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SFA Art Professor in Russia This Week
Sylvia Bierschenk - November 12, 2007
NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS - Some might call it luck, others fate or chance, while still others would attribute the recent opportunities in Charles Jones' life to careful networking. Perhaps it's a combination of all of those that is responsible for the latest link in a chain of events for the Regents professor of art at Stephen F. Austin State University who is also the director of SFA's LaNana Creek Press.
This week, Jones is serving as a juror for the Urals Print Triennial Exhibition in Ufa, Russia, an invitation that came as a result of the right person viewing his solo exhibition at the Artist's Union Art Center in Ufa last May.
"The minister of culture for the Bashkorostan Province, Irina Oskina, was impressed with my large format woodcuts and books from the LaNana Creek Press, and she asked me to come judge the Urals exhibition," Jones said.
An added bonus, according to Jones, is that some of his work and prints by SFA graduate students Richard Carnley and Terri Goggans are included in the exhibition of mostly European printmakers.
The May exhibition has an interesting story of its own, according to Jones. Dr. Alexandra Van Kley, SFA assistant professor of biotechnology, had seen some of Jones' work and asked to take some of his slides to her aunt, an influential teacher in Ufa. The aunt shared them with others who, in turn, invited Jones to exhibit his work there.
While he was in Russia, Jones took the opportunity to follow up on yet another project of his, a dual-language book printed at LaNana Creek Press combining sketches and writings of the late Russian artist, writer and actress, Elmira Schevchuk. The book also contains poems by her poet husband, Yuri, and writings by Kira Martanova, Dr. Van Kley's mother who is a published author.
"During a layover in St. Petersburg, I was able to present Elmira's mother and Yuri with copies of the book," Jones said. "The mother was so moved that she called me in Ufa to tell me that she had been up all night looking at her copy."
The Museum of Non-conformist Art in St. Petersburg has also acquired a copy of the book.
Jones' exhibition in Ufa ran for two weeks, and the show was then shipped to Paris to be exhibited alongside the work of Jones' wife, Corrine, in their two-person exhibition at the Combes Gallery of the American University of Paris.
The history behind that exhibition again points to a personal contact, this time with the director of the gallery who viewed the Joneses' art while visiting Nacogdoches. He encouraged the couple to submit slides and a proposal for an exhibit, which was eventually accepted. That show ran for about three months.
And as luck, or fate would have it, another influential person--a member of the staff at the Rennes Embassy--viewed the Paris exhibition and asked to let it be shown in his city. The show will open in the gallery of the Franco-American Alliance May 26, 2008.
With all of the recent developments and contacts surrounding Jones' art, he said he is perhaps the most pleased with the opportunities his travels have given him to represent SFA and to develop potential partnerships with other universities.
While in Russia this week he hopes to make further contacts. Most probably, additional developments and projects will arise.