Recent Events, Future Opportunities

Holy Macaroni Art Tribe,

It's been awhile since my last blog post. But, I think you will understand why as you learn about the abundance of art happenings I've been involved in here in the Brazosport area the last few weeks. If you're an art lover, you're sure to enjoy reliving the art adventures of myself and fellow artists. If you are an artist, you'll definitely want to read all the way to the end. I've got some exciting opportunities to share that you will not want to miss. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy some recent snaps!

February 21st was the opening reception for the Blackfire Gallery Showcase at the Brazosport Art League Main Gallery. Returning artist Rodney D. Butler has assembled a uniquely talented group of creators under his Blackfire Gallery label: Eddie Filer Jr., Vicky Gooch, James Gill, Rickale West, Muhammad Ali Bhatti, Dominic Clay, Vincent Blair, Luther Vinson and, of course, Rodney himself. Here are some highlights...

Five of the nine Blackfire Artists L - R: Rodney D. Butler, Rioxy West, J.C. Gill, Vicky Gooch, Luther Romantay Vinson, Vincent Blair.

(Click on the thumbnails below to view in greater detail.)

Rodney D. Butler and STUTZ

The Blackfire Gallery Showcase just came down, but Rodney, myself and dozens of other artists will have artwork on view during the Brazosport Art League's People's Choice Awards Show now through April 27. A reception and awards presentation are planned for Friday, April 25 from 6:30p. – 8:00p. with refreshments.

To learn more about Blackfire Artists Gallery, contact Rodney directly: ​https://rodneydbutlerartist.wordpress.com/bio/

While the Main Gallery at the Brazosport Art League has an artists reception sometime during every exhibition, our other two galleries (the Art Shop and Members Gallery) do not. We have change-out dates for art, but no opportunities to really have a Meet & Greet or brainstorming session with those artists. Deciding it's time for a change, I am implementing a couple of opportunities for artists exhibiting in the Art Shop to network and also meet our guests in person.

The first opportunity is a gathering we are calling the Art Shop Coffee Shop Talks! Every month the artists currently exhibiting in the Art Shop are invited to meet on the first Saturday of each month at a local coffee shop or eatery to get to know each other a little better and brain-storm creative ideas. This month five of us met at Panera Bread in Lake Jackson: Phil Partridge (digital / mix media), Elizabeth Davis (mix media), Ruth Wooters (fiber arts), Carolina Lozoya (acrylics), STUTZ (mix media). It was a lively and fun gathering and I am very much looking forward to our next Art Shop Coffee Shop Talk! 

Art Shop Coffee Shop Talk artists 3/1/2025 (L-R): Carolina Lozoya, Elizabeth Davis, Ruth Wooters, STUTZ. (Phil had to leave early.)

Art Shop Coffee Shop Talks will be held on these Saturdays @ 11a.:
April 5th, May 3rd, June 7th, July 5th, August 2nd, September 6th, October 4th, November 1st, December 6th.

Would you like to meet more artists, make friends, share ideas and learn about art opportunities? The Art Shop Coffee Shop Talks will be held at different locations each month. Here's how to participate:

1) Become a member of the Brazosport Art League, if you are not already, by clicking HERE.
2) Show your artwork in the Brazosport Art League Art Shop. (Email me to participate in our next change-out: [email protected])
3) RSVP YES when you receive the Art Shop Coffee Shop Talk invitation with location.

That's it! You do NOT have to live in Brazoria County to become a member of the Brazosport Art League or show your artwork in the Art Shop. These opportunities are open to any artist living anywhere. Most of our Art Shop Coffee Shop Talks will take place in and around Brazoria County for logistical reasons, but we are planning field trips to Houston and other  locations, so stay tuned!

