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Marcie Inman

Director of Exhibitions & Educational Programs
Irving Arts Center
Cultures, Music, Performing Arts, Visual Arts, US History

Marcie Inman's collections

 

Jesus Moroles at Irving Arts Center

<p>This collection looks at the work of Jesus Moroles, an internationally renowned Latinx artist whose sculpture, <em>Fountain  Columns</em>, is in the permanent collection of Irving Arts Center in Irving, Texas. Resources include video  and oral history interviews from the Smithsonian American Art Museum as well as images of  ancient  stone structures and monuments , such as  an Egyptian stele and Mesoamerican pyramids, that provide an opportunity to make cultural and historical connections to his work.</p> <p>Jesus Moroles (American, 1950-2015) was commissioned  in 1997 to create <em>Fountain Columns</em> for the Irving Arts Center's Sculpture Garden.  Five 10-foot tall , 7,000 pound Dakota mahogany granite columns make  up the work, and each column has a constant flow of water running down their alternately  polished and natural granite surfaces. Installation was completed in 1998, and the work was dedicated in January of 1999.</p> <p>Jesus Moroles, a renowned sculptor,  is internationally known for his  monumental abstract works of granite. He was awarded the 2007 Texas Medal of the Arts and in 2008, the National Medal of Arts. Moroles was born in Corpus Christi , Texas and earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from North Texas  State  (now University of North Texas) in 1978.  An apprenticeship  with famed artist Luis Jimenez  in 1978-79 was credited by Moroles as one of the defining moments of his career. Soon after, he spent a year in Italy working on his craft before settling and working in Rockport, Texas. </p> <p>Moroles' work has been displayed in more than 300 exhibitions, and over  two thousand works by Moroles are held in public and private collections in the United States, China, Egypt, France, Italy, Japan and Switzerland. One of his first commissions was <em>Floating Mesa Fountain</em> for the Albuquerque Museum. In 1987 he completed  <em>Lapstrake,</em> a 64 ton, 22 foot tall sculpture for the E.F. Hutton, CBS Plaza in New York  City, across from the Museum of Modern Art.  One of his most noted and revered works is the Houston Police Officer's Memorial , a granite earthen-stepped pyramid surrounded by four equal inverted stepped pyramids excavated from the ground. It was completed in 1991 in Houston, Texas and remains his largest single work measuring 120 by 120 square feet. Works by Moroles can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, among many other institutions.</p> <p>Moroles said of his sculptures, "My work is a discussion of how man exists in nature and touches nature and uses nature. Each of my pieces has about 50 percent of its surfaces untouched and raw - those are parts of the stone that were torn. The rest of the work is smoothed and polished. The effect, which I want people to not only look at but  touch, is a harmonious coexistence of the two."</p> <p>In 2015 Moroles was killed in a car accident in central Texas at the age  of 64. </p> <p>#EthnicStudies<br><br>#JesusMoroles</p> <p>#IrvingArts</p> <p>Keywords: Jesus Moroles, Irving Arts Center, Latinx Artist, Sculpture, Art, Art History, Texas, Ethnic Studies, Mexican American Studies<br></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p>
Marcie Inman
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Billie Holiday at Sugar Hill: Photographs by Jerry Dantzic

<p>This collection, created to accompany the SITES exhibition <em>Billie Holiday at Sugar Hill: Photographs by Jerry Dantzic, </em>contains complementary resources to support the exhibition's themes. The collection includes music, photography, objects, and other sources to facilitate an examination of who Billie Holiday was, her legacy,  the use of available light within photography, the dynamic context of jazz in the 1950s, and how artists like Billie Holiday used their art to influence social change. </p> <p>About the exhibition:  In April 1957, photographer Jerry Dantzic had an assignment from Decca Records to photograph Billie Holiday during a weeklong run of performances at the Newark, New Jersey, nightclub, Sugar Hill. What unfolded was an unexpected and intimate journey into her private and public worlds. His photos comprise the largest collection of images from any single Billie Holiday club engagement. "<em>Billie Holiday at Sugar Hill: Photographs by Jerry Dantzic” </em>presents 56 remarkable images of the jazz icon that challenge the tragic narrative that frequently defines her. The exhibition is on view at Irving Arts Center in the Main Gallery from September 14 through November 17, 2019.  <br /></p> <p>#IrvingArts</p> <p>#BillieHoliday</p> <p>#EthnicStudies</p> <p><br /></p>
Marcie Inman
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