Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden

"In the Shade of a Tall Tree is a body of work that speaks to my internal reality in a year of grief, rest, and reflection. We have been wading in the uncertainty of life, the certainty of death, and the necessity of each other. It feels like sitting in the shade of a tall tree on a sweltering day or surrendering to the wild twists and turns of an improvisational painting process. The title is a metaphorical connection to my late grandmother, as trees were the main subjects of Jerelyn Fitzgerald Richard's paintings. Growing up, we would paint together in the swamplands and from her kitchen window. When the trees outside the window were being cleared for apartments, she invited the guys over for coffee so they could see them from her point of view. The demo crew left her favorite trees standing. In the space of her table, she made room for many opinions and palettes and showed me that creating is a way of witnessing my life and those in it. This is what I seek to make visual." —Emily LaCour

Valley House Gallery is pleased to present our first solo exhibition for Emily LaCour who resides in Dallas, but spent her youth in Louisiana. In 2011, she received a BFA and a minor in Art History from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge where she later taught painting and drawing from 2014 to 2017. She earned an MFA from Southern Methodist University in 2014.

Watch a video of Emily LaCour speaking about her work

View the exhibition at valleyhouse.com

View the exhibition on Artsy

The exhibition will be on view at Valley House Gallery from March 6 through April 17, Monday through Saturday, 10:00am to 5:00pm.

Image: Emily LaCour, "Parting Favor," 2020, oil on wood, 48 x 40 inches

"I want my paintings to be a celebration of pure nature and moment—homage to the sacred spaces of memory. I begin with small automatic drawings, a practice of intuitive organization used as a catalyst for paintings. Drawings originate in the realm between the hand and eye, a sensuous experience with seemingly endless possibilities. It is more difficult to explain what I paint than why—which is to create a unique image that discloses personal recognition of things never seen and space that imparts a sense of self. My process is organic, evolving through moments of insightful meditation that fuel curiosity and reveal discoveries with uncertain predictability. I take from the familiar as dreams take from the real. In mining an area of the unfamiliar, a place where dream and invention exist, I refine that which can only be imagined—till things never seen seem familiar." —David A. Dreyer

Valley House Gallery is honored to present Dallas artist David A. Dreyer's exhibition "Cold Mountain Observatory." The paintings are inspired by the Cold Mountain poems of Han-shan, Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), as translated by Gary Snyder. Dreyer earned his BFA in 1990 and his MFA in 1992, both from Southern Methodist University. A catalogue will be available. This is his eighth solo exhibition at Valley House Gallery.

Watch a video of David A. Dreyer speaking about his work

View the exhibition at valleyhouse.com

View the exhibition on Artsy

The exhibition will be on view at Valley House Gallery from March 6 through April 17, Monday through Saturday, 10:00am to 5:00pm.

Image: David A. Dreyer, "Klänge— Crosstown Traffic, Soundplane’s Forgotten Space, Into Morning Dew," 2020, oil, charcoal, graphite, and chalk on canvas, 48 x 54 inches

"Mark Messersmith's paintings read like epic novels, full of richly conceived characters and vividly described vignettes that unite into grand and sweeping narratives. His subjects are invariably focused on the interplay between fragile nature and careless humankind, played out in the sizzling scrublands and swampy backwaters of the Florida Panhandle, just beyond civilization's reach. Messersmith's mastery of painting is underscored in these works, which are laden with high-keyed color, dizzying perspectives, careening imagery, and virtuoso light effects. They are also clearly tied to the history of painting, with references that range from Late Medievalism to nineteenth century Romanticism to contemporary Outsider art. Part P.T. Barnum and part Walt Whitman—and just as quintessentially American—Messersmith offers the engaged viewer a cornucopia of visual delights and a veritable banquet of savory food for thought." —Peter Baldaia, Huntsville Museum of Art

Valley House Gallery is pleased to present our fourth solo exhibition for Mark Messersmith, including ten paintings that were featured in the exhibition "Precipice" at the Amarillo Museum of Art. Messersmith earned an MFA from Indiana University in 1980, and was awarded the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award in Painting in 2006. Among the museums that have collected his works are the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art, Musée du Haut-de-Cagnes, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, and the Tyler Museum of Art. His work was recently included in the exhibition "A Telling Instinct: John James Audubon & Contemporary Art" at the Asheville Art Museum in North Carolina. He recently retired from Florida State University in Tallahassee where he was a Professor of Art for 35 years. A comprehensive catalogue will be available.

