Rusty Scruby: Playing in the Sand
January 9 – February 14, 2009
McKinney Avenue Contemporary
RUSTY SCRUBY
Rusty was born in Oregon City, OR. Two years later his parents obtained teaching positions on Kwajalein, a secret U.S. military base in the middle of the South Pacific. It was there that he developed his love of the ocean that would later serve to connect many of his varied interests. The young family traveled and worked throughout the Pacific Realm, including Hawaii and Guam. They settled in Oregon as Rusty began his formal education, excelling both academically and athletically.
He moved to Texas as a young man in pursuit of an education and studied aerospace engineering at Texas A&M University. Four years later Rusty realized that he would have to enlarge the scope of his education and he transferred to North Texas State University where he studied music composition. He freely exchanged ideas between math, art, and music, and he increasingly began to focus on creating a common language to unite the three.
During his time at NTSU, he became friends with the sculptor Arthur Zenon. Impressed by his drawings, Arthur asked Rusty to become his apprentice, and in 1993, Rusty had his first gallery showing in a two-man show with Ted Kincaid at Craighead-Green Gallery.
Rusty’s artistic talents soon landed him a position back home in Salem, OR at Margaret Furlong Designs. Ms. Furlong created handcrafted ceramic ornaments which were produced by a crew in her downtown Salem studio. He was appointed Ms Furlong’s design assistant within six months. This gave him the opportunity to marry his talents of art and engineering. His responsibilities included creating new designs, writing and illustrating instruction manuals for the new designs, and overseeing the initial development phases of new design production.
Rusty desired the freedom to fully develop his unique ideas and returned to Texas to pursue his career as a contemporary artist. Today he continues to work in the various mediums of ceramics, oil on canvas, and works on/with paper. He employs engineering techniques to render surfaces that represent waves or ripples on bodies of water. Color, pattern, and images are used to express musical harmonies, melodies, and themes.
Rusty lives and works in Dallas, Texas and is represented by PanAmerican ArtProjects in Dallas
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Paul Abbott and Charlotte Smith: The Synthetic Landscape
January 9 – February 14, 2009
McKinney Avenue Contemporary
Paul Abbott and Charlotte Smith
Paul Abbott, a digital abstract photographer, and Charlotte Smith, an abstract painter, influence each other both as friends and artists. Their friendship and artistic collaboration started five years ago when Abbott began taking photographs of Smith’s paintings. Mutually inspired, they started to communicate ideas and thoughts that culminated in their decision to approach their work through a symbiotic creative process. The MAC New Works Space provides the intimacy that reflects the personal and creative bond between them.
About Paul Abbott
A geologist by profession, Paul Abbott’s love of art began with his studies at the Glassell School of Art in Houston for almost 15 years. Upon retirement, Abbott has turned his energies completely to photography and has exhibited throughout Texas in numerous juried shows including New Texas Talent at Craighead Green Gallery, Art in the Metroplex, and EXPO at 500X Gallery. In 2004, he also exhibited at Photo New York with Pan American Art Projects.
Paul Abbott lives and works in Dallas and is represented by Craighead Green Gallery in Dallas.
About Charlotte Smith
Receiving her MFA in painting and drawing from the University of North Texas in 1999, Smith has rapidly established herself as a premier Texan Contemporary artist. Charlotte Smith was selected twice for the Texas Biennial; four Neiman Marcus’ stores collect her work. Smith had her first solo museum show in 2005 at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, adding one of her works to their permanent collection. Smith has also exhibited with the Arlington Museum of Art, Pan American Art Projects in Dallas, George Billis Gallery in Los Angeles, the Huntington Beach Art Center, and Anya Tish Gallery in Houston.
Charlotte Smith lives and works in Dallas and is represented by PanAmerican ArtProjects, George Billis Gallery in Los Angeles and Anya Tish Gallery in Houston.