Upcoming exhibits
Western Artists Roundup Group Exhibition
View the newest exhibition by the Western Artists Roundup!
Western Artists Roundup organization is a professional western art that has outspend professional artists in all mediums.
The Horses of Revelation
Join us in celebrating Cuban-American artist Rolando Diaz as he shares his body of work depicting the horses of the biblical Revelation.
What Color is your Couch?
Dive into a world of color and come see abstract paintings by niece/aunt duo Casey La Rue-Chavez and La Rue.
By Hand: Alternative Processes from the Texas Photographic Society
Texas Photographic Society is proud to announce the call for entry for By Hand: Alternative Processes, our fifth exhibition featuring hand-made photo-based imagery created using alternative photographic processes and historical printing methods. Our juror is acclaimed artist, educator, writer, and editor Christina Z. Anderson. This call is open to artists of all levels internationally.
2023 Artist Member Winter Showcase
View works from the Center for Contemporary Arts Artist Membership in a showcase of artworks in a range of mediums by our gifted artist membership. This yearly exhibition serves as a platform for CCA artist members to present their latest and greatest works.
An opening reception will be held Friday, November 10 from 5-7 PM
UNDERGROWTH: Soft Sculpture by Braeden Kuppin
By making the ordinary extraordinary, I seek to make the overlooked emerge instead as a resplendent focal point. In embracing the power of textiles as a fine art form, this installation seeks to bridge the divide between traditionally gendered crafts and elevate the status of soft sculpture within the realm of contemporary art.
Intercollegiate Student Art Competition
The Center for Contemporary Arts is proud to present the 14th Annual juried Intercollegiate Student Art Competition for area college and university students!
The competition is open to students of Abilene Christian University, Cisco College, Hardin-Simmons University, McMurry University, Texas State Technical College, Angelo State University, Howard Payne University, Midwestern State University, South Plains College, and Tarleton State University. Entries may be submitted in any medium as long as the finished piece meets the size and weight restrictions of the category.
Around the World: Photography by Ellie Hamby
Through the lens of my camera, it has been my passion to observe the world around me. My friend and I recently completed an "Around the World in 80 Days: 81 and Still on the Run" adventure going to all 7 continents and seeing as many of the World's Wonders as possible. I use my photography to serve as a window into the world. There is a profound artistic beauty throughout the world, in the stunning landscape, the magnificent manmade structure, and capturing the feelings on the faces of the people I meet.
Center for Contemporary Arts National Juried Art Show + Exhibition
The Center for Contemporary Arts National - known as CCAN - is a national juried art competition of the Center for Contemporary Arts in Downtown Abilene, Texas. In 2023 the 7th annual national exhibition and competition received over 367entries submitted from 34 states across the United States. 192 works were selected for exhibition in the Center’s Jane Adams Breed Gallery and Gallery 3.
Over $7,000 is awarded annually to artists in 11 media categories, one juror’s award, and a best of show.
Not At This Time: Brady Sloane-Duncan
Sloane-Duncan’s paintings explore the tensions between public and private, and question whether we can ever fully be known by another person. She investigates the strategies we as humans use to veil or mask our truest selves and the reasons why we hold back and keep parts of ourselves private, even from those closest to us. The self-portraits raise questions essential to Sloane-Duncan’s practice: How and why do we use personal embellishment to shape others’ views of ourselves? Are self-adornment and interior decor forms of expression or manipulation?
Mitch Wright: The Community Vitality Project
The Community Vitality Project is an exploration of how well we express ourselves, and how personal and engaging the expression is. What I seek is to photographically tease out places that give me a sense of attraction and dynamism.
Jerrod Beck: La Naturaleza Muerta
From the fall of 2019 to the spring of 2022 I lived in Spain working as an English language teacher in elementary schools. Six months into my experience the COVID-19 pandemic hit and choosing not to return to the U.S. meant the rest of my time on the Iberian Peninsula would have an added layer of complexity. Along with the expected challenges brought on by linguistic, cultural and bureaucratic differences, the pandemic and all the restrictions put in place by the Spanish government to help curb it opened me up to a deeper level of solitude than I was already in as an expat.
Hollie Brown: DEATH LENDS A feeble HAND
Hollie Brown presents her first solo exhibition since becoming an artist-member of the Center for Contemporary Arts with a site-specific installation in Gallery 4.
