Stark Museum readies for special exhibit

As summer winds down and many outdoorsmen prepare for a fall hunting season, the Stark Museum of Art in nearby Orange is gearing up to host a special exhibition titled, “A Noble Pastime: Hunting Pictures from the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation.”

“This exhibition features a subject that is familiar to Stark Museum attendees – that of hunting, but from a different perspective,” said Sarah Boehme, Curator. “We are very grateful to the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation for generously sharing this extraordinary collection and organizing this loan exhibition so that the Stark Museum of Art could present these works of art to our audience.” 

The hunt has been a pervasive theme in western art and literature since the time of ancient Greece. The sport, often approaching the status of ritual, was generally heavily regulated and restricted to the nobility, with violators subject to strict penalties including, in some cases, death. 

“A Noble Pastime” includes 16th- to 19th-century representations of various aspects of the chase, such as hunting expeditions, game pieces, and portraits of hunters as well as animals. This exhibition seeks to illuminate various hunting methods, to underscore the role of the hunt as an exclusive pursuit in early-modern European culture, and to emphasize the use of hunting imagery as a conscious tool for fashioning one’s self-identity.

The exhibit features 56 works of art including paintings, prints, illustrated rare books, and a decorative arts object. Artists include Jacques Callot, Willem van Aelst, George Stubbs, and many other French, Dutch, British, German, and Flemish artists. Portraits of hunting dogs and a hunter’s horse show the importance of animals to the enjoyment of the hunting adventure and to the success of the hunt. Works in the exhibition feature falconry, the use of trained hawks to hunt prey. Educational additions to the exhibition will include an audio tour and a scavenger hunt. 

An opening reception is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 6, from 5-8 p.m. at the Stark Museum of Art (712 Green Ave.). This free, after-hours event allows the community to get the first opportunity to view the new exhibit. Complimentary appetizers and drinks will also be available in the museum’s lobby for visitors to enjoy. The exhibit is on display through April 8, 2023.

Those attending Oct. 6 will also get a first glimpse of the all-new College Juried Art Exhibition in the Community Art Gallery. The exhibition features original works of art by college students in Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana juried by staff at the Stark Museum of Art. An awards presentation will be held at 7 p.m.

“The Stark Museum of Art is thrilled be expanding the juried student art experience to Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana college students,” said Jennifer Dickinson, Director, Education. “We are grateful to our colleagues at Lamar State College Orange, Lamar University, and McNeese State University for their support in developing this program, as well as to Blick Art Materials for their generous support of the awards. This program is the first of its kind in our region, and we are looking forward to celebrating these students during the reception.”

This exhibition includes original works of art from college and university students from Orange and Jefferson Counties, as well as Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. The College Juried Art Exhibition, which will be on display from Oct. 8 through Jan. 8, 2023, will be juried by staff at the Stark Museum of Art. Three awards will be selected by the staff juror – Best of Show ($300 gift certificate from Blick Art Materials), and two honorable mentions ($100 gift certificate).

“We have seen thousands of entries the past nine years,” said Dickinson. “This is a big priority for me. College students are a very important audience to the Stark Museum of Art and I want them to have the same opportunity to display their work. This is the first-time students from Southeast Texas and Southeast Louisiana will have the opportunity to exhibit and compete against one another.”

Entries for the exhibition must be dropped off to the Stark Museum of Art between Thursday, Sept. 29, and Saturday, Oct. 1, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Guidelines for submission and registration forms are available for download at starkmuseum.org.

“We’re excited to expand the juried student experience to area college and university students,” added Trina Nelson Thomas, Executive Director. “This program ties to the heart of Museum education – art-making and creativity are alive and well in our region.”

For more information about the College Juried Art Exhibition, email jdickinson@starkmuseum.org or call (409) 221-6685.
-Chad Cooper, Entertainment Editor