Preview the exhibition online at https://www.valleyhouse.com/

The exhibition will be on view at Valley House Gallery from January 23 through February 27, Monday through Saturday, 10:00am to 5:00pm. Masks required.

Image: Mark Messersmith, "The Weight of Everything," 2019, oil on canvas, carved wooden pediment, and mixed media predella, 87 x 62 inches

"Although photography plays an important role in my work, I’ve always thought the ultimate goal is not realism, but believability. The photos provide a starting point—sketches in effect—to be manipulated, exaggerated, added to or subtracted from, or blended with subject matter from other sources—or simply invented—to create an image that (hopefully) speaks to the viewer, but exists only in my imagination." —Brian Cobble

Valley House Gallery is honored to present our seventh exhibition of Brian Cobble’s luminous urban and rural landscapes. Cobble’s perception, dedication, and technical facility make him one of the finest artists working in pastel today. Cobble earned his MFA from Southern Methodist University where he studied with Roger Winter and Dan Wingren. His works are in the collections of the Dallas Museum of Art, Tyler Museum of Art, El Paso Museum of Art, New Mexico Museum of Art, and The Columbus Museum, Georgia.

Image: Brian Cobble, Gonzales Street, 2018, pastel, 17 1/4 x 32 inches

These last months have reminded us of the importance of our basic humanity and the inherent value of others. After isolating, we felt a need to be surrounded by people—hence this invitational exhibition about people seen through the artist’s eye. In addition to Valley House artists, we have invited figurative artists whom we admire to participate:

Deborah Ballard, Vera Barnett, Lu Ann Barrow, Peter Bonner, Curt Brill, Lloyd Brown, Sean Cairns, Jeanne Campbell, Lindy Chambers, John Cobb, Brian Cobble, Robert D. Cocke, Carol A. Cook, Laurie Hickman Cox, Lee Baxter Davis, Laurence Edwards, David Everett, Barnaby Fitzgerald, Scott Gentling, Miles Cleveland Goodwin, Ira Greenberg, Otis Huband, Sedrick Huckaby, Anita Huffington, Kathryn Keller, Sirena LaBurn, Emily LaCour, Rudolf Sotelo Lailson, Jungeun Lee, Laurie Lipton, Jun-Cheng Liu, William B. Montgomery, Philip Morsberger, Fred Nagler, Trish Nickell, Gail Norfleet, Michael O’Keefe, Luke Sides, Hadar Sobol, Ellen Soderquist, Bob Stuth-Wade, James Surls, Chaco Terada, Valton Tyler, Mary Vernon, Donald S. Vogel, Amy Werntz, Jim Woodson, and Miguel Zapata.

Valley House is pleased to welcome back Lindy Chambers for her third solo exhibition. Born in Tennessee, Lindy, an identical twin, spent her youth drawing and riding horses before moving to Texas in 1972. Her early focus on sculpture shifted when the foundry she built to cast her own bronzes burned to the ground. She turned to painting, inspired by rural trailer life around her Bellville, Texas, home. The trailers, where dogs and goats once ruled, are now peopled with human activity: drive-in movies, family reunions, bike riding, playing games, mowing the yard, watching flying saucers, gardening, etc.

About her recent paintings, Lindy Chambers says:

"Most of my inspiration comes from rural Texas. My focus begins when I leave the highway pavement and drive on dirt and gravel roads in the country. I am oddly drawn to the obscure habitats and curious color combinations that I find off-road. Before every painting, I make a series of black-and-white thumbnail sketches. When I start to paint, the color is intuitive, and the process is spontaneous. I try to listen to the canvas and react to it. If I overthink the painting, it is likely to end up in Danny’s burn pile."

