Stephen F. Austin State University

NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS - Works by five artists associated with Stephen F. Austin State University will be included in TEXAS NATIONAL 2007 which will open at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 14, at The Art Center @ The Old Opera House, located at 329 E. Main Street in downtown Nacogdoches.

SFA art teacher Lester Butler's pencil drawing "Ratcliff #2" is one of the 113 pieces selected for the national juried exhibition. Also chosen were works by four students: "Wall Graffitti," a photograph by Cypress freshman Adam Clunn; "Creacion I," a ceramic piece by graduate student Kira Enriquez-Loya of Mexico; "Sleeping Beauty," a piece of art jewelry by Carrolton senior Emily McLoughlin; and "Sea Wall," a digital pigment print by Lufkin graduate student Jan Anderson-Paxson.

Created by the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art, TEXAS NATIONAL is celebrating its 13 th year on the national scene, said Shannon Bailey, the university's gallery director. The competition is open to all artists living and working in the United States and is juried each year by an internationally acclaimed artist.

More that 400 artists from 48 states and the District of Columbia entered this year's competition. Works by 111 artists were selected for exhibition, and cash prizes totaling $4,500 will be awarded to three artists following the exhibition’s opening.

Suzanne Bloom and Ed Hill, who have collaborated and exhibited their work under the name MANUAL (Bloom/Hill) since 1974, are serving as jurors for this year's event. An exhibition of their work, "MANUAL: On the Verge," will open April 14 in the second floor gallery of The Art Center.

Exhibitions of MANUAL's photographs, videotatpes, computer programs and installations have been seen in 42 solo and over 250 group shows held in 14 countries, 30 states and 90 cities. Their most recent project was the creation of 113 computer-animated sequences and an hour-long high definition video for the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College.

Their work is in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum, San Francisco Museum of Art, International Museum of Photography, International Center of Photography and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. In addition to their printed catalog, "MANUAL / errant arcadia," an on-line catalog of work from 1974 to 2004 may be found at www.maualart.net. MANUAL is represented by Moody Gallery in Houston.

Both "TEXAS NATIONAL 2007" and "MANUAL: On the Verge" will open with a reception hosted by Nacogdoches Junior Forum at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 14. Bloom and Hill will give a gallery talk and announce the winners of TEXAS NATIONAL.

The exhibitions are sponsored in part by Nacogdoches Junior Forum, SFA Friends of the Visual Arts and Texas Commission on the Arts. In addition, "TEXAS NATIONAL 2007" is sponsored in part by Texas Farm Products.

The shows will run through Sunday, May 20. Regular gallery hours are 12:30 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Admission to the opening and the gallery is free.

For more information, please call (936) 468-1131.