2007 ArtHouse Texas Prize Awarded

Arthouse Texas is proud to announce that Katrina Moorhead has been awarded the 2007 Arthouse Texas Prize. Presented by independent art critic and curator Dave Hickey at the 2007 Arthouse Texas Prize Party on the evening of November 2, the $30,000 juried prize is one of the largest regional arts awards in the United States. The first-ever prize in Texas created to acknowledge the accomplishments of an emerging or under-recognized Texas-based artist, the Arthouse Texas Prize distinguishes Moorhead as an exceptional and innovative talent and recognizes her contribution to the energetic and growing Texas art scene.

Katrina Moorhead, who was born in Northern Ireland, has resided in Houston for more than ten years. Her practice centers on exploring the contrast between human and natural creation, often revealing new and beautiful relationships through otherwise mundane objects. In 2005 she participated in the Northern Ireland Pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennale, and her work was recently the subject of a solo exhibition at the Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston. For the 2007 Arthouse Texas Prize Exhibition she has meticulously handcrafted boxes of spent fireworks and strings of unexploded fireworks using paper mâché, archival paper, and silver leaf. Each firework's potential explosion refers to the forms of dragons, flowers, and the like, and the strings serve to symbolize a chain of events in the three different romantic courtships.

According to the jury, "The 2007 Arthouse Texas Prize finalists all created new work that demonstrates a level of maturity, individual ambition, and execution. Because the five artists' works were strong, our selection becomes one of subjective response. Katrina Moorhead, the prize recipient, brings together in her work ideas and concepts related to her recent experience in Iceland. Her installation at Arthouse expresses her exceptional ability to create objects resonant with individual and universal meaning. The clarity and complexity of the artist's vision as well as her distinctly personal touch, evident in the handcrafted quality of her objects, are among the qualities that informed our decision to award Moorhead the 2007 Arthouse Texas Prize."

New Artists

During my recent trip to NYC, I discovered two new artist's work, Berni Searle and Rachael Dunville. Searle is featured in the MOMA's New Photography 2007 exhibition. How I had never known of her or learned of her I'm not sure. Searle works in photography, video, and performance among others. Her series "About To Forget" which was shown as a series of stills at the MOMA was quite beautiful and held my attention–enough for me to grab my little notebook and scribble her name down.

My friend Amy Stein, a follow artist and new professor, mentioned I should see the new show at Peer Gallery. As soon as I walked in I recognized one of the prints "The Brad" from a group show which had just opened in Austin, Texas called TPS 16 which I was also in. I had the pleasure of meeting Miss Rachael Dunville while I was in the gallery and discovered just how small this world is.