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Recent Acquisitions Releases Press Release Archive |
East Texas Native’s Work in Spotlight For TMA’s Black History Month Celebration  Franklin Demetrius Willis (American, b. 1963). The 7th Year Harvest, 2007. Oil on canvas (triptych), 50 ¾ x 119 3/8." Tyler Museum of Art, purchased with funds donated by Dr. Harold and Eleanor Cameron, Venona and Thomas Clyde, Amy and Vernon Faulconer, Bette King, Sheryl Rogers Palmer, Myrtis D. Smith, and Dr. Frank and Agnes Ward. TYLER, TX— As part of its ongoing celebration of Black History Month, the Tyler Museum of Art will feature a signature work by Franklin Willis, an acclaimed contemporary African American artist and native East Texan, throughout the month of February. Willis’ The 7th Year Harvest will be on display in the lobby of the TMA, located at 1300 S. Mahon Ave. adjacent to the Tyler Junior College campus. The 2007 oil-on-canvas is a large triptych panel (measuring almost 10 feet in length) featuring an abstract representational view of an East Texas cornfield “from the personal perspective of an African American born and raised in Longview, Texas,” the artist said. Bearing its title because Willis said it required seven years to complete, the painting was included in last year’s Black History Month spotlight exhibition, Influence of the Sabine: The Artistic Journey of Franklin Demetrius Willis, organized by the TMA. The painting recently was added to the Museum’s Permanent Collection, purchased with funds donated by Dr. Harold and Eleanor Cameron, Venona and Thomas Clyde, Amy and Vernon Faulconer, Bette King, Sheryl Rogers Palmer, Myrtis D. Smith, and Dr. Frank and Agnes Ward. “With the help of several generous donors, the Museum finally was able to acquire this modern masterpiece by a rising star in the modern art world, whom we’re proud to say is a native East Texan,” TMA Director Kimberley Bush Tomio said. “We felt Black History Month was a wonderful opportunity to present this painting to the public for the first time since adding it to our Permanent Collection.”Willis, an associate professor of painting at Northern Arizona University, said he has been drawn to art since his early youth, “amazed at how people used drawings and paintings to reflect the world around them” beginning with a visit to the Longview Museum of Fine Arts in the sixth grade. Arriving during a changeover of exhibitions during one museum visit, he was invited to help take down the outgoing show and hang new artwork for the next – “and to touch the frames of the paintings and drawings pointed me to a dream that has encompassed my entire life,” he said. “From that point forward, I knew I had to be an artist.” He was awarded the L’louise Graham Art Scholarship via the Kilgore College Art Symposium to begin his studies at Kilgore College from 1982-84, then landed another art scholarship to propel him to a BFA degree in art at Corpus Christi State University. Willis completed his graduate studies with an MFA in art from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, culminating in a 1989 Fulbright Grant to Germany. Willis’ career has encompassed more than 80 museum and gallery shows, with Influence of the Sabine marking his 18th solo exhibition. In addition to the TMA, his work is included in numerous permanent collections throughout the U.S., including the African-American Museum in Dallas, the Black Arts Alliance of Austin, the Multicultural Heritage Center in Corpus Christi, and Northern Arizona University. The Tyler Museum of Art, accredited by the American Association of Museums, is located at 1300 S. Mahon Ave., adjacent to the Tyler Junior College campus off East Fifth Street. Regular hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. Lunch is available in the Museum Café from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and the TMA Gift Shop is open during exhibition hours. For more information, call (903) 595-1001 or visit www.tylermuseum.org. |