28
July
2014
|
12:29 PM
America/Chicago

Gallery Announces First Fall 2014 Show

The O'Kane Gallery has announced the exhibit that will kick-off the 2014-2015 academic year. "The 'Left Bank' on the Bayou: Avant-garde Art and Theater in 1930's Houston" will run from Sept. 4 - Oct. 16 with an opening reception planned for 6-8 p.m. Sept. 4 in the Gallery.

In 1930, Houston was still a town of less than 300,000. After the war, its population would explode into what is today the fourth largest city in the United States. Perhaps still more of a frontier town than a cosmopolitan center for arts, 1930's Houston did begin to attract progressive Texans who believed that avant-garde performing and visual arts had a place in the Bayou City.

A key figure in Houston's rich history of visual and performing arts includes Margo Jones, a theatre director and innovator who is credited with creating the first professional theater-in-the-round in the United States. Inspired by Jones' passion, a group of visual artists sought to bring Modern art to Houston. Included in the group were artists Carden Bailey, Gene Charlton, Nione Carlson and Maudee Carron. Gene Charlton, Forrest Bess and Robert Preusser went on to national and international careers in the visual arts.

The exhibit is funded by grants from the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance.