President-James Johnson, Jr.

 

Jim’s Reflections:

 

“A Brief History of the NTAAL Juried Fine Arts Awards Exhibition:

 

The exhibition which eventually evolved into the NTAAL Juried Fine Arts Awards Exhibition began in 1968 as the first community wide activity of the newly formed Cultural Affairs Committee. Fine Arts Festival was the name originally given to the exhibition. Later the concept of Fine Arts Festival was expanded to include areas in addition to the visual arts. The exhibition was held under the auspices of the Cultural Affairs Committee for three years prior to the actual formation of the Greater Denton Arts Council in 1971. The Cultural Affairs Committee consisted of Olgy Ivy, Chairperson, Emma Ruth Russell, Steven Farish, and Prentice Barnett.

 

In the beginning, the juried exhibition was displayed on the second level of the Denton Civic Center. Ribbons were awarded in the various categories. The practice of offering a purchase price for one (sometimes two) outstanding works (in any medium) was begun in 1969 and continued until 1983 according to permanent collection records. These works form the basis for the Greater Denton Arts Council Permanent Collection. At least two NTAAL members are represented in the collection, Jo Williams and James J. Johnson.

 

The early exhibitions were under the supervision of Ken Havis, Director of the North Texas State University (UNT) Art Gallery. Viewing of the exhibitions at the Civic Center was a challenge because of the many joggers running past the exhibition. Another challenge was the hanging of the show. Because of the brickwork, there was no way to attach the pictures. Special hangers were found that hung on the edge of the protruding bricks. The exhibition eventually grew so large that the entire second level and part of the main floor of the civic center was used for the event.

 

In 1979, a proposal was submitted to the Arts Council requesting that the responsibility for the show be given to NTAAL. The request became a reality largely due to the efforts of Martha Robbins, NTAAL President and James J. Johnson, GDAC President (1980). In 1980, the first NTAAL sponsored Spring Juried Exhibition was held with Martha Robbins and James J. Johnson presiding at the awards ceremony. The practice of selecting qualified jurors, begun in the early years, has continued to the present. Jurors have included a variety of museum and gallery directors, artists, and college and university art faculty. Some of these jurors include: Mark Lombardi, Curator, Houston Contemporary Art Museum; Arnold Leondar, Chairperson, Tarrant County Community College; and Dr. Kenneth Prescott, Chairperson, University of Texas Department of Art. For a period after 1979, separate jurors were used for the GDAC Purchase Award. In the beginning there were no restrictions on entries such as the current 3 entries, 1 accepted rule. Because of the pre-selection process and the selection of qualified jurors, the quality of the show has improved immensely.”