Arts alive in TXK scene
Cove r ing the arts in Texa r k ana for the last several years has given this reporter one true takeaway about the local arts scene: It is what you make of it.
There’s that saying that goes something like, “You get out of it what you put into it,” and that’s true for Texarkana’s art community.
As a smaller city—or cities, rather—Texarkana is modestly sized enough to have an off-thebeaten-path energy, but it’s also a regional center, which lends it some area-wide importance for artists. After all, it’s home of the Regional Arts Center, a venue that showcases top local and regional artists, not only for solo or group shows, but also the annual juried shows for students and adults.
There is a lot going on with artists here, from traditional work to the more experimental, but it takes digging to find them and their work. If you don’t dig, you might think the arts here are entirely too conventional, and that’s only partly correct.
Here’s a quick sketch of just four of this area’s more interesting artists. It’s hard to pick four, honestly, because so many deserve attention. But I settled on these four because their styles show some diversity.
A few years ago, accomplished local artist Cindy
Holmes decided to change her game and set out for new territory. She hasn’t looked back since.
Holmes transitioned to acrylics and used found art to craft something on the canvas that was decidedly different and more adventurous. For an El Dorado, Ark., show, she wrote recently that she likes to suggest a story the art viewer can complete. Given the evocative nature of her work now, that’s an astute self-assessment. Her work is playful, peculiar and fascinating, the colors and figures all lively. In her own way, she’s become the most experimental of local artists, and galleries outside Texarkana are taking notice of her fine work. She deserves the success.
To see more of her work, go check out Artbycjholmes on Facebook.
If you meet a young, talented, up-and-coming artist here in Texarkana or from Texarkana, chances are solid they studied under Pleasant Grove High School teacher Nicole Brisco. There are plenty of great local art teachers, but Brisco inspired and mentored many local artists who have gone farther with the craft and set out on their own art careers.
Brisco’s own art has won her just as many kudos as her teaching abilities—from one-woman shows at the Artchurch Studio in Hot Springs, Ark., and Texas A&M University-Texarkana’s John F. Moss Library to inclusion in exhibitions elsewhere. Whether it’s a woman’s figure, birds, ladders or text, Brisco juxtaposes interesting elements in a style that manages to be surprising, thought-provoking and totally recognizable as a Brisco work.
Kathi Couch creates vibrant art that shows an affinity for splatters, drips and shaping the paint on a canvas, almost as if it’s clay. Her abstract art conveys a mood, and she readily admits that she researches to find the appealing color choices for art buyers. In a Couch piece, texture is key. Spatulas? They’re good tools for art-making. Even a caulking gun has a use in this endeavor.
When Couch’s art was part of the “Unframed” exhibit with fellow artist Tyler Arnold two years ago, she told the Gazette, “I’m real into texture, I love texture. I like all the little cracks and valleys that texture gives.” Her delight in texture makes her art immense fun. She has a true style.
Allen Phillips with his Archfern studio makes art, but it’s certainly atypical of local artists. His medium is wood, and most of what he makes is furniture, in a way, but functional art furniture. It’s not the sort of furniture you generally find at local stores. It’s unique, with sound design and artistic beauty in each piece, whether it’s a table or wall hanging.
Based in DeKalb, Texas, the designer, architect and filmmaker started making his “intentional wall art,” as he called it back when he and Archfern had a show at the Regional Arts Center, out of Archfern scraps. He was creative with those leftover pieces.
“It started out as just a way to get rid of all of our junk, kind of waste pieces. You’re basically subtracting something from one thing, and then you’re adding all the subtractions together to become another,” Phillips said.
Under the guidance of Amy Donohoe, director of visual arts and community programs for Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council, the RAC’s roster of shows has flourished, bringing top regional artists to Texarkana and showcasing some of the best locals. Art isn’t to be found only at the RAC. Texas A&M UniversityTexarkana also showcases local artists at its John F. Moss
Library. Artists have praised that space. Check out the new
Downtown Gallery/Studio 218 on East Broad Street for some of the best local art, too.
Businesses such as Skyler’s Frame Shop, Taste & See, Silvermoon on Broad, Red Road Winery and several others all feature local artists on the walls. The RAC has organized several Texarkana
Gallery Hops to connect those art spaces with art lovers.
And street art? That’s kind of a thing now in Texarkana, thanks to the creative folks at
Urban Renaissance. This artist group is on their third year of introducing Texarkana Little Doors to downtown, affixing dozens of fairy doors in places both delightful and surprising.
Art in Texarkana: It’s truly what you make of it and worth an exploratory dig.