Conference theme - "Off Center"

"Off Center" that aims to explore the evolving dynamics and relevance of Texas as an "off center" center of contemporary art away from the East and West Coast paradigm. The term off-center also describes the specific flavor of Texas art, and is a play on words used to also describe the new challenges and approaches required from art educators during these times of social and educational change.

Keynote Speaker: Terry Allen

Terry Allen is a visual artist and songwriter who was raised in Lubbock, Texas. He graduated from Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and has worked as an artist and musician since 1966. He has received numerous awards and honors including a Guggenhei m Fellowship and National Endowment for the Art Fellowships; Awards for the Visual Arts (AVA), Washington D.C.; Bessie (New York) and Isadora Duncan (San Francisco) Critic Awards for text, music, sets, costumes for PEDAL STEAL (Margaret Jenkins Dance Co.); AICA Award 2004, 2nd place (International Association of Art Critics) for Best Show in Commerical Gallery, for DUGOUT I, LA Louver Gallery, Venice, CA, curated by Peter Goulds; Induction into the Buddy Holly Walk of Fame in 1992; and United States Artists Oliver Fellow, 2009.

Artist, singer/songwriter Terry Allen is the scheduled Keynote Speaker at the Saturday night banquet October 25th.

Paul Hanna Lecture: Margaret Meehan

Margaret will be presenting “Decoration Day”, an installation that makes a connection between women who chose freely to fight for their country despite all odds, and describe how it uses a number of signs that point to the women above to
construct a space of mourning as a way to move forward. “In March 2013 the U.S. military allowed women to serve in combat roles. But it is a little known fact that over 150 years prior to this, women had already fought in the American Civil War, albeit dressed as men. It is estimated that 400-1000 women enlisted in disguise and fought for both the Confederacy and the Union. Some examples of these ideas are the 143 sandbags that are hand embroidered with the initials of each female soldier who has died for the United States since 2001, and an image from the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg and welded a crinoline cage, meant to bolster the volume of a woman’s dress to the scale of a Civil War era tent.

With images of feral behavior, medical anomalies and barren landscapes, Margaret Meehan’s work lets the innocent collide with the monstrous, evoking questions of race, gender, and cultural memory. Her work has been shown at Soil Gallery in Seattle, David Shelton Gallery in Houston, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, The Dallas Art Museum, and Conduit Gallery in Dallas among others. She lives and works in Dallas and summer she was a resident artist at Artpace in
San Antonio, Texas.

Off Center Conference Brochure (PDF)

Off Center Conference Itinerary (PDF)

Dallas 2014 Conference Blog