NE faculty demonstrate talent, passion at art center

By Kelli Henderson/entertainment editor

The NE Campus art faculty has gathered to exhibit personal art pieces at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center. Through oil on canvases, inkjet prints, sculptures and

Kalypso, Scott Parker. Oil on panel.

other media, the faculty has given TCC students the opportunity to see their passions come to life. 

Through April 29, the public can view the exhibit for free.

Each individual piece gives the audience an inside look into the different styles of art and the skills required to make the finished projects.

Brink, Cindy Hurt. Oil. 2012.

Karmien Bowman, art associate professor, has multiple pieces in the exhibition. In one display, she said she used the same glaze for each pot, but the pots do not look anything alike.

“It [the glaze] makes it much more interesting when they are together. It’s kind of an analysis thing,” she said.

Some artists, like Scott Parker, art associate professor, borrowed from history or mythological stories. Parker took the story of the primordial goddess Nyx to use as inspiration for his traditional painting.

Others, like Andrew Stalder, art associate professor, borrowed ideas from different cultures. After looking at Mexican tribes who decorated skulls with wax and beads, he thought he would create his own with buffalo skulls and Swarovski crystals.

“I thought, ‘What would I do?’ So I did a test piece. I did a deer skull in kind of like a Day of the Dead theme. In preparation for this, I already had this in my head. I thought, ‘KISS, it’s perfect.’ They’ve got the standard makeup,” Stalder said. “I hope it’s

From left: Gene, Peter, Paul, Ace, Andrew Stalder
Buffalo skull and crystals. 2012.

not just KISS lovers [who enjoy the pieces]. I hope it’s like people who can appreciate how long that took. I mean it was crazy, crazy, crazy hours of making. And they’re shiny. Who doesn’t like shiny stuff?”

Botany Lesson, Melba Northum
Wooden chair, tree, clay, button. 2012

Though they came to exhibit their forms of art, they all agreed on one thing: to get to where their instructors are, students need to persevere over all odds. Students need to work hard. Tenacity is the best advice, Parker said.

“As you start off into TCC and you take your classes, it’s on a class level, and then you progress from there and get a bachelor’s degree after that,” Parker said. “It takes years of painting and painting to gather the skills to really make a nice professional piece.”

An artist talk will be held 2-3 p.m. April 29 at the art center. The center is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday.