Corsicana Artist and Writer Residency Celebrates Last Seasonal Open Studio, New Bookstore Opens

Residency’s last residency tour of the season features multiple downtown events

By Guy Chapman – Navarro County Gazette

While the Corsicana Artist Writer and Residency is set to close for the summer, the last Open Studios event of the season will hold a variety of activities from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, May 29, at 100W, located at 100 West Third Avenue, and expand its tour through several locations in Downtown Corsicana.

Attendees will have the opportunity to meet and visit with artists Raychael Stine (Albuquerque, NM), Rehab El Sadek (Austin, TX), and Jake Davidson (Brooklyn, New York), while exploring their works.

Stine holds residency on the second floor of the 100W building, where she has created a series of abstract paintings, each hiding whimsical images of dogs, composed on vintage postcards that conjure feelings of nostalgia and longing. Stine blends essences of the original object with her own experiences and desires to create works that evoke layered nuances of time and intention, ecstasy and joy.

Resident filmmaker Davidson occupies the third floor of the 100W building, where the Brooklyn creator explores optical images told through the lens of computers, projectors and moving images of delicate machines. More information on his project can be found here.

The Anteroom features sculptor and board president Jay Sullivan’s show Architectures of the Body, on installation through the summer. The exhibit features objects and forms that invite touch as much as they do contemplation. Read essayist David Searcy’s article, “Allegory’s Reach,” on Jay’s exhibit here.

In addition, visitors will get to tour the new Samuels Studio, now open to the public. The studio, located at 207 N. Beaton Street, is the current display gallery of Austin-based artist Rehab El Sadek. Sadek has created a second floor installation that borrows from global achitecture, and inspirations from her own native Alexandria in Egypt.

Visitors will also get to experience the soft opening of the brand new Storefront bookstore, located at 203 N. Commerce Street. The bookstore and studio marks the expansion of literature-based retail to Corsicana, and will focus on the works of both resident and local writers. Hours will be 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays.