DIXIE FRIEND GAY, CADENCE, 2006, acrylic
on linen, 72" x 108"
x 3"
Moments in Nature, Paintings by DIXIE FRIEND GAY
The work on display by Houston artist Dixie Friend Gay comprises over 20 landscape paintings depicting lush scenes of natural environments – trees, foliage, waterways. From large canvases filled with dense foliage to smaller pieces that focus on intricate details of plants and flowers the artist’s work is sensuous and atmospheric -- a personal and keen observation of nature. Writes critic Kathleen Whitney, “Colored brushstrokes manufacture her landscapes, weaving them into the physical tapestries that make up their larger environment. Throughout Gay’s work one pattern moves into another – branches, roots, leaves, flowers, water ripples -- ultimately creating an overall form that is both structured and chaotic. Her work presents a situation in which things are interrelated through a flow of movement, light, and color, tying one form to another.”
Dixie Friend Gay grew up on a ranch in Western Oklahoma and graduated summa cum laude from Northwestern Oklahoma State University with a degree in Art Education. In 1980 she and her husband Ron Gay moved to the East Coast where she studied studio arts at New York University. She earned a MA at NYU. In 1989 she and her family moved to Houston.
Gay's work has been shown regionally, nationally and internationally; her work is in corporate, individual and museum collections in Texas and across the country. Her art has been featured in numerous museum exhibitions, including the Bronx Museum in New York, the Art Museum of Southeast Texas in Beaumont, the Amarillo Art Museum, and the Austin Museum of Art at Laguna Gloria. She is also known for her public art projects including Houston Bayou at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Terminal B (2002) and Solstice at Sylvan Rodriquez Park in Clear Lake. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including Art League Houston 2007 Texas Artist of the year, American Institute of Architects (Houston Chapter) 2006 Artist of the Year, Texas Accountants and Lawyers for Arts 2003 Artist of the Year, and Texas Commission on the Arts 2003 Texas State Artist of the Year ((Three Dimensional), as well as inclusion in the prestigious New American Talent 19 Exhibition (2004). Her civic art project Houston Bayou was recognized in the 2002 Art in America's Art in Review. Visit Dixie's website at www.dixiefriendgay.com.
Dixie Friend Gay will be present at the Opening Reception on January 17. On the following day, Friday, January 18, she will give a gallery talk about her work at 12 noon.
Check out the online
exlusive interview with Dixie at San Angelo Live.
San Angelo Museum
of Fine Arts
One Love Street
San Angelo, Texas 76903
Fax: (325) 658 - 6800
Phone: (325) 653 -
3333
e-mail:
museum@samfa.org