Texarkana Regional Arts Center hosts Ouachita’s Donnie Copeland in solo exhibit through Jan. 13
November 27, 2017 - Katie Smith
Donnie Copeland, Ouachita Baptist University associate professor of Art and Design
and chair of Ouachita’s Adams Department of Art and Design, is showcasing a solo exhibit
at the Texarkana Regional Arts Center Nov. 9 through Jan. 13. Admission to the center
is free and open to the public.
“In the School of Fine Arts, being asked to exhibit, perform, direct or design is
the same as in other areas where faculty publish papers and articles about their research
in their field,” said Dr. Scott Holsclaw, chair of Ouachita’s Division of Applied
Arts. “Donnie Copeland is well known in this region for his work and has exhibited
in museums, galleries, university art galleries and even private businesses.”
Each of the works included in this exhibit feature striped patterns created from cutting
patterns from stacked sheets of paper and adhering them to sheets of paper. Many of
the canvases seem to echo aerial landscape views, geological strata or rivers. However,
Copeland said each of his works are nonobjective images.
“This particular process restored to my work a sense of delving into the unknown and
the promise of adventure – artistic and creative,” Copeland explained. “The striations
also placed an emphasis on their own material substance. The works can be enjoyed
as they are – without needing to rely on an image or reference to something somewhere
else for the viewer to ‘get’ the work. The works simply need to be seen.”
The exhibit in Texarkana continues the “Interrupted Paths” idea Copeland has explored
in other exhibits in recent months, as each striped canvas evokes the idea of a path.
Even the creative process reflects this theme because some of the cut stripes are
included in a canvas while others are discarded. Sometimes, rejected stripes from
one canvas are included in another.
Other recent exhibits Copeland has been involved with in recent months include “Interrupted
Paths” in June at the Umbrella Gallery at Life in Deep Ellum, a community center and
church in Dallas, Texas; “Paths and Reflections” in September at Lyon College in Batesville,
Ark.; and a group exhibit in October at the Justus Fine Art Gallery in Hot Springs,
Ark. Following the exhibit in Dallas, Copeland was commissioned to produce a series
of banners to hang along the streets for the Deep Ellum Community Foundation. The
banners advertised Deep Ellum as a neighborhood and cultural venue within the city
of Dallas and featured details of paintings by Copeland.
For more information, contact Donnie Copeland at [email protected] or visit www.trahc.org.
By Katie Smith
November 27, 2017
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