BLUE STAR CONTEMPORARY DEBUTS THREE NEW SOLO EXHIBITIONS  

DURING CONTEMPORARY ART MONTH 

The exhibitions feature the work of Blue Star Contemporary’s Berlin Residency Artists  Jimmy James Canales, Megan Harrison, and Justin Korver 

Blue  Star Contemporary (BSC), San Antonio’s first  and longest-running contemporary art  nonprofit, debuts three new exhibitions during  San Antonio’s Contemporary Art Month. The solo exhibitions feature installations by Jimmy James Canales, Megan Harrison, and Justin  Korver–three past participants of BSC’s three month Berlin Residency at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Germany. While in residence, the  artists are given a studio and living space, as well as access to workshops, exhibition opportunities, and studio visits with international curators. 

Jimmy James Canales: The Line Layer 

Canales’ installation uses play to investigate ideas of standardizations of body, form, shape, and  “ultimate” humans. He builds a space that references both physical and virtual games. From board games to video games and arcades to sports fields and playgrounds, he sites his figures in game inspired environments that often become activated by viewers. This newest body of work considers models and scale, as the artist considers the role of avatars in our lives to capture or project our  ideas. 

Jimmy James Canales is a San Antonio-based artist working in sculpture and expanded media.  Canales received his BFA from the Museum School of Fine Arts in Boston, and his MFA from the  University of Texas at San Antonio. His work has been shown throughout the state of Texas as well as  nationally, including Boston, MA; Los Angeles, CA; and Las Cruces, New Mexico. Canales is the  recipient of numerous awards and honors, most notably the Arch and Anne Giles Kimbrough Award for  Artists (2015), the Tanne Foundation Award (2016) and the Vermont Studio Center Artist Grant (2015).  He was selected for the 2018-2019 Blue Star Contemporary Berlin Residency Program at Künstlerhaus  Bethanien, Berlin, DE. He works as a Lecturer in Studio Art: Expanded Media at Texas State University  in San Marcos. 

Megan Harrison: From Your Brow Rise Leaf and Lyre 

Megan Harrison’s newest body of work includes a series of mixed media paintings based on intimate,  personal moments and observations. The work reflects her experiences following her return from  Berlin as an awardee of BSC’s Berlin Residency Program and throughout the pandemic, namely the  shrinking of her world down to the immediate family unit. The paintings draw aesthetic influence and are inspired by Greek epic poetry, altarpieces, and medieval tableau to address themes of mortality,  loss, tragedy, the universality of human emotions, destruction, and preservation. The paintings find  kinship with precious objects that function in ritual or religious ceremony.  

Megan Harrison earned a BFA from Metropolitan State University of Denver, 2008, and an MFA from  the University of Texas San Antonio, 2012. Her work has exhibited nationally and internationally,  including works on permanent display at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and City  Hall of San Antonio. Locally, her work has been exhibited at the McNay Art Museum and Sala Diaz. She  was awarded a full fellowship at The Vermont Studios in 2015 and was selected by Blue Star  Contemporary for the Künstlerhaus Bethanien residency program in Berlin, German in 2019 where she  lived with her husband and young son for 6 months. 

Justin Korver: Buck 

Korver continues his investigation of gendered language and cultural practices. This series considers  the romantic innuendo present in hunting culture through mixed media, sculpture, prints, and a wall  mural. Korver often collapses gendered art and craft processes, such as woodworking and sewing, to  subvert and destabilize our existing ideas about masculine and feminine identities. His aesthetic  sensibilities are deeply influenced by modernism and his upbringing in Iowa within a family of  carpenters and the construction industry. This exhibition follows Korver’s 2019 Künstlerhaus  Bethanien residency as a part of BSC’s Berlin Residency Program.  

Justin Korver is artist and educator living and working in San Antonio, Texas. Born in Iowa, Korver  moved to Holland, Michigan to complete his undergraduate work at Hope College. While in Michigan,  he was influenced by the heritage of mid-century design and discovered a passion for hardware  stores. He lived and worked briefly in New York through the N.Y.C.A.M.S. program where he interned  with Phoebe Washburn who influenced his early studio practice. He holds an MFA from the University  of Texas at San Antonio and teaches as a full-time lecturer at Texas A&M, San Antonio. 

Also on view is Threads Bare, an exhibition investigating intersections of art and fashion through  textiles and related materials as medium or subject to generate a more expansive understanding of  how fashion and adornment play a role in defining individual and cultural identities. The  Art Learning Labs presents the Black Art Library which was created by curator Asmaa Walton as a tool  to educate people on the numerous contributions of Black artists, art historians, and creatives who  have historically been overlooked in art education 

The Line Layer, From Your Brow Rise Leaf and Lyre, and Buck open on March 4 and will remain on  view through May 29, 2022.