Stephen F. Austin State University

NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS - The School of Art at Stephen F. Austin State University has announced that artwork by three area artists will be featured in TEXAS NATIONAL 2006, which opens in the SFA School of Art Galleries Saturday, April 8, and runs through Sunday, April 30.

"Fantastic Machinery I" by Robert S. Davis, Jr., SFA graduate student from Irving; "Tribal Lantern" by Chris Hamill, SFA senior from Spring; and "Tall Bloom" by Corinne Jones, Nacogdoches resident and art instructor at Angelina College, are among the selected entries.

Created by the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art, TEXAS NATIONAL is celebrating its 12th 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 600 artists from 48 states and the District of Columbia entered this year's competition. Works by 78 artists were selected for exhibition, and cash prizes totaling $4,500 will be awarded to three artists following the exhibition's opening at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 8.

Paul Brach, a second-generation New York School painter who has been active on the national scene for more than 50 years, is serving as juror for this year's event. An exhibition of Brach's work, "Paul Brach: 1985-2005," will be on display at the university's Griffith Gallery April 7 through May 5.

Regular hours for the Texas National exhibition are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and for the Paul Brach exhibition, 12:30 to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday.

Both exhibitions are sponsored in part by Nacogdoches Junior Forum, SFA Friends of the Arts and Texas Commission on the Arts. Additionally, 3M Investments and Dr. David A. Lewis are partial sponsors of "TEXAS NATIONAL 2006." The Brach exhibition is sponsored in part by Pat Dolan and Linda Mock.

For more information on either exhibition, call (936) 468-1131.