An Artist, a Life, a World

Man Arranging Rocks Where Water Reflects the Sky, 1964, by Kelly Fearing

When an artist's solo exhibition comes with the subtitle "A Sixty-Year Retrospective," it almost sounds like he was teaching Albrecht Dürer how to cut wood blocks. Naturally, Kelly Fearing hasn't been around quite that long; still, six decades is more than just a long time to be making art; it's a monumental span, cutting across creative careers and artistic movements as distinct as geologic eras.

"The Mystical World of Kelly Fearing," opening Thursday, Aug. 29, at Creative Research Laboratory in Flatbed World Headquarters, covers the work of this Arkansas native from his days with the Fort Worth Circle, a gathering of artists largely responsible for introducing modernism to the Lone Star State in the 1940s, through his 48-year career on the UT-Austin Department of Art faculty, through his experimentation with figuration, abstraction, color, and artistic processes and media ranging from graphite, charcoal, silver point, and paint to montage, collage, and found objects. Curators Mark Smith and Amy Freeman Lee have assembled 171 paintings, drawings, prints, and collages by the UT professor emeritus. While that's certainly a tribute to their curatorial efforts, it also represents the widespread affection for the artist himself. According to CRL Director Cynthia Camlin, when the idea of the retrospective was first floated, "there were so many people around Austin and around Texas who would like to see it happen. He has so many fans across the state, and so many friends and collectors who helped to see it happen."

Indeed, with so many admirers, including a wealth of artists who studied with and were inspired by Fearing, Camlin expects a big opening for the show. But no doubt some Fearing fans will hang on for one of the special events scheduled during the exhibition run: a tour of the show and gallery talk with Fearing himself Tuesday, Sept. 3, 6-7:30pm; a panel discussion, "Kelly Fearing in Context: Artist and Educator," with the exhibition curators; UT Visual Art Studies professor Rebecca Brooks; Cynthia Brants, another artist of the Fort Worth Circle; and Scott Barker, author of a history of the Fort Worth Circle, on Thursday, Sept. 12, 6:30-8:30pm; and a family day workshop and storytelling event, "The Mystical World of Kelly Fearing," on Saturday, Sept. 21, 1-4pm. All events are at Flatbed WHQ, 2832 E. MLK.