Libbie Masterson

Libbie Masterson
Still: A Study of Texas in the Evening

January 22 - March 26, 2014

Libbie Masterson, Still: A Study of Texas in the Evening, was made possible in part by a
grant from the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance. We are most grateful for
their generous support. We wish to thank Catherine Couturier Gallery for allowing us to
show this collection.

Thanks to Pam Clarke at Designs in Print; Garrick Joubert, Dan Ko and Kingwood TV; Jason
Watson and Kingwood Media; Crateworks and artist’s assistant Jessie Bowman. Thanks
also to graphic designer T.C. Robson and gallery liaison Jennifer Espejo. Special thanks to
LSC-Kingwood President Katherine Persson and Darcy Mingoia, Executive Director,
Lone Star College Foundation, for their continuous support. Libbie Masterson’s work is a
tribute to the Lone Star State and the rich tradition of exemplary artists who call Texas home.

Kristine Larson
Gallery Director
LSC-Kingwood Fine Art Gallery

Table of Contents

The Artist..........................................................................1
Images............................................................................ 3
Biography/CV................................................................ 17

Libbie Masterson

Still, a series of evening photographs, is based on the rugged landscapes of West Texas.
I chose the name because it refers to the stillness that you find in the evening and also
touches on the unchanging quality of the terrain. These black and white images shot
with evening light evoke nostalgia and quietude. The word still also denotes a single-cell
photograph. The idea is to capture a feeling of timelessness. To preserve something that
is unknown, beautiful and frightening. Something so foreign, yet somehow familiar.

This series speaks both to the grand scale of Texas and the intimacy found in such an
untouched and mysterious place. The 4 x 38 foot panoramic installation draws on the sense of openness and
distance. In contrast, a small suite of six single images are more human in scale. These capture moments so quiet,
all you can hear is the sound of your own breathing. The handmade portfolio on the pedestal is taken directly
from the panorama and can be read through like a book or a family album. Ideally a viewer will experience the
terrain in a quiet setting, taking the time to be still.

Photographing Big Bend in the evening was an adventure. I didn’t know what to expect and had no idea it
would be so captivating. My formal training and background began with painting and sculpture. At the time,
a working knowledge of the camera was still a challenge! It was also a bit unnerving, being alone at night on
the Texas border with the snakes and the mountain lions. During my second trip, however, I joined a group led
by photographers Scott Martin and Lance Keimig. It was still a little spooky, even with a group, but it was very
rewarding. And together we ventured to places I would not have attempted alone.

1

I shot the large panorama several times. At first, I intended to make the image super sharp. But the more
I looked at it, the more I wanted it to feel like someone, maybe Clint Eastwood, should be riding through it.
A solution was found by putting a filter behind the photograph to soften the light.

Though I wasn’t alone while shooting the four-part panorama, I was still distant from our group. As I was
shooting across the Rio Grande, I kept imagining I was seeing things. Later as I was processing the images,
I kept zooming in to see if the camera might have caught something I couldn’t quite see. This is one of the cool
surprises with shooting in the evening. One can sometimes find things that were right there in front of you. Yet,
they only become visible when captured by a long exposure.

The Lightning Series is a journal about Hurricane Ike as it was passing through. It wasn’t really the lightning itself
I was trying to capture, but the landscape and silhouettes created by the lightning. At the time I wasn’t thinking
of the practicality of standing in the middle of a storm with a large metal tripod. I was inspired. Now I have a
carbon fiber tripod, although I don’t know whether that would have made a difference.

I refer to the series of six small archival inkjet prints as the Small Suite because they are such a different scale
than I usually make. I love the idea of a musical suite and having a collection which gives variety. All together it
makes a story. It is also nice to have something that is more intimate. There is a little something different in each
of them and they are all experiments. In one, a pickup truck drove right through the shot, headlights and all. You
can’t even see it because the exposure was so long. It was fantastic.

Libbie Masterson

2

Moon Round Top, 3FJ6332, 2009, 8 x 12 inches, archival inkjet print

3

Big Bend (left), 2009, 4’ x 35’ panoramic installation, inkjet transparency, LED light panels

4

Big Bend (right), 2009, 4’ x 35’ panoramic installation, inkjet transparency, LED light panels

5

Lightning Series: Round Top Texas, Ike, 3fj6329, 3fj6326, 3fj6327, 3fj6330, 3fj6323, 3fj6322, 2009, 8 x 12 inches, archival inkjet prints

6

Moon Round Top, 3FJ6475, 2009, 24 x 36 inches, chromogenic print

7

Big Bend Panorama, 2 of 4 parts, 2009, 18 x 24 inches each, chromogenic print

8

Big Bend Panorama, 2 of 4 parts, 2009, 18 x 24 inches each, chromogenic print

9

Terlingua, 2009, 4 x 12 inches, archival inkjet print

10

Riverbed, 2009, 12 x 8 inches, archival inkjet print

11

Big Bend Parks, 2009, 3.5 x 12 inches, archival inkjet print

12

Rio Grande at Night, 2009, 12 x 8 inches,
archival inkjet print

13

Rio Grande South, 2009, 8 x 12 inches, archival ink jet print

14

Chisos Mountains, 2009, 6 x 13 inches, archival ink jet print

15

Panorama Portfolio, 2009, 14 x 16 inches, handmade book, light jet chromogenic prints

16

Biography

Libbie Masterson earned a BFA from the California College of Arts. Through her travels to Europe, Norway,
Iceland, Alaska and Antarctica, Masterson developed a series of photographs illuminated with light panels.
These photographs, scaling up to 70 feet in length, have shown at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft,
the Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston and the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston. In 2008, she created a stage
set for The Mozart Trilogy, performed by the Dominic Walsh Dance Theatre and the Sarasota Ballet in Houston,
Dallas, New York and Tokyo. As designer with Masterson Design, she also created a stained glass installation
for the Amazing Place Chapel.