Hollie Brown currently lives in Abilene, Texas. She teaches at ACU and McMurry University. She received her M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts from the University of California, Riverside in 2017. Brown also runs Little Shop of Hollies, a small business she started in 2020.
Kristy Kristinek: Imbalanced Parallels
“My own personal memory as a dancer contributes to the existing space I am creating through experiences of discipline, practice, balance, and relaxed fluid faculty of control. I try to capture this through various materials, the movement of my own body as well as the memory of movement that can become distorted and transparent. I enjoy using various materials such as charcoal, chalk pastel, acrylic and textured surfaces.”
Center for Contemporary Arts National Juried Art Show + Exhibition: Call for Entry
2023 Juror: Letitia Huckaby
ABOUT CCAN
CCAN is a national juried art competition of the Center for Contemporary Arts in Downtown Abilene. This national competition receives over 350 entries submitted from over 30 states. In 2022 167 works were selected for exhibition in the Center’s Breed Gallery and expanded into the Center’s Gallery 3 (upstairs). Over $7,000 is awarded annually to artists in 11 media categories, one juror’s award, and a best of show.
ABOUT THE JUROR
Letitia Huckaby has a degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma, a BFA from the Art Institute of Boston in photography and her Master’s degree from the University of North Texas in Denton. Huckaby has exhibited as an emerging artist at Phillips New York, the Tyler Museum of Art, The Studio School of Harlem, Renaissance Fine Art in Harlem curated by Deborah Willis, PhD, The McKenna Museum in New Orleans, the Camden Palace Hotel in Cork City, Ireland, and the Texas Biennial at Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum. Her work is included in several prestigious collections; the Library of Congress, the McNay Art Museum, the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, the Brandywine Workshop in Philadelphia, and the Samella Lewis Contemporary Art Collection at Scripps College in Claremont, California. Huckaby was a featured artist in MAP2020: The Further We Roll, The More We Gain at the Amon Carter Museum and State of the Art 2020 at Crystal Bridges Museum. Ms. Huckaby was a Fall 2020 Art Pace Artist in Residence and is represented by the Talley Dunn Gallery in Dallas. Ms. Huckaby is the Co-Founder of Kinfolk House, a collaborative project space that inhabits a 100-year-old historic home, where community and art converge in the predominantly Black and Latina/e/o neighborhood of Polytechnic in Fort Worth, Texas and she was named the Texas Artist of the Year for 2022.
2023 CCAN Calendar
JUNE 30
JULY 29
August 4
August 26
September 8
September 9
October 28
November 7
October 31 - November 9
Call opens for submissions. Apply at callforentry.ORG
Deadline for submissions. No entries accepted beyond this date.
Notification of selected artwork.
Deadline to receive artwork at The Center.
Exhibition opens to the public.
Reception + Awards. 3-5 pm at the Center for Contemporary Arts.
Exhibition closes.
Deadline to pick-up hand-delivered artwork.
Crate + return shipping.
2022 Winners
West Texas Photographic Society Annual Membership Exhibition
The West Texas Photographic Society (WTPS) is a group of photographers ranging from hobbyists to professionals. They promote the enjoyment of photography and enhance the creative ability of the Abilene photographic community. Their annual member exhibition will feature photography from their current membership.
Jackrabbit Journey: Linda Stricklin
The jackrabbit is the primary subject of Stricklin’s current work and will be on view at the Center for Contemporary Arts in mid-May. Her solo exhibition, Jackrabbit Journey features more than two dozen sculptures and a dozen or so two-dimensional works that center around the jackrabbit, or the hare as the subject.
Visions of Moments Past: Judi Simon
As a career medical illustrator, I have always been a technical, representational artist yet over the years, have developed eclectic tastes in painting subjects and how we traditionally view them. I am drawn to detail and how light and shadow visually affects objects and color within a still life, no matter what angle. I try to create depth and excitement in a painting by balancing the lights and darks within the colors and the overall composition. My goal is to draw the viewer into a painting and to spend time enjoying that painting.
