Ike: Passages and Memories
AMSET presents Ike: Passages and Memories in Café Arts
Exhibition features paintings reflecting Hurricane Ike by Albert Faggard Jr.
Currently on view through May 3
The Art Museum of Southeast Texas (AMSET) presents Ike: Passages and Memories, a collection of paintings by Albert Faggard Jr., in Café Arts through May 3. An artist’s reception will be held from 2-4 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 15 at the museum.
“Hurricane Ike affected all of us,” Faggard writes in his artist’s statement. “The pieces in this show are derived from the memories of what once was and tributes to the destruction left behind.”
Faggard, a resident of Gilchrist, Texas, rode out the storm in High Island with several family members. He said he was one of the first to see the destruction of what he calls the “worst hurricane of our lifetime.” The colorful oil paintings represent his fond recollections of time spent in the Bolivar Peninsula area and sadness from the devastation found there today.
In Beacon of Hope, Faggard painted the Bolivar Lighthouse, which is still standing having miraculously survived Hurricane Ike. “If any one building needed to remain from Ike’s fury, this is it,” he said. “I believe it was left as a ray of hope that not all was lost and thus becomes the messenger for all of us to rebuild and go on with our lives.”
Several pieces in Ike: Passages and Memories are of the wildlife that Faggard discovered after the storm. He said he was unable to paint them in the tragically deceased state he found them in, but chose to portray them in the glorious memories he recalls. Great Egret is one of those memorial pieces Faggard had previously painted. After the hurricane, 100 prints of the original painting were made and are currently being sold with proceeds benefiting the rebuilding of the area through the Bolivar Peninsula Cultural Foundation.
Art Museum of Southeast Texas (AMSET)