Contemporary Artists Exhibition Opens at Martin Museum

media contact: Karin Gilliam, director, Martin Museum of Art, (254) 710-6390

Baylor University's Martin Museum of Art will host exhibitions by contemporary artists Al Souza, John Tilton and Blair Meerfeld, Thursday, Sept. 4 through Saturday, Oct. 11.

Souza is a Houston-based artist who has been delighting viewers for decades with his transformations of ordinary materials, including paper and jigsaw puzzle pieces, into extraordinary abstractions.

Souza has shown his work internationally since 1973 and is the recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, a Rockefeller Foundation Grant and a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Arts Fellowship. Souza's work is included in numerous collections including the J. Paul Getty Museum at Yale University, The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

Ceramicist Blair Meerfeld grew up in the Colorado communities of Akron, San Luis and Alamosa. He received a bachelor of arts degree in art education from Adams State College in Alamosa. He also attended the University of Maine-Farmington and Montgomery Community college in Rockville, Md. He worked for 10 years as a ceramic engineer for companies in Albuquerque and in the Washington, D.C. area. Meerfield has operated his own studio and gallery, Meerfeld Salt Glazed Stoneware, since 1988, and his work has been included in national and international exhibitions and collections.

John Tilton was a graduate student pursuing a doctoral degree in mathematics at the University of Florida when he was introduced to clay as an artistic medium in 1968. He subsequently took up ceramics as a profession, earning his master of fine arts degree in ceramics from the University of South Florida in 1972. He has taught classes in mathematics at the University of Florida and in ceramics at Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville, Fla., and has been a self-supporting studio artist since 1972. In 1999, he was selected for inclusion in Marquis Who's Who in America for his work with crystal matte and other art glazes. He is a member of the American Craft Council.

Meerfeld and Tilton will present slide lectures and do clay demonstrations from 8:30-11 a.m. and from 1-5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 15. Admission is free and the public is invited. Contact the Baylor art department at (254) 710-1867 for more information.

The Martin Museum of Art is located in the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center on the Baylor University campus. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday. The museum is closed during university holidays. Admission is free and all events are open to the public. For more information call (254) 710-1867 or visit the museum website at www.baylor.edu/martinmuseum.