NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS - Art galleries operated by the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art will be closed for a portion of the university's semester break.

The Ed and Gwen Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House, 329 E. Main St. in downtown Nacogdoches, will be closed Sunday, Dec. 21, through Friday, Jan. 2. It will resume its normal hours of 12:30 to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, on Saturday, Jan. 3.

Visitors can view "Texas Modernists: Selections from the Collection of Carl R. McQueary" in the Ledbetter Gallery, "Lynn Saville: Night Vision" in the Reavley Gallery and "Nacogdoches Now and Then" in the second floor hallway.

"Texas Modernists," which will run through Sunday, March 8, includes works by leading Texas modernists such as Cecil Casebier, Kelly Fearing, Michael Frary, Paul Hatgil, William Hoey, Amy Freeman Lee, William Lester, Bert Rees, Don Snell, Ed Storms, Donald Weisman and Ralph White.

The two photography exhibitions on the second floor have been extended to at least mid-January, said Christian Cutler, director of SFA galleries. "Visitors can still see the luminous night photographs of Saville's show and the pairing of historical and recent Nacogdoches photographs included in "Nacogdoches Now and Then."

"Cutting Fine: Cutting Deep," which is being exhibited in Griffith Gallery, Room 208 of SFA's Griffith Fine Arts Building, will be closed through Monday, Jan. 19. The gallery will resume its normal hours of 12:30 to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, on Tuesday, Jan. 20.

The exhibition, which will run through Sunday, Feb. 8, includes silhouettes, dioramas, paper lacework and complex symmetrical designs that draw upon traditional paper cutting techniques performed by five artists from the Swiss scherenschnitt (scissor cutting) tradition and six contemporary artists from North America.

Admission to the galleries is free. For more information on any of the exhibitions, call (936) 468-1131.