75215

When:                  Exhibit -  Mar. 2 – 23
Exhibit Hours:                  Monday through Friday  9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Artist Reception:             Saturday, March 5, 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Cost:                      Free admission

This holiday season when you are searching for something to do, an interesting place to go and your house is bursting at the seams with family, consider the South Dallas Cultural Center.  Tucked inside the Arthello Beck Gallery, are two exciting exhibits.  New works by local artist Mark Crow and Harvard educated Marisa Williamson are well worth your time.

Mark’s exhibit, The Onion Principle, shows scenes from the artist’s life.  He uses acrylic on canvas, wood and board with what seems to be pixels formed to create a variety of dynamic, bold imagery.  My personal favorite is Ascending Flower.  I am convinced it belongs in my living room!  Ascending Flower shows a woman with a peaceful expression, seated with her knees folded to her chest; Mark chose orange and green in square panels as contrast to her expression.

Two paintings of a boy in jail, with a transparency that includes a poem on one and the other has a Booking Form for County Jail.  The stroll through the gallery is short, but the art shows enormous talent and gives you something to discuss.  It is a great place to bring older children and introduce them to art as a discussion piece.  You may even choose to buy a piece for display in your home as all are available for sale.

Marisa’s exhibit, Broadcast, used multi-media and to me, suggested we live in a microwave society.  Everything is quick, fast and hurried, major moments in our collective experience that have been condensed to a media moment.  Marisa has microwaves on the wall and as you look through the window, you see a variety of images.

One iconic to this city, President Kennedy’s car, is rather surreal looking at Jackie’s pink, pillbox hat and knowing that in real time, long ago she was moments from an extreme act of violence, perhaps the most terrifying seconds of her existence and becoming the world’s most photographed widow.

Another image is from “Thriller”, Michael Jackson’s work that revolutionized the art of making music videos and inspired generations of musicians, directors, dancers and singers.  As you move from one microwave moment to the next, a television set is broadcasting images of Marissa, her words and those of iconic black women.  Sit, listen, and draw your own conclusions.

If you would like more information about Mark Crow, you can visit his website artistmarkcrow.com.  For more news about Marissa Williamson, visit marisawilliamson.blogspot.com.  Their work will be available from now through January 1, 2011.  The South Dallas Cultural Center is located at 3400 South Fitzhugh and has hours Tuesday through Friday from 1pm-9pm and on Saturdays from 9am-5 pm.  There is no charge to enter the Center; however, special events and programs may have a fee associated.  Check online or call ahead so you won’t be surprised.

Birds fruits and flowers, detail from wood frame inlaid with mother of pearl. Attributed: Juan and Miguel González Battles of Alejandro Farnesio Pair of six-fold inlaid shell screens Mexico, circa 1690 Collection of Rodrigo Rivero-Lake PHOTO CREDIT: George Ramirez Photography

In celebration of the bicentennial of Mexico’s independence, the Crow Collection of Asian Art explores the imprint of Asian art on Mexico in Black Current: Mexican Responses to Japanese Art, 17th – 19th Centuries. Mexico, as “The Viceroyalty of New Spain” between 1521 and 1821, was a strategic player in a global trade network that linked Asia, the Americas and Europe.

Black Current highlights works of art made in Mexico between the 17th and 19th centuries that reflect exposure to Japanese art – only one of many offerings of the trade, but one that left an identifiably distinct imprint on Mexican material culture. Opening Thursday, October 21, the Black Current exhibition runs through Sunday, January 2, 2011. Free and open to the public.

“There is a very interesting history of Japanese merchant ships sailing to and from Mexico, profiting from the mutually lucrative galleon trade, and the residual effects it had upon Mexican culture,” said Trammell S. Crow. “We’re thrilled to have an opportunity to honor the Mexican bicentennial with the Black Current exhibition, which demonstrates the subtle influences between two different cultures in an insightful, enlightening way.”

Detail image of Battle of Alejandro Farnesio depicted on a screen Attributed: Juan and Miguel González Battles of Alejandro Farnesio Pair of six-fold inlaid shell screens Mexico, circa 1690 Collection of Rodrigo Rivero-Lake PHOTO CREDIT: George Ramirez Photography

The ships returned to Manila with payment in silver and dyestuffs from Mexico’s soil. With port cities on the Atlantic and Pacific, Mexico was more exposed in this period than any other part of the Western world to goods and commodities from Asia, whether they came indirectly from Europe or as part of the galleon trade that ran regularly between Manila and Acapulco Bay from 1571 to 1815.

In a selection of approximately 30 objects, Black Current demonstrates the enthusiastic response of Mexico’s artists and consumers to Japanese art forms: pictorial folding screens, lacquered objects of inlaid shell and precious metals, and votive paintings, conveniently rolled for travel. These responses range from pure quotation, to local equivalencies, to independent flights of distinctive Mexican cultural identity.

