By Chip Chandler — Digital Content Producer
In this collection of arts-related happenings, learn more about a veteran photographer's retrospective, how World War I affected literature, a farewell to a pair of influential artists and more.
My Life Through My Camera
Photographer John Ebling will look back at his life behind the lens in a new retrospective art show opening May 4.
Ebling's My Life Through My Camera: People, Places and Things will be on view through June 3 at ArtGecko Studio & Gallery, No. 35 in The Galleries at Sunset Center, 3701 Plains Blvd. An opening reception runs from 7 to 9 p.m. May 4.
Ebling began his professional career at the Pampa News in 1971, then worked for the Amarillo Globe-News for eight years. After a stint managing a camera store, he became a full-time freelance photographer, then worked as a Pantex photographer for 23 years until retiring in August.
Following his retirement, he spent four months digitizing thousands of images from his 45-year career, putting him in the frame of mind to display some in a one-man show, his first in 25 years.
"I wanted to show my work," he said. "I think (viewers) are going to see a little touch of history."
The show will feature 111 photos, some of which are included in a coffee-table book, and others in a 16-month calendar of images around the Texas Panhandle. Framed 11-by-17 prints, 4-by-6 photo cards, the book and the calendar all will be on sale at the gallery, Ebling said.
"My show is different than most shows, where you go into a gallery show and see maybe 20, 25 pictures (of one subject)," he said. "Mine is going to be ... all intermingled. ... I want people to walk around and just look at pictures."
The Finale: A Retrospective of Partnership
West Texas A&M University professors, artists and spouses Chad Holliday and Chloe Rizzo will bid farewell to the Amarillo area in a one-night-only show May 5.
Holliday, who teaches glass sculpture, and Rizzo, who teaches ceramics, will display 2-D and 3-D works in The Finale: A Retrospective of Partnership at the Creative Research Lab — Amarillo in Studio 70 at The Galleries at Sunset Center, 3701 Plains Blvd. The show will be on view during First Friday Art Walk, which runs 5 to 9 p.m. May 5 at the galleries. It will
The retrospective show will feature work created during more than 15 years of making art together, including more than eight years in this area.
The pair is moving to Minneapolis-St. Paul to work in nonprofit arts organizations, including Foci - Minnesota Center for Glass Arts, where Holliday will be director of studio operations. They also plan to build a private sculpture studio.
"I am very proud of the hard work we, Chloe and I, have done for the arts community in the Panhandle and the art program at WTAMU," Holliday said. "I have brought national and international recognition and accomplishment to the WTAMU Art Program from creative and scholarly activities such as several museum acquisitions in the United States and abroad.
"We were able to create a cohesive approach to the 3D arts and strengthened the visiting artist program at WT by bringing in over 30 artists in eight years and of course bringing the community together with the annual Night Blow event which has funded the following: visiting artists, sending students abroad, student research, equipment, scholarships, etc.," he said.
Also on view during First Friday will be Art Within Reach, an art history show, in the WT Experimental Lab, Studio 66.
The exhibition will showcase student work produced after encountering art and art resources in the area, including architecture, details on Georgia O'Keeffe's time here and more.
"The students have discovered that art truly is within their reach at WT, and this show will demonstrate how their artistic production and aesthetic styles have been inspired and expanded during our class," said Jon Revett, WT assistant professor of painting and drawing.
Call 806-651-2792.
World Pinhole Photography Day
Learn how to make photographic art from just a tiny pinhole in Amarillo College's sixth annual celebration of Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day.
Ready-made pinhole cameras will be available for attendees at the celebration, set for noon to 4 p.m. Sunday in Room 314 of Parcells Hall on the AC Washington Street campus.
"The really fun part of the pinhole process is making exposures and developing the images," said Rene West, AC assistant professor of photography and visual arts, in a news release. "For anyone who wants to learn how to make their own cameras, we'll explain how to do it."
A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens and with a single small aperture, a pinhole – effectively a light-proof box with a small hole in one side, according to the release. Light from a scene passes through this single point and projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box.
Call 806-345-5654.
Changes in the Pages
The impact of World War I on literature will be examined in a panel discussion Thursday at Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum.
Bonnie Roos of West Texas A&M University and Ken Baake, Jen Shelton and Brian McFadden of Texas Tech University will speak at Changes in the Pages: The Great War and Literature from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the museum, 2503 Fourth Ave. in Canyon.
The panel discussion is held in conjunction with PPHM's ongoing Great War exhibitions.
"These novelists and writers (including J.R.R. Tolkein) have shaped our culture, and their writing was directly impacted by the Great War," said Samantha Biffle, PPHM programs coordinator, in a news release. "This is a discussion about how the war has shaped our lives from then until now through the texts we read."
The event is free. Call 806-651-2242.
Art on the Llano Estacado
Amarillo artist Bethany Fields will be featured in a new exhibition at Texas Tech University.
Fields' works will be seen in Art on the Llano Estacado art exhibition and sale Friday through Sunday at the Helen Devitt Jones Sculture Court at the Museum of Texas Tech in Lubbock.
The exhibition can be seen by the general public from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, following two days of events for sponsors and ticketholders.
Fields attended Tech but resides in Amarillo. She has exhibited her work around the world, including in an ongoing exhibit at Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio.
Chip Chandler is a digital content producer for Panhandle PBS. He can be contacted at Chip.Chandler@actx.edu, at @chipchandler1 on Twitter and on Facebook.
