Shelby County Today

May 13, 2019 Nacogdoches — More than 1,500 candidates will cross the stage during Stephen F. Austin State University commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 18, in Johnson Coliseum.

Steve Stagner, a 1991 SFA alumnus and former Mattress Firm CEO, will deliver the commencement address.

Just five years after his SFA graduation, Stagner became a Mattress Firm franchise owner. He eventually became the chief executive of the company, the nation’s largest mattress retailer, overseeing strategic planning as well as core functions such as sales, marketing, merchandising, finance and operations.

Stagner manages a number of private investments and serves as director of SFA’s Rusche College of Business Advisory Council. He serves on the advisory board for the Translational Genomics Research Institute, a non-profit medical research institute dedicated to unraveling the genetic components of both common and complex diseases.

Candidates from SFA’s James I. Perkins College of Education and the College of Fine Arts will participate in a 9:30 a.m. ceremony. Candidates from the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, the Rusche College of Business, the College of Liberal and Applied Arts, and the College of Sciences and Mathematics will participate in a 2 p.m. ceremony.

Degrees to be awarded include 1,178 bachelor’s, 318 master’s and nine doctoral degrees. Approximately 370 students will graduate with honors, including 139 cum laude, 120 magna cum laude and 111 summa cum laude. Eighty-one students will graduate with the university scholar designation.

Special guests expected to attend the afternoon ceremony include Ed Cole of Nacogdoches, who will be awarded an honorary doctoral degree, and former SFA president William R. Johnson, who will confer a diploma to his grandson, Taylor Ash.

To view the ceremony online, visit the SFA Facebook page, www.facebook.com/sfasu.

The phenomenon of swing dancing is examined in the film “Alive and Kicking,” to be screened at 7 p.m. Friday, May 3, in The Cole Art Center. Photo by Jessica Keener.

April 26, 2019 Nacogdoches – The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art and the Friends of the Visual Arts will present a free, one-night screening of the documentary “Alive and Kicking” at 7 p.m. Friday, May 3, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

Directed by Susan Glatzer, “Alive and Kicking” is a feature-length documentary that takes an inside glance into the culture of swing dancing and the characters who make it special. It explores the culture surrounding swing dance from the emergence of the Lindy Hop to the modern-day international phenomenon. The film looks at the lives of the swing dancers themselves to find their personal stories and why this dance fills them with joy, according to information at http://aliveandkickingfilm.com.

Run time is 88 minutes.

This screening is part of the School of Art’s monthly Friday Film Series and is sponsored in part by William Arscott, Nacogdoches Film Festival, Karon Gillespie, Mike Mollot, David Kulhavy, John and Kristen Heath, Galleria Z, Jill Carrington, Jean Stephens, Jim and Mary Neal, Richard Orton, Nacogdoches Junior Forum and Main Street Nacogdoches.

The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.

April 18, 2019 - Stephen F. Austin State University music composition major Jesse Edwards has garnered another award in a prestigious national competition for one of his original orchestral scores.

For the third year, The Philadelphia Youth Orchestra (PYO) conducted a nationwide search to name the three winners in the PYO Young Composers Competition. Edwards, a Tyler senior, earned second place for his piece “Saturday Afternoon.” This recent recognition adds to the ever-growing list of accolades Edwards has amassed.

“It’s an honor to be recognized by such an amazing ensemble,” Edwards said. “It’s especially exciting for me to be able to share my music with a youth orchestra – the next generation of great musicians.”

Edwards studies with Dr. Stephen Lias, professor of composition at SFA, who described Edwards’ most recent honor as “well-deserved.”

“Jesse is one of those students I never have to push because his hunger for personal and creative growth is so strong,” Lias said. “He has really helped hold the bar high for his colleagues.

“Composers build their reputation by winning competitions,” he added. “The earlier in their career they start doing this, the better for them. So having this on his resume will give Jesse considerable credibility and gravitas as he seeks commissions and applies to graduate programs.”

“Saturday Afternoon” was inspired by one of Edwards’ visits to New York City.

“When my wife lived in New York City, before we were married, I would go up to visit as much as I could,” he said. “We never had very much time together – sometimes just a weekend – so it became a sort of challenge to see how many things we could fit in a day. ‘Saturday Afternoon’ follows the adventures of one such day on a weekend trip during the winter of 2016.”

