Larry Hullum Lampasas Association for the Arts will hold its annual Art in the Park event on April 24 from 2-4:30 p.m. at the Hanna Springs Sculpture Garden in Campbell Park.

New sculptures by four artists -- Joe Barrington, Jerry Dodd, Larry Hullum and Michelle O’Michael -- will be unveiled. Visitors may meet the artists, enjoy appetizers and beverages, and bid on works of art donated by well-known Texas artists.

Tickets are $35 each and are available at Hodges & Sargent Pharmacy, Garner Insurance, Old Town Antiques and Gray Custom Framing. Proceeds benefit Lampasas Association for the Arts, a non-profit organization.

Those familiar with the Hanna Springs Sculpture Garden will know Joe Barrington’s work. His sculpture “Red Heron” was part of Art in the Park 2008. Barrington received a bachelor of fine arts from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls where he has taught. He lives and works in Throckmorton.

Larry Hullum's "Lampasas Lily" is shown in this artist's rendering. Barrington’s sculptures are in collections throughout the Southwest, including the Mesa Natural History Museum in Mesa, Ariz.; Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque, N.M.; and the Old Jail Art Center in Albany, Texas.

The artist will contribute “Been Fish’en’ to Art in the Park 2010. The sculpture -- a pick-up truck with an enormous yellow catfish lying in its bed and over the cab -- is, according to the sculptor, part of a series of sculptures based on the combined experiences of his mother’s extended family and his growing up surrounded by the idea that “everything is bigger in Texas.”

Barrington’s family, based in East Texas, loved to hunt and fish, and did so to put food on the table. The artist said his sculpture tells the story of those who hunt and fish to survive as well as to sustain their memory. He also said viewers construct their own stories around his art.

Joe Barrington * * *

Jerry Dodd lives and works in Commerce. He was educated at Central Michigan University, where he received a bachelor of science in art, and at the University of Oregon, where he earned a master of fine art.

Dodd is a retired professor of art at Texas A&M University Commerce. His sculpture “Tether,” which will be part of Art in the Park 2010, is constructed from welded and painted steel.

He said he is interested in the way steel engages with the space around it, appearing “airy and light.”

Dodd has exhibited his work widely since 1968. Recent exhibition venues include the HCG Gallery in Dallas; an outdoor sculpture show in Clifton; Haley-Henman Gallery, Dallas; Art Centre of Plano; and Ellen Noel Museum, Odessa.

Joe Barrington will present "Been Fish'en" to the sculpture park this month. * * *

Larry Hullum has worked at Texas Carved Stone in Florence since 2001 where he learned to carve stone. It turned into more than a job for him and became a passion. Hullum’s sculptures are in many private collections, and recently he was commissioned to create “Agave,” which will serve as the fountainhead in the planned breezeway park on Courtyard Square in downtown Lampasas.

Hullum’s sculpture for Art in the Park 2010, “Lampasas Lily,” was inspired by local folklore. The American Indian name for lilies is “Lampasas.”

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Michelle O’Michael is a Houston based sculptor. Her large-scale steel can be found in the Darke Gallery in Houston, Craighead Green Gallery in Dallas, the Benini Sculpture Ranch near Johnson City, and at Xanadu in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Jerry Dodd Ms. O’Michael said her artistic aesthetic springs from flat West Texas, a land punctuated with cacti, steel-rig trees and pump jacks that start with the dirt, survive the wind and end in the sky. “My sculpture continues this vision of iron and steel.”

The artist’s contribution to Art in the Park 2010 is “Enchanter,” two red arcs of steel arching over a red disk that has a curvilinear reference to the womb, and her head and arms are posed in a celebratory gesture as she sings.

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Reven M. Swanson of Denver, Colo., is lending her sculpture from Art in the Park 2004, “Aspens and Moon,” for another year. Ms. Swanson grew up in Colorado, and the time she spent playing in nature influences her work, she said.

“Aspens and Moon reminds me of peering through a colorful canopy. The sawing kinetic motion invites us to watch and carefully observe the invisible wind currents.”

"Tether" by Jerry Dodd will become part of the sculpture garden's collection. Ms. Swanson apprenticed to Robert Mangold, a kinetic metal sculptor, and her works are in more than 30 public and private collections.

“Art in the Park 2010 promises to be an exciting, entertaining and educational experience,” said a LAFTA spokesman.

In case of inclement weather, the reception will be moved to the Hancock Park pavilion by the Lampasas Municipal Golf Course.

For more information, phone 556-6997 or visit www.lafta.org.

Lampasas Association for the Arts is dedicated to expanding opportunities for everyone to experience the arts.
Michelle O'Michael
"Enchanter" by Houstonbased artist Michelle O'Michael is set for an April 24 delivery to Lampasas.