Denton photographer gets into Texas exhibit

Denton photographer Tom Leininger had a photograph selected for the Austin Art Space exhibit “What Texas Means to Me.”

Leininger’s chosen piece was Woman in His Pocket.

The exhibit’s theme taps into artists’ impressions of Texas’ past, present or future. The exhibit includes abstract, contemporary, representational and traditional art. The final 36 pieces were chosen from more than 100 entries from artists as near as Austin, Wimberley, Houston and Lubbock to as far away as Delaware and New Hampshire. Twenty-nine artists were selected for presentation by Texas artist Jerry Seagle.

The exhibit is scheduled to run July 10 to Aug. 22. Austin Art Space is located at 7739 Northcross Drive, Suite Q, in Austin. For more information, visit www.austinartspace.com .

Photography piece earns spot in show

For her photography depicting the story of Korean sex slaves, University of North Texas student Jung Eun Lee was one of 19 students selected to appear in “Crossing 2009.”

In its second year, the “Crossing” exhibit was created to give emerging young artists networking opportunities as they launch their careers. The juried exhibition features the work of graduate students studying in the western United States.

Lee said her abstract piece, 200,000 Women, visually tells the story of Asian women and girls who were kidnapped by the Japanese government and forced to become sex slaves during World War II. Lee said many historians estimate that 200,000 mostly Korean or Chinese “comfort women” were raped and/or forced to provide sexual services to Japanese soldiers.

The exhibit runs through July 30 at the Harwood, a nonprofit community arts center in Albuquerque, N.M. It is Lee’s first exhibit outside of Texas.

Lee received her undergraduate degree from Hoseo University in South Korea. She plans to graduate in May with a master’s degree in fine arts and then begin a teaching career.

Conductors to converge on Denton for concerts

More than 40 high school and college conductors from around the world will work on their techniques and lead performances at the North Texas Conductors Collegium Concerts at the University of North Texas.

The concerts take place at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday and June 20, 23 and 26 in the Winspear Performance Hall of UNT’s Murchison Performing Arts Center, located along the north side of Interstate 35E at North Texas Boulevard.

Part of UNT’s annual Conductors Collegium, each concert is the culmination of three days of workshops and rehearsals to improve the techniques of instrumental musical educators while allowing them to work with a professional ensemble — the North Texas Wind Symphony, the premier wind ensemble at UNT.

The workshops and rehearsals will be critiqued by four clinicians: Eugene Migliaro Corporon, conductor of the North Texas Wind Symphony; Dennis Fisher, conductor of UNT’s Symphonic Band; Jack Stamp, director of band studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania; and James Jordan, director of Westminster Choir College in New Jersey.

New radio station to boost reach of KERA

North Texas Public Broadcasting Inc. — KERA — announced recently that it purchased the noncommercial radio license for 91.7 FM, a station with broadcast coverage in Dallas, Fort Worth and Denton.

“This acquisition allows KERA to significantly advance its mission and strategic direction by increasing public media services for the people of North Texas,” said Mary Anne Alhadeff, KERA’s president and CEO. “The new station will be a public radio music format programmed with the North Texas audience in mind. It will be a terrific complement to KERA’s news and information station, 90.1 FM, and a substantial addition to KERA’s overall multimedia services for the public.”

The new station will begin broadcasting its full schedule in the fall. The broadcasting company has yet to select a name for the new station.

The programming on 91.7 FM will be within the public radio “adult album alternative” music format with diverse playlists including folk, acoustic, world music, alternative and indie rock, and country. Among the programs under consideration for the new station are World Café, distributed by National Public Radio; Echoes, from Public Radio International; Undercurrents, from Native Voice One; American Routes, from American Public Media; and music specials. The station will broadcast news at the top of each hour.

New Corn Mo album scheduled for release

Jon Cunningham, known as Corn Mo, and his band, .357 Lover, are planning to release a full-length album in August called Diorama of the Golden Lion.

The Denton export is in Brooklyn, N.Y., these days, and recently played the Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, Tenn., which ends today.

Corn Mo is known as much for his music as for the eccentric comedy he’s styled over the years — he wields an accordion, a keyboard, long locks and a sharp wit.

Visit www.myspace.com/corn mo .

UNT graduate student receives scholarship

University of North Texas student Chris Melia received a $1,200 Emerging Texas Artists Scholarship for best in ceramics at the Texas Arts and Crafts Fair in Kerrville.

The fair is sponsored by the Texas Arts and Crafts Educational Foundation.

“My inspiration comes directly from the kitchen,” Melia said. “The forms that I create relate to the foods I love to cook for my wife and I. Each piece, depending on its purpose, deserves a certain type of surface.

“The surface treatments are, for me, an extended part of my personality,” he said. “I consider myself to be a very textural person. For example, when I’m with my wife, I’m loving, which would equate to a smooth pot. When I’m hanging out with the guys, I tend to be more crude, which — in my pots — would come out as rough and highly textural.”

Chris is pursuing a master’s degree in ceramics at UNT and plans to teach.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in art from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, where he studied with ceramic artist William Wilhelmi and art professor Louis Katz.