The Art Studio, Inc’s annual TASIMJAE accepting entries from Southeast Texas artists
By Eleanor Skelton
Southeast Texas artists are stepping up to bring unique artwork to The Art Studio’s annual exhibition.
TASIMJAE (The Art Studio, Inc. Members Jurored Art Exhibition) is accepting entries starting March 23 until March 27 for members of The Art Studio. Entrants will be notified by mail if their works are selected by March 31. The show’s virtual opening is slated for April 3.
James King is entering two sculpture pieces this year.
“You see some of the best entries of all year in open entry shows at the Art Studio,” he said. “Although it would be nice to win a prize, that’s not really the reason. You want to get selected for the show is, for me, the goal. So that the work can be shown. It’s not so much about the prize winning first place or anything, just to be selected is really the honor.
TASIMJAE gives local artists a place to showcase and sometimes sell their work, King said.
“I sold my first sculpture within a couple hours of being shown in 2018, and it was about a 9 foot tall sculpture,” he said. “Under normal times, not COVID times, it’s just a great excuse to invite some friends that are from out of town to come in and visit and check out the show.
You can get people that don’t really know about the Beaumont area and really show them all the talent that is in this region.”
Artists often save their work for this show each year, King said.
“If everyone else is entering their best, you want to make sure that you are entering something you’re going to put a little more effort into, a special design you save for that time of year,” he said.
King is working on two sculptures, a wood screen called mashrabiya, based on Islamic geometry used in the 14th and 15th centuries in Northern Africa and Spain as well as throughout the Middle East, including India and Pakistan.
“This form of wood screen is not really done anymore, because it is so labor intensive and it requires longer pieces of wood,” he said. “I’ve been doing research about it, about the design of it and I found a wood screen that was in Egypt that I found an old picture of that inspired me to do this pattern, kind of a nod to it.”
Wood screens were used for both privacy and to keep homes cool in the desert, King said.
“Because they were so expensive and so labor intensive, they were usually owned by very well to-do people, governors and very wealthy businessmen,” he said. “They would have these on the second floor of their house or above [with] clay jugs on the inside of the screen on the windowsill. The air coming in would evaporate up the water jugs, and it was kind of like medieval air conditioning.”
King demonstrated how mashrabiya holds together without modern adhesives.
“I can actually just lift it up, without any glue holding it together,” he said. “The friction is actually holding up the frame.”
Chris Presley said he is also entering TASIMJAE again in 2021. His style is more graphic illustration with bold colors and lines combined with unusual textures and a stream-of-consciousness technique, he said.
He and another local artist often create pieces with fabric-covered deer heads like the piece they entered last year that will be shown in San Antonio this year.
Presley said this year’s piece is the longest he has ever spent on a canvas this size.
“I’ve been entering in it for the past four or five years,” he said. “I got runner up a few years ago. So I’m going to keep trying, and maybe one day I’ll win. There’s prize money, too, but the show is what I really care about.”
Despite last year’s show being delayed for about half of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic and a historic hurricane season, many artists still entered, TASI’s assistant curator Michelle Cate said.
“We usually have a really good turnout, and last year, even despite COVID, we had over 140 pieces entered and only about 70 got in,” she said. “It’s a membership drive in a way, because everyone wants to get that prize, get a little more money for more art supplies.”
Last year, all entries were photographed and sent to the juror electronically, Cate said.
“That was a little bit of a trick, but we made it happen,” she said. “So we just had one [show] half a year ago, but now back to its normal time in the exhibition schedule.”
Cate said the juror for each show comes with a different perspective.
“It’s not about whether your work is good, categorically good or bad,” she said. “It’s about the taste, the educated taste of whoever is our guest juror. Everyone has their own place they’re coming from.”
“One juror might think your art is the bee’s knees, one juror might not dig it, it just depends, like I tell people my story, which is kind of crazy. One year I entered and I did not get in. and the next year, I literally made first place and won the whole show.
“So that can happen for me, that can happen for basically anyone.”
The TASIMJAE juror for 2021 is Lynn Castle, the executive director for the Art Museum of Southeast Texas. She has been with AMSET since 1987 and served as a curator before becoming executive director. The last time she served as the juror for TASIMJAE was about 25 years ago, she said.
“Every juror comes to the judging process with their own visual vocabulary,” Castle said. “I look for highly original work, work that holds my attention — work that really calls me back to take a second look.
“I like technically proficient work as well, but it’s not top of my priority. I’m impressed with it, but I’m really looking more for originality and for something that really conveys an idea or a thought and really gets me thinking about what the artist is trying to do.”
She also said prefers a body of work that appears to fit together.
“I look for cohesive work, too,” Castle said. “If they’re submitting 3 pieces of work, I don’t want widely disparate work. I want it to have a common theme or thread so that I know that the artist is authentic and working within their own style and boundaries.”
Castle said she is looking forward to seeing the 2021 TASIMJAE entries.
“I encourage people to enter,” she said. “I think the more entries we have, the better the show is going to be. And I think we have a tremendous amount of talent in this area, we have a lot of great, creative visual artists in this area. I am really looking forward to seeing some fresh new work [and] seeing all that is out there, all the artists that are making work now.”
Artists should not be discouraged even if their entry does not make this year’s show, Castle said.
“If their work isn’t accepted, it doesn’t mean that they are a bad artist,” she said. “They should keep trying, because different jurors have different visual vocabulary that speaks to them. It doesn’t necessarily mean just because it is a piece I would select that the work is successful or not.
“If they have a drive and urge to create artwork, they just need to keep doing it. I think the best way that people can become proficient and visually informed is to go and see as many exhibitions and visit museums and galleries and art studios as much as possible so that they are informed about what is going on in the contemporary art world.”
For more information, contact TASI at 409-838-5393, or visit www.artstudio.org.