AMSET opens two exhibitions

The Art Museum of Southeast Texas (AMSET) is proud to present Shawne Major: Force Majeure and other compulsions on view through Dec. 3, and Ceramista del Preciosismo: Angélica Delfina Vásquez Cruz from the John Gaston Fairey Collection of Mexican Folk Art on view through March 30, 2024, as its fall 2023 exhibitions.

The opening reception for both installations will be held on Friday, Oct. 6, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at AMSET, 500 Main St. in downtown Beaumont. This event is free and open to the public. Drinks and light refreshments will be served, with a brief gallery talk at 7:15 p.m. with artist Shawne Major.

Major is an American mixed media artist, who creates two-dimensional hangings and three-dimensional sculptures. Through her mixed media collages, she explores our perceptions of reality and how they are influenced by dreams, memory, superstition, religious bias, prejudice and fear. Major uses a variety of materials, a combination of kitsch, ersatz, craft materials, junk and personal objects, to subvert the hierarchy of high art. This exhibition will include collages and drawings on view for the first time.

Vásquez Cruz, also known as the Ceramista del Preciosismo (b. 1958), is a potter from Santa Maria Atzompa, Oaxaca, Mexico. As a young adult, Cruz began creating her own work based on Oaxacan mythology, culture and folklore. Cruz does not paint her work, but instead developed a process using “agobes,” her term for natural-colored substances, such as stone or volcanic ash, which she uses to add different hues to her pieces.

Additionally, AMSET’s famous “Eata-Bug” Family Arts Day will take place in conjunction with these exhibitions on Saturday, Oct. 21, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. This event will also be part of the 3rd Annual Museum Madness Weekend.

For more info on this exhibitions and upcoming programs, visit amset.org or call (409) 832-3432.