An internationally performed composer of rising acclaim, Edwards’ newest work, “Mint Chic,” was recently performed at the Alba International Music Festival, in Alba, Italy, by SOLI Chamber Ensemble. Edwards has worked with SFA’s Orchestra of the Pines, Starks Sound, and film director Adam Rothstein to create what has been noted as "accessible," “well spoken," and "straightforward" by Italian composer/educator Ferdinando Nazzaro. His music has been performed by the Lemberg Sinfonietta (Lviv, Ukraine), the Phoenix Ensemble (Ukraine), the Hobart Wind Symphony (Tasmania) and by high school and university choirs and bands throughout East Texas.

Lias noted that SFA’s reputation as an institution that provides a quality fine arts education bodes well for the university as it recruits art, music and theatre students.

“The fact that SFA can attract students of Jesse’s quality and nurture their development in a way that bears fruit like this is a testament to the entire College of Fine Arts,” Lias said. “Jesse has collaborated with both the theatre and art programs scoring plays and movies and has spent a semester studying abroad at our partner institution in Hobart, Australia. Although Jesse would have succeeded anywhere, SFA has been an excellent fit and provided him exactly the opportunities he needed to grow into the composer he is today.”

Following graduation in May, Edwards plans to pursue a master’s degree in music composition.

“I’m just looking forward to even more future opportunities like this one that allow me to spread a little more joy and beauty in a world that needs it,” he said.

For more information on Edwards’ music, recordings and videos, visit jesseedwardsmusic.com

SFA heavy equipment operator Randy Holland assists artist Joe Barrington in delivering Barrington’s “Sock Monkey” sculpture as one of the first installations of the 2019-21 Sculpture For All exhibition in Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden on the SFA campus.

April 11, 2019 Nacogdoches, Texas – Continuing to make art bloom throughout the gardens on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University, Sculpture For All 2019-2021 will open with a public reception at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 27, in the Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden.

Sculpture For All is a biennial outdoor exhibition and competition in the form of a joint partnership project that brings together faculty, staff and students from the SFA School of Art and the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture.

This year’s opening coincides with International Sculpture Day, according to Jeffery Brewer, assistant professor of art (sculpture) at SFA.

“This outdoor artistic endeavor seeks to expose SFA students and faculty members to art they might not otherwise see while bringing national recognition and publicity to SFA,” according to Brewer.

This year’s competition was juried by Robbie Barber, associate professor of art (sculpture and 3-D design) at Baylor University. The exhibition will showcase the work of eight artists, including Barber.

Artist Teresa Lind’s “The Farmer” is now part of SFA’s permanent collection of Sculpture For All art.

“It’s an all-star cast of Texas sculptors and will make for a fabulous show,” Brewer said.

Along with Barber, returning artists include Joe Barrington, Luke Sides, Christopher Thomson, Daniel Hunt, Russ Connell, Dewane Hughes and Kurt Dyrhaug. The exhibition also includes the work of newcomer Michelle O’Michael of Houston.

Barber received his B.F.A. in sculpture from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, in 1987, and his M.F.A. in sculpture from the University of Arizona in 1991. He also studied in Cortona, Italy, through the University of Georgia Studies Abroad Program. In 1991, Barber was awarded a yearlong residency at the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program in Roswell, New Mexico. After returning to North Carolina in 1992, he received a Southern Arts Federation/NEA Regional Visual Arts Fellowship in Sculpture and a North Carolina Arts Council Visual Artist Fellowship, both in 1993. In 1994, Barber moved to Wichita Falls to teach Sculpture and Metalsmithing at Midwestern State University. He left in 2000 to teach at Baylor University in Waco where he is currently associate professor of sculpture.

In 2007, Barber was a founding member of the Texas Atomic Iron Commission, which is comprised of sculpture educators dedicated to the dissemination of iron casting as an approach to art making. Through this organization, he has presented workshops, participated in iron pours throughout Texas and Alabama, and he has been invited to Keen Foundry Invitational Iron Casting Symposiums in Houston. He has exhibited widely throughout the United States, including exhibitions at Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, New York, the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the Grace Museum in Abilene, Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, New Jersey, and at Redbud Gallery in Houston.

With a donation from the Four Seasons Garden Club of Nacogdoches, SFA has purchased last year’s people’s choice winner, “The Farmer” by Teresa Lind, making it the third in SFA’s permanent collection of Sculpture For All art.

For more information about Sculpture For All, call (936) 468-4404 or email sculptureforall@sfasu.edu.