‘Floating Life: Mississippi River Drawings by Liz Ward,’ on Exhibit at TMA

Members and special guests are invited to meet the artist and enjoy a first look at the exhibition during the Preview Reception from 5:30-7 p.m. Saturday, May 18 at the Museum, 1300 S. Mahon Ave. on the Tyler Junior College main campus. To RSVP or for information on becoming a TMA member, call (903) 595-1001, visit www.tylermuseum.org or follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Tyler.Museum.Of.Art/

Organized by the TMA and curated by Caleb Bell, Floating Life is the first large-scale museum exhibition of Mississippi River works by Ward, a San Antonio artist and professor of art and art history at Trinity University whose work largely is informed by natural history and the environmental crisis. The exhibition spotlights pieces from two recent bodies of work: Ghosts of the Old Mississippi and Veritas Caput. The works from Ghosts of the Old Mississippi are based on geological maps of the river’s ancient courses and inspired by the artist’s childhood memories from South Louisiana, where her great-grandfather spent a career as a riverboat captain. Pieces from Veritas Caput focus on the search for the source of the river by various explorers.

Ward’s work has been widely exhibited and is featured in numerous public collections, including the Tyler Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Support for Floating Life is provided by Collectors’ Circle-Gold Sponsors Betty and Dick Summers.

SPECIAL EVENTS

The artist will be on hand for a gallery talk titled Floating Life: Mississippi River Drawings to launch the TMA’s 2019 Summer Lecture Series at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, May 19 in the Museum’s Education Gallery. A small reception will follow. Admission is free, but seating is limited. To RSVP, call (903) 595-1001.

Additional Summer Lecture Series programs:

• Divide and Conquer:  An Overview of the Mississippi River’s Role in the Civil War by Dr. James Newsom, Senior Lecturer in Political Science and History, The University of Texas at Tyler – 2:30 p.m. Sunday, June 23
• I Knew Mark Twain by Dr. Jim Richey, Professor and Department Chair of English, Tyler Junior College – 2:30 p.m. Sunday, July 21

Other special events in connection with the exhibition include free First Friday tours at 11 a.m. June 7, July 5 and Aug. 2; and Family Days from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, June 8, July 13 and Aug. 10.