Solo exhibitions will be held in the coming year at the Lawrence Arts Center, Lawrence, Kansas; Women & Their Work, Austin, Texas; and the Fort Worth Community Arts Center, Fort Worth, Texas.

Valley House Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition of Luke Sides' bronze and iron sculpture.

About his recent work, Luke Sides says:

"My work has dealt with Pigs, Puppies, Pastries, Peppers, and Portraits, but most importantly PUNS. I feel my work is greatly influenced by the Funk movement with a little Pop component. Pigs have been an interest of mine from a very early age after reading Animal Farm and raising pigs as a child for FFA. I have always seen my sculptures of pigs as self-portraits. The gluttonous nature of pigs resonates deeply with me. In the past, I ate myself into a state of obesity and high cholesterol. The combination of these things and a deep family history of heart disease were not enough to curb my appetite. On the other hand, pigs are extremely smart. Pigs are survivors to the point that feral pigs and wild boars have become a real problem for rural communities across the US. Although King Pig is cast in bronze, many of my pig sculptures are cast in pig iron. All these aspects make the pig my spirit animal. I have embraced my shortcomings and work daily to rectify them, but I also embrace the tenacity of the pig and see that as my strongest trait."

Valley House has represented Luke Sides’ sculpture since 2011. Luke was born in Dallas in 1975 and earned his BFA (1998) and his MFA (2001) from the University of North Texas, Denton. He has been a Professor of Art at Collin College – Plano Campus since 2002.

Valley House Gallery is honored to present a solo exhibition of recent paintings by Henry Finkelstein. About this body of work, he says:

"Color, light and air, space and volume have always been at the core of my paintings. But increasingly I find that the character of the place itself is just as important to me. I’m drawn to old places, where people have lived a long time, where the land is considered, but not overly manicured, with ancient trees that frame some sort of gardening or farming. When I was in art school in the 1970s, I would not have admitted these things. Most of the discussion was limited to the abstract or formal elements of painting. So much has changed since then that such taboos have become irrelevant. This is liberating for me. My love for the subject doesn’t lessen my passion for the formal. It is always a synthesis of the two."

A residency at Rochefort-en-Terre in Brittany, France, in 1992, and again in 2000, introduced Henry Finkelstein to this region where he returns each summer to paint from direct observation. Finkelstein earned his MFA in painting from Yale University School of Art in 1983, followed by a Fulbright Grant to study in Italy. In 1994, he was elected a National Academician. Finkelstein has taught painting and drawing in New York City since 1996. This is Henry Finkelstein's ninth solo exhibition at Valley House Gallery since 2002.

Image: Henry Finkelstein, Cottage by the Road, 2019, oil on linen, 47 1/2 x 56 inches

Valley House Gallery is honored to present our 10th solo exhibition of paintings by Lilian Garcia-Roig. About this body of work, she states:

"This series of on-site paintings was made during the summer of 2019 on the banks of the Skykomish River in the foothills of the Cascades mountains in Washington State. As in my other plein-air works painted in forests, these paintings document a real-time process: the accumulation of fleeting moments experienced on site. Working with oil on canvas, the paintings are produced in a wet-on-wet, cumulative painting manner that was influenced by the watercolor and gouache works I made there in 2016. This summer was only the second time I have been able to spend an extended period working in oil on this singular, complex subject—the COLORS in water."

Lilian Garcia-Roig was born in Havana, Cuba, reared in Houston, and lives in Tallahassee, where she is a Professor at Florida State University. She earned degrees at Southern Methodist University (BFA) and the University of Pennsylvania (MFA), and has been awarded a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, a Mid-America Arts Alliance/NEA Fellowship Award in Painting, a Skowhegan Residency, two Fellowships at The MacDowell Colony, a Kimbrough Award from the Dallas Museum of Art, and a State of Florida Individual Artist Fellowship.