Drinking the Sun: CCA Artist Member Group Exhibition
Drinking The Sun is an exhibition presented by the Artist Membership of the Center for Contemporary Arts. Based on the poem, The Pond, by Mary Oliver, the exhibition includes works that evoke Summer and memory and childhood - unique to each artist. Painting, photography, sculpture, printmaking, video, mixed-media, and installation works are combined to create a dynamic exhibition that will transport the viewer into memory.
HUE by Faith Archambeau, Makenzie Bierma, Jonah Garcia, & Eli Ruhala
Four up-and-coming artists will exhibit art that portrays the feelings and experiences of young queer individuals. Artworks will not follow a central theme but instead aesthetically align.
Significant Otherness by Eli Ruhala
Ruhala’s exhibition will be a site-specific installation comprised of thirteen (4’x7’) panels of drywall which will visually envelop the space of Gallery 4. The subject of the site-specific installation is primarily Eli and his former partner’s dog companions standing in for them. Documenting them is evidence of the artist’s family, and through the action of drawing and painting a meditation on love is taking place. This narrative, cued by Ruhala’s complex visuals and intertwined figures will provide insight into queer domesticity.
Refuse Reformation by Kari Perkins and Larla Morales
In celebration of Earth Day, two local artists are creating an exhibit featuring trash, plastic, and other recycled materials at the Center for Contemporary Arts. Refuse Reformation, a two-person exhibition opening at the Center in late March, are works created by Kari Perkins and Larla Morales. The art featured in the exhibition is made entirely from recycled materials and reclaimed plastics. Unitedly, the artists wanted to create an exhibition that sends a message: one about the overuse of plastics and underutilized resources.
Water & Fowl: Birds of Lake Kirby
“In the last few years, I have spent a lot of time at Lake Kirby photographing birds. My exhibit will feature Birds of Lake Kirby, highlighting the variety and beauty of winged wildlife that can be seen around the shoreline.
While showing bird photos to people in Abilene they often respond with something like, “That was at Kirby? I had no idea those birds were out there!” I want to use this exhibit to promote Lake Kirby Nature Park and raise awareness of the wildlife, especially birds, that can be see there “
Abilene Creative Arts Club 90th Anniversary
Abilene Creative Art Club was formed in April 1933 and actively plays a vital role in the Abilene creative community, supporting artists and enhancing the fine arts in Abilene and surrounding communities. The club’s mission is to unite and foster the creative artists in the Abilene area, present stimulating programs at monthly meetings, and sponsor artistic events that further public interest in the creative arts.
Surreal Perspective: Anthony Brown
Surreal Perspective is a solo exhibition by Anthony Brown that features works created by the artist’s use of combining images he captures while traveling around the country and making new landscape scenes with a vivid and lively palette. This exhibition features some of Brown’s most recent work as well as some of his past work.
Texas Photographic Society’s Member Only Show 35
50 images were selected by famed photographer, Keith Carter for Texas Photographic Society’s 35th Annual Members Only Show. First Place was awarded to Becky Wilkes, Second Place to Michael Mulvey, and Third Place to Laury Sahakangas.
Life's Wonderful Struggles - Bryan Vause
This selection of work creates unique comparisons to the present through exploration of different visual themes and composition in each piece. They share a distinct textural quality inherited from the magazine printing process, as well as a uniform use of stark color choices throughout.
The West, The Land, The People, The Culture
A retired architect with more than 40 years of experience in the field, Jack Harkins creates paintings that are inspired by historic photos of Native Americans and their environs, geologic formations of the southwest, indigenous structures, animals, and landscapes.
The Long Horizon
This exhibit will feature contemporary landscapes of all 2D media. All works should have the ability to be hung on a wall. This show will be all landscapes, installed end-to-end with horizons aligned to create a continuous landscape that encircles the gallery. Viewers will see one giant never-ending horizon.
Heritage
This exhibit will feature contemporary art of all media created by Center Artist Members, inspired by the stories and image of our Western Heritage. Works can even be purely abstract so long as there is a connection between the work and a tangible inspiration.
Art in Context
After a 40 year break, Terry Browder returned to the studio in 2018. This Spring, a new exhibition of his work, Art in Context, is on-view for the first time, at the Center for Contemporary Arts. By partnering paintings with furniture and accessories, the artist creates vignettes that will help transition the viewer’s concept of him. By relating the paintings to furniture pieces and other interior design elements, a viewer will envision the piece of art in their home or business. Thus, “Art in Context”.