​Truth be told, I really overcommitted my time to projects for the Brazosport Art League this month. In addition to those projects, I went to concerts at The Clarion and plays at Brazosport Center Stages. Honestly, there were too many art related events to mention. For the sake of this blog post, we'll stick to visual arts. Despite all the activities, I somehow managed to find time to work on my own art and currently have several started all over the studio. You can check out my process on one recent stream-of-consciousness drawing that I finished in the slideshow below. It is currently on view in the Art Shop and can be purchased there or by reaching out to me via the comments section of this post. Enjoy!

"Solving Mysteries"
5'H x 7"W unframed
6"H x 8"Wx2"D framed (in beautiful black shadow box)
Markers, Colored Pencils, Acrylic, Ink on paper
75.00 framed

​By the time March 10th rolled around, I was happy to finally get to meet up with our local Plein Air Group at a nearby nature reserve. This group meets the first Monday of every month at different locations, but somehow my plans have been incompatible with theirs every month...until this one. Gosh, it was so nice to spend time outdoors with some of the nicest most laidback folks you'll ever want to meet. No agenda. Just chill, make art, or not. They even brought extra art supplies in case someone might need them and did an ATV tour of the property. I needed some R & R and this group was the absolute best medicine. (Check out the slideshow below.)

​To learn more about how you can participate in this creative,  outdoor, judgement-free zone, contact Cynthia Grandjean. You can enjoy her website and view her contact info HERE. 

The very next day, on Tuesday, March 11th, I hosted an event for local families that was several weeks in the making. During a Brazosport Art League leadership team meeting a few months ago, I learned that The Center for the Arts and Sciences planned to have a week of activities called Spring Break Spectacular! The art league was asked to provide activities for one of those days, so I stepped up when the request came for an organizer. How could I resist the opportunity to work with kids? Anyway, I dreamt up an idea for a mixed media mural the kids and their families could work on together with the idea that introducing the concept of an ART COMMUNITY in young folks might benefit them the rest of their lives. The theme was wide open: What Art Means to Me.

I created a sample of what the smaller works on paper might look like the night before the event using the same materials the kids would be using. (See below.)

We expected about 100 participants, so I created instructions that would be quick and easy to follow...

What happened next was kid art magic. Special thanks to our wonderful volunteers for being the glue that held the event together: Joan Joiner and Michelle Booth (assisting the kids with markers and other art supplies), Cynthia Ketheley and Cynthia Lancaster (assisting the kids painting the background of the mural) and Phil Partridge (manning the popcorn machine). It takes a village to build a mural! (See slideshow below.)

Kids and family members of all ages came and went for 2 hours. Some worked on paper making individual creations. Some collaborated by painting the larger background on canvas. Some did both. Some kids and parents really got into the theme of What Art Means to Me...and a whole lot of people drew and painted things they just happened to like including trees, soccer balls, anchors and more. As the smaller drawings were completed, they were left in a stack on a table...

Some kids did multiple drawings so there ended up being almost 100 drawings in all. Next the drawings needed to be attached to the finished canvas background...

After everyone had gone, I spent time carefully attaching all of the drawings so that a little bit of everyone's work - both the background paintings and the drawings - would show. It's important for all of us to understand, I think, that everyone's individual personalities and gifts can come together to make something amazing and new for ALL. One of the key concepts of this project was that the children be as free as possible to create without coaching, unless they requested it. Here's what the finished artwork looks like from all sides...

It will hang up on the Brazosport Art League Studio wall for a full year until the next Spring Break Spectacular in 2026. I hope the kids bring their friends and families to see it and enjoy trying to pick out their artwork amongst all of the others. But, mainly, I hope it leads to an understanding that being different is okay and working together, collaborating doesn't have to be about competition and can just be fun.

Is this blog post finished, yet? Nope. There's more and it gets even better.

On Saturday, March 15th, the Lake Jackson Parks and Recreation Department held an outdoor drawing competition under a covered pavilion called Chalk the Lot. A request went out for judges. Myself and 2 other fellow Brazosport Art League leadership team members answered the call. Dorothy Dean (Department of Education), Mary Chauvel (Teen Studio) and I had a wonderful time considering every single entry. While not every team received a ribbon, they were all winners as far as we were concerned.

