She Said He Said

Janet Chaffee and Benito Huerta
December 7–January 11, 2025
Reception Saturday, December 7, 5:00–7:00 pm
Artists will be in attendance

Benito Huerta, Melancolia, 2024, watercolor on paper, 12" x 9"

Artist's statement: Benito Huerta

This exhibition includes a sampling of my sculpture, painting, drawing, and print work. My subject matter includes an amalgamation of political, economic, and social commentary along with personal identity and pop culture references. There are a couple of strands of work that are different from each other, visually.

There are pieces that are remarkably different because they're addressing issues that are current and topical. Some of the work is addressing similar issues, but with a different approach, and others are much more personal.

Artist's statement: Janet Chaffee

My work is an intuitive and playful exploration of composition, color, and abstraction combined with elements of nature. The initial drawings for this work are derived from found rock formations along the border of California and Mexico as well as, from the Continental Divide of the Rocky Mountains. I also draw from found lace work. The lace works found in Germany, Italy, and Cuba were chosen because they were used inside homes and in life-changing ceremonies. The lace becomes a screen in each painting. Allowing the viewer to stay on the surface or pass through to discover layers beneath.

Janet Chaffee, Laced Armor, No. 3, 2023, ink on mylar, 48" x 48"

I use a narrow range of dry pigments, beeswax, and oil paint. Both materials and imagery are combined in layers recomposing landscape and nature to suggest metaphorical connections between the thrill of making and my awe for nature. Calcium Carbonate, one of the dry pigments used, is a common compound comprised of three elements, Carbon, Oxygen, and Calcium. It is found in pearls, seashells, limestone in streams, and lake beds throughout Texas and the Midwestern United States. Mica, another dry pigment, is found in the southeastern United States and is used in various products from electronics to paper. This combination of imagery and materials allows me the opportunity to intuit process, chance, and discover unforeseen possibilities while making the work. The wax's fluidity and stillness allow the work to expand and explore implicit movement, as each encaustic painting becomes the custodian of past moments in time.

In my most recent large-scale charcoal drawings, I continue to explore nature and abstraction, but I narrowed my medium, palette, and imagery. Examining Mondrian's perfection through abstraction is a counterpoint to Rainer Maria Rilke's poem Dear Darkening Ground. One artist worked to push away from nature while the other recognized its inevitable power and undeniable presence. I work in a space where nature and the history of abstraction collide to inform one another and invite questions about the natural world I have experienced and know alongside the art history I have embraced.

Artists' biographies

Benito Huerta received a BFA degree from the University of Houston and an MA from New Mexico State University. He was Co-founder, Executive Director and Emeritus Board Director of Art Lies, a Texas art journal. He recently retired as Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington and stepped down as Director/Curator of The Gallery at UTA. Huerta's work will be seen in April 2025 at Andrew Durham Gallery, Houston. Recent one-person exhibitions include Profane Truths and Sacred Lies at The Gallery at UT Arlington; More or Less: Una Retrospectiva at William Campbell Gallery, Ft. Worth; and Más O Menos: A Retrospective at the Latino Cultural Center, Dallas. His work is in several museum and corporate collections throughout the United States.

Janet Chaffee is originally from Denver but has lived in Texas most of her life. She earned her BFA in painting from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1999 and received her MFA in painting from Texas Christian University in 2002. After graduating, she taught drawing at TCU, UTA, and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. She has shown in both individual and group exhibitions throughout the state of Texas. Recently, Janet participated in the exhibition More Than This . . . at Arts Fort Worth, as well as 150 Years/150 Artists at TCU in Fort Worth. In the fall of 2023, Janet's work was featured in the exhibition Renewal at Artspace III, Fort Worth, where she is currently represented. Janet also teaches Upper School Art at Trinity Valley School in Fort Worth.