Three folding screens in the exhibition made in 17th-century Mexico for elite patrons incorporate Japanese pictorial conventions, techniques for elements such as hinges on the convenient room screens. The grave black and gold beauty of Japanese lacquer appealed to 17th-century Iberian sensibilities, and shell inlay has a history among pre-Conquest cultures of the Americas. Japanese lacquer was a product not only of Japanese craft traditions, but also of a tree native to Asia.

Two lacquer chests from the Crow Collection of Asian Art are included in the exhibition. They are painted in gold and silver, inlaid in mother of pearl, and were made in Japan for export. They provide evidence of Japanese objects available in Mexico through the galleon trade that were admired and innovated upon. The New World approximation of Japanese lacquer is a varnish known as “barniz de pasto.”

Of particular note in the exhibition are two series of paintings called “enconchados” or [pictures] “incorporating shell.”  The subjects are Catholic narratives of the life of the Virgin, and one includes an image of the patron saint of Mexico, the Virgin of Guadalupe. The narrative style is European; only the Virgin of Guadalupe is shown in Mexican iconic form. It is the technique that assumes particular interest in the frame of the exhibition, as possibly inspired by Japanese mother of pearl pictorial inlay. The exhibition provides an opportunity to consider this proposition in a visual context.

Works of art for this exhibition were drawn from collections in Mexico and the United States.

The Crow Collection of Asian Art thanks the Consulate General of Mexico in Dallas for its full support of this effort to further bridge east and west. In addition, the Crow Collection thanks the Black Current Advisory Council for its leadership throughout the planning of this momentous exhibition. Advisory Council Members: Consul General Juan Carlos Cue-Vega, Mr. Adolfo Ayuso-Audry, Ms. Tricia Bridges,  Mr. Alfonso Montiel, Mr. Michael Mendoza, Mr. Jim Falk, Ms. Martha Hinojosa, Ms. Clara Hinojosa, Ms. Helene Rudberg, Ms. Patricia Clavo, Ms. Whitney Hyder More, Ms. Michelle Nussbaumer, Ms. Anna McFarland, Mr. Keith Evans, Mr. Ray Jobe and Mr. Roger Wallace.

Admission is free. The Crow Collection of Asian Art is open Tuesdays – Thursdays (10 a.m. – 9 p.m.), Fridays – Sundays (10 a.m. – 6 p.m.) and closed on Mondays. For more information, please go to crowcollection.org or call 214-979-6430.

What do these and six other local luminaries have in common?  They’re locally-based representatives of some of the best game-changers in the African-American community and they’re all featured in the upcoming documentary, “Be the One,” a film by Denton-based Lightning Bear Productions and dedicated to telling the stories of struggle and success in order to highlight their accomplishments and to inspire others to reach for their dreams.

According to its Executive Producer and Lightning Bear’s Chief Operating Officer, Rochelle Cummings, “Be…” was initially meant to air in schools during Black History Month, but she soon realized that it would make a greater impact for the young if they saw people who looked just like making an impact with their good works and community involvement on a daily basis, not just that one time a year.

“I feel strongly that we have a responsibility to promote positive images. We kind of allow just the famous and the high-profile celebrities to stand as the only positive examples, but I think it’s even more important for people to look to their own community for that positive influence.”

The documentary, which recently completed production after being filmed over the Christmas holiday break, targets schools and may also be featured this summer in other larger venues, including Dallas’ own African American Museum.

Ironically, it was inspired by a trip to the least local of cities—Egypt. As the Detroit native beheld Egyptian pyramids and the wealth of history and achievements that surrounded her, Ms. Cummings was compelled to find sources of excellence closer to home.  “When I was reflecting upon the powerful, positive influence that this one location had on me, I decided that the least I could do is to bring more positivity back here.”

The men and women featured in “Be…” may represent differing backgrounds and professions—their fields range from health management, regional promotions for nationally-recognized recording artists and owning a flooring company, to name a few—but the common thread that unifies them all happens to be the tenacity, focus and sacrifice that they applied to get what they wanted.

“What I was interested in were individuals of various backgrounds who were faced with challenges in life. When we only show our people in certain professions, some people may identify while others might feel left out. I wanted people to be able to see success and inspiration comes from a multitude of sources.”

The one thing that struck the film maker was that no matter how successful the subjects were,  all of them were humble and even surprised that their lives seemed interesting enough to discuss, much less film for posterity.

“They just saw themselves as doing the right things to get through life, but each of our accomplishments matter all year long, because people need to be inspired all year long,” she laughs. “The subjects inspired me and it also gave them a moment to reflect on what all they have achieved throughout their lives. Over time, we adapt, and we don’t always think about how difficult things were along the way, but the message is that if we try hard enough, we can make it too.”

Thanks to media’s instant and ubiquitous sway on life, love, and pop culture, it should come as no surprise that the power of words has been artfully translated into a stunning exhibit that debuted at South Dallas’ Cultural Center last Friday.

John Spriggins discussing "Paper Dolls"

“Paper Dolls,” created by Dallas native John Spriggins, combines the concept of a girls childhood pastime—posed paper dolls— with the all-too-adult influence of media on the souls and psyches of today’s women.

Mr. Spriggins, the father of a young daughter, became fascinated with the sheer amount of overlapping subject matter and the redundancy of the messages that the magazines targeted at women convey. Each article “tried to have a different spin” on subjects like diet, fashion, sex and relationships, but “it was the same topics over and over again,” he laughs. “It made me wonder how (women are) being influenced and exactly how much of it is being retained.”

The affect is visually arresting: vividly-hued backdrops of twenty life-sized collages filled with provocative headlines, formed in the varying shapes and poses of the feminine physique. Some pieces focus on health (“The Beauty Diet,” “Eat Your Way Slim”) or pure objectification (“Boob Job Envy,” “Get Sexy Now”), while others are about friendships and couple issues (“Why Guys Cheat,” “Could Your Man Be Gay”). As for the dolls’ obvious lack of faces, Mr. Spriggins says that it was a purposeful move designed to keep each image as universal as possible. “Every woman is different, of course, but in life, they’re all facing the same issues. I want people to reflect on what society expects versus what they may expect of others and to try to strike a balance between the two.”

Nicole Jones, one of the models who posed for the “Why Guys Cheat” display, said that it was a collaborative effort from start to finish, with each conversing with Mr. Spriggins about which issues resonated the most before they posed in form-fitting clothing, were photographed and transformed into silhouettes via computer. Ms. Jones, a college friend of the artist, stated that she felt it was an honor to play a part in “setting a positive example” for women in general that all have beauty and worth.

The center’s curator, Vicki Meek, was all-too-glad to showcase “…Dolls” because each piece makes a strong statement. “John’s always thinking, analyzing and perfecting” what he wants to present, she says of the enterprising artist she met over four years ago. “The man is going places and worthy of bigger and better things. If one’s interest is in serious art, then they should look out for him.”

“Paper Dolls” runs through Nov. 28, 2009 and is free and open to the general public.

Lorrie Irby Jackson is a freelance journalist based in Dallas and has covered entertainment professionally for several years, writing many for The Dallas Morning News. Her e-mail address is lorrie.irby@gmail.com.

Edited by Shawn Williams

Here’s a video that was made the night of the opening of Sam Fuller’s Art Studio at Southside on Lamar a few weeks back.  It as a special story, and if you’re not familiar with it, read the DSN account of the event here.

On Saturday, South Dallas artist John Spriggins will open a new show just down the street from his work space.  Spriggins latest work “Paper Dolls” debuts at the South Dallas Cultural Center on October 24th and is a look at how media influence female self image.

John Spriggins and one of his "dolls"

Early this week I visited John at his studio as he prepared for the show and had a chance to look at some of the 20 images that make up “Paper Dolls.”  Spriggins drafted some of his female friends and acquaintances to pose for a work that offers his take on female sense of self and how self perception is developed.

The idea came about as Spriggins and a cousin talked about what it’s like raising daughters in this day and age.  He looked at the images that females receive through various forms of media, but eventually settled on how magazines covers speak to women.

If you look closely enough, you may catch that the poses and theme are a nod to the paper dolls that were popular in previous centuries, when little girls would cut out clothes on a sheet of paper and paste them on the “perfectly shaped” women on the page.  From cartoons to commercials, images of how women should look, think, and feel constantly bombard them.

“The women that I spoke with have (image) issues that come from a variety of places,” Spriggins says, “and these magazines offer redundant information and quick fixes.”   After giving the models a survey of 10 questions, he used the their answers to fill the “paper doll” silhouettes with messages he clipped from magazine covers.

Paper Dolls

Dallas South News will do a full review of the show next week, but I will say that seeing images of these pieces on Facebook did nothing for what they look like up close.  There are multiple levels of interaction that take place between the 20 dolls and their guests.  Each image is so rich with detail and so full of information that the project should lend well to multiple viewings.  I can’t wait to meet these ladies again on Saturday.

“Paper Dolls” opens Saturday October 24th at 5 pm where John Spriggins will talk about his motivation for the work. The event is free and open to the public. The “Paper Dolls” exhibition runs through November 28, 2009.