A big THANK YOU to Justin Janis (Head of LJP&R Marketing and Youth Program Director) for inviting us and also to Angela Atkinson (LJP&R Adult and Youth Athletics Coordinator) for making this fun community event a reality! 

There were 11 competing groups in all and several noncompeting spectators that decided to join in the spirit and draw alongside the competitors. You can view the exciting works-in-progress in the slideshow below.

And these are some of the winners with their finished artworks. (Click the thumbnails to enlarge.)

It's great when neighbors collaborate for the enrichment of the community! Looking forward to the Brazosport Art League partnering with the Lake Jackson Parks and Recreation Department on some future endeavor. So many creative ways to bring people together! To learn more about family friendly events held at the Lake Jackson Recreation Center, click HERE.

Your Chalk the Lot Team! Clockwise from far left: STUTZ, Justin Janis, Angela Atkinson, Dorothy Dean, Mary Chauvel and Maddie Dean (Dorothy's sister).

And, you guessed it, THE VERY NEXT DAY I took every piece of art in the Art Shop down so that we could begin another 2 month cycle of brand new artwork. 

Monday, March 17th, I had the pleasure of welcoming 8 Art Shop artists into the gallery to drop off their spring inspired artwork. Three of our artist could not attend Take-in day due to a nasty stomach bug going around. But, there was plenty of new artwork delivered. It kept me quite busy looking for just the right locations for each piece of wall art, sculpture, jewelry and glassware. What a joy! Check out the photos below and let me know what you think! (Click each thumbnail to enlarge.)

I have many more photos of the artworks in detail that I upload to our Art Shop Pinterest page which you can view HERE.

The Art Shop is a dynamic gallery of small works with artwork being replaced almost as soon as it is sold. We currently only accept cash and checks as ALL of the money from art sales goes directly to the artists and NOT to the art league! The Art Shop sells more artwork that any of the three galleries at the Brazosport Art League.

If you are an artist and are interested in exhibiting your small works with us, reach out to me directly. I am the Art Shop manager: [email protected]

If you are an art lover and would like to stop by and peruse all of the unique one-of-a-kind artworks at all three of the Brazosport Art League galleries, we would LOVE to meet you! You can find us here:

The Center for the Arts and Sciences
400 College Drive
Clute, Texas 77530
HOURS
Sunday 2p. - 5p.
Monday CLOSED
Tuesday - Saturday 11a. - 3p.

So NOW we come to two last bits of news, BOTH of which are amazing opportunities for local artists: Art Shop Artists in Action on Friday, May 16, 2025 and The Brazosport 70th Anniversary Family Fun Day on Sunday, September 28, 2025! If you are an artists, you can show and sell your art for FREE on May 16th OR you can rent a booth for a very reasonable price on September 28th.

Both events are FREE for our art lovin' guests and open to the public!

The Art Shop Artists in Action event will be held indoors and will feature makers showing work in the Art Shop. It is limited to 5 artists, but will be repeated every 2 months, so if you miss the next one, there will be others you can participate in.

The Brazosport 70th Anniversary Fine Art Family Fun Day is open to ALL fine artists, but I expect booth spaces will fill up fast. We already have several artists waiting for the contracts to be completed (in the next day or two) so that they can sign up. 

If you are interested in learning more about either opportunity, I am your contact person for BOTH and I am easy to find! Contact me ASAP! 832-549-1730 TEXT

I am so excited to have the opportunity to offer these fun events for artists and art lovers to participate in and enjoy. I am also so very grateful to The Center and Brazosport Art League for these and other art opportunities.

The Art Shop Artists in Action flier is not yet finished, but I can share the ​Brazosport 70th Anniversary Fine Art Family Fun Day flier now. Here ya go!

Whew! What a whirlwind few weeks it has been! Going forward I'll be creating more of my own artwork and posting to this blog more frequently. 

Lots of Love and Hugs Art Friends & Family!
​  S.