By Amber Layton
UHCLIDIAN STAFF

The Arts Alliance Center in Clear Lake just held its 6th Annual Juried Photo Exhibition. Photographs submitted from Houston-area residents lined the walls of TAACCL welcoming visitors to come in and take a peek.

Winning photos for the Juror's Choice Award by former UH-Clear Lake Student Linda Lapointe feature young monks outside a monastery in Bhutan. Pictured from left: Ascension, Connection and Elevation.
photos by Linda Lapointe

There is no admission to get into TAACCL because the funding comes from donations and pledges from local patrons and art lovers. If you are interested in beautiful photography and amazing artwork, I suggest picking up a cup of coffee from Galileo's Coffee and Books, located inside TAACCL, before strolling leisurely through the gallery.

For the Juried Photography Exhibition, there were black-and-white as well as color photographs grouped together by subject matter.

Thuy Nguyen from Houston submitted the first photographs that drew my attention. He calls the photograph collection "Doorway to Religion" because of the details of the entry doors to the Temple de la Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain.

JoAnn Garza from Alvin has black-and-white photos from the Kemah Boardwalk. In contrast, Clifton Grim from Seabrook captured the essence of color and beauty in "Hawaii Watercolor Flower 1 and 10."

Several humorous animal photos make you grin as you pass them by and come to an amazing photo of the Eiffel Tower lit up at night in "French Nightlife," submitted by Jeff Austin from Sugarland.

Pictures of wildlife, architecture, churches, mountains and lakes also adorn the walls of the gallery.

Once the photos have been submitted to TAACCL, a contest is held, the photographs are judged and several awards are given. Each year a new juror is chosen to judge the exhibit in order to bring a fresh perspective to the task. Jean Caslin, who had to select between the 273 photographs entered in the exhibit, judged the photographs this year.

"The work shows a broad range of expertise created from artists new to photography to those who have had a lifetime of practical experience and exhibition history," Caslin said. "There's also a rich diversity of subject matter and artistic styles that is representative of contemporary practice on a national level."

Six artists were selected to be the recipients of Juror's Choice cash awards: Mark B. Bartosik from Houston, Tom Foster from Friendswood and Debra Rueb of Houston each had four pieces of work selected. Clay Harmon of Kingwood and Mario Cruz Teran from Houston took the title for six photos each.

Former UH-Clear Lake student Linda Lapointe was also chosen for a Juror's Choice cash award for three of her works: Ascension, Connection and Elevation. Lapointe's photos were taken on a National Geographic Photography Exhibition in the country of Bhutan this past September. The photos are of young monks at a monastery.

"This was not an assignment for National Geographic." Lapointe said. "The pictures that I took were for a exhibition I paid for. This was a very good experience."

TAACCL holds several exhibits throughout the year. The next will be an open media exhibit held Dec. 12-Jan. 17.

For more information on how to submit your work, contact TAACCL Curator Debra Kendrick at (281) 335-7777. TAACCL is located at 2000 NASA Road 1 in Nassau Bay.

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