Do you really believe that?
featuring
Terry Allen, Jesse Amado, Edith Baumann, Richie Budd, Jerry Cabrera, John Eden, Sharon Engelstein, Vernon Fisher, Tommy Fitzpatrick, Thomas Glassford, James Hayward, Felice Koenig, Casey Leone, Constance Lowe, John M. Miller, Yunhee Min, Aaron Parazette, John Pomara, Chuck Ramirez, Hector A. Ramirez, Susie Rosmarin, Chris Sauter, Cameron Schoepp, Hills Snyder, Terri Thornton, and John Wilcox
Fort Worth Contemporary Arts, August 30 – November 16, 2024
Please contact me to receive a copy of the “Do you really believe that?” publication.
A collaborative curatorial project with Dr. Jennifer Hope Davy, artist & writer; Constance Lowe, artist; Hills Snyder, artist & writer; Dr. Scott Sherer, Professor & Director of Galleries, University of Texas at San Antonio; and Dr. Sara-Jayne Parsons, Director & Curator, The Art Galleries at TCU
Do you really believe that? is a group exhibition conceived in honor and celebration of the late art historian and curator Dr. Frances Colpitt (1952-2022), her renowned scholarship, critical pedagogy and unyielding commitment to teaching along with her profound respect for artists, their work, and critics alike. The exhibition is guided by themes coalesced from Colpitt’s work over the course of her career with a focus on abstraction, Minimalism and Conceptual art. They illuminate her scholarship and curatorial practice, and also emphasize the significant impact and enduring legacy of her mentorship of artists in Texas. The title of the exhibition is a phrase Colpitt often used to challenge her students and galvanize critical thinking and discussion in class.
An accompanying exhibition publication features key essays by Annette Carlozzi, Dr. Michael Corris, Jennifer Hope Davy, Michael Delgado, Anjali Gupta, Kathryn Kanjo and Tulsa Kinney. And in the spirit of Colpitt’s curatorial projects which often involved her students, many of the catalogue entries have been written by some of her former students and recent graduates from Texas Christian University and the University of Texas at San Antonio, together with affiliated writers: Fernando Alvarez, Wendy Weil Atwell, Katherine Deck-Portillo, Jen Earthman, Lisa Garcia, Auriel May Garza, Megan Gratch, Anjali Gupta, Alexis Meldrum, Janelle Montgomery, Kim Phan Nguyễn, Nicole Poole, Barbara Purcell, Patricia Ruiz-Healy, Lucy Schiller, Lauren Thompson, and Madison Vrazel.
The publication also documents temporary on-site installations by artists Gregory Ruppe and Terri Thornton who responded to Colpitt’s vacant office at Texas Christian University.
About Dr. Frances Colpitt (1952-2022): Frances Colpitt was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At the University of Tulsa she earned her BFA in Painting (1974) and her MA in Humanities (1977) before moving to the west coast where she completed her PhD in Art History at the University of Southern California (1982). After teaching at Cornell University (1985-86) as a Visiting Assistant Professor, she returned to California as Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara (1986-1988), and then as a Visiting Assistant Professor at USC, Los Angeles (1988-1990). Dr. Colpitt received a full professorship at the University of Texas at San Antonio where she taught for fifteen years. In 2005 Dr. Colpitt accepted the Deedie Potter Rose Chair, an endowed professorship in contemporary art history, at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth where she continued to teach until 2022. At both Texas universities, Dr. Colpitt was instrumental in inaugurating the off-site gallery spaces UTSA Satellite Space and TCU’s Fort Worth Contemporary Arts. During her distinguished career Dr. Colpitt published two books focused on American art after 1960, her area of expertise: Minimal Art: The Critical Perspective (University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1990) and Abstract Art in the Late Twentieth Century (Cambridge University Press, UK 2002). She also published numerous book chapters, catalog essays, articles, book reviews and exhibition brochures, and was a feature writer and contributing editor for Art in America for nearly twenty-five years. Among others, she was a frequent contributor to the former Texas quarterly Art Lies and most recently Artillery magazine, Los Angeles. Dr. Colpitt greatly influenced and supported generations of young artists and arts professionals who have gone on to become active curators, writers, and artists in Texas and beyond.
Cover photo for publication credit: Allison V. Smith
Publication design by Beth Devilier