In 2009, Masterson was awarded an Individual Artists Grant from the Houston Arts Alliance to develop Still: A
Study of Texas in the Evening, which was first shown in 2009-10. She continued her work in Provence, receiving
a residency awarded by the MFAH at the Dora Maar House, in the South of France. The resulting series NUIT,
was exhibited at Wade Wilson Art during FotoFest Biennial 2012. At that time Masterson created a second
set design for Dominic Walsh, Claudel, and a photographic mural of 100 feet, installed at 2Houston Center
building in downtown Houston. In April 2013, she produced a temporary installation of illuminated blossoms
for the reflection pool at Hermann Park in concurrence with designing a set for the Houston Grand Opera,
HGOco. Titled The Memory Stone, this opera was based on Japan and the Japanese Garden in the Park. The
influence of Japanese themes was seen in Water’s Edge (Mizugiwa), an exhibition last summer of her latest work
at the Catherine Couturier Gallery (formerly John Cleary Gallery) Houston.

As a curator for the Houston Center for Photography, Masterson has produced the exhibitions Magical Realism
in Photography (2011) and Unusual Garden (2013). She is currently working on a show of photography that
deals with principles of science and the use of photography in research. Masterson also serves as a reviewer for
FotoFest and Lens Culture, Paris.

17

CV

Education

Davidson College, Davidson, NC, 1988-89
California College of the Arts, Oakland, CA, BFA in Glass/Sculpture, 1995
Parsons School of Design, Paris, Continuing studies, Fall 1999

Exhibitions/Productions

2013
Water’s Edge (Mizugiwa), Catherine Couturier Gallery, Houston
The Memory Stone, opera scenic design commissioned by HGO, Houston
Illuminated Lily Pond, temporary site installation, Hermann Park, Houston

2012
Photographic mural for the 2 Houston Center Building Exterior, commissioned by
Rottet Design Studio and CBRE, Houston
Houston Center for Photography Membership Exhibition, Juror: Anne Wilkes Tucker, MFAH
NUIT, Wade Wilson Gallery, Houston
Claudel, scenic design for Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, Houston
Fact Fiction and Interpretation, Glassell School of Art, Houston, Jurors: Clint Willour - curator, Galveston
Arts Center

2011
Assistance League of Houston Celebrates Texas Art, Houston, Juror: Heather Pesanti - curator,
Albright-Knox Museum of Art

18

Professional Women Photographers’ 35th Anniversary, Second Prize in the NATURE Category
Texas National 2011, The Cole Art Center, Nacadoches, TX, Juror: James Drake

2010
Texas Positivism, Miami, FL
Amazing Place, Houston, Commission of glass mosaic window for chapel
SKY, Wade Wilson Gallery, Houston
Texas National 2010, The Cole Art Center, Nacadoches, TX, Juror: Judy Pfaff
Assistance League of Houston Celebrates Texas Art, Houston, Juror: John Zarobell, SFMOMA

2009
Still, installation for Houston Arts Alliance, Space 125 Gallery, Houston, with a grant from
the City of Houston
Texas National 2009, The Cole Art Center, Nacadoches, TX, Juror: Mel Chin
Assistance League of Houston Celebrates Texas Art, Juror: Shelley R. Langdale,
Philadelphia Museum of Art

2008
Snow, Perspectives 161, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Curator: Valerie Cassel-Oliver
“Mozart Trilogy,” scenic Design for Dominic Walsh Dance Theatre, Houston

2007
YEAR07 London Art Fair with AR Contemporary, Milan
Ís, Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston

19

The Big Show, Lawndale Art Center, Houston
2006
The Big Show, Lawndale Art Center, Houston
Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, installation of photographic wall
2005
19th and 20th Century Landscapes, Meredith Long Gallery, Houston
2004
Journeys, Meredith Long Gallery, Houston
Norwegian Landscapes, Nordic Heritage Museum, Seattle, WA
2002
New Horizons, Meredith Long Gallery, Houston
2001
The American Landscape Today, Meredith Long Gallery, Houston
in Kind, Bubba Mavis Gallery, Seattle, WA, Solo exhibition
1997-2005
Group winter exhibitions, Meredith Long Gallery, Houston
1995
Many More, California College of Arts, Oakland, CA, solo installation
Bachelor of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition, California College of Arts, Oakland, CA

20

Awards

2011
Professional Women Photographers’ 35th Anniversary, Second Prize, NATURE Category
2009
Brown Foundation Fellowship, Residency at the Dora Maar House, Menerbes, France
Houston Arts Alliance, Individual Artist Grant
2006
The Big Show, Lawndale Arts Center, Second Place, Juror: Dominic Molon, curator,
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

Engagements

2012
Speaker, TEDx, The Woodlands, TX
2009
Artist Eye Lecture Series, Menil Collection, Houston, Guest Speaker

Collections

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
AT&T, Dallas, TX
Tudor-Pickering, Houston

21

Publications

“Libbie Masterson: Water’s Edge (Mizugiwa),” Front Row Program, KUHF, Houston Public Radio,
August 13, 2013
“Water, Water Everywhere,” Meredith Deliso, Houston Press, June 19, 2013
”Liles in Hermann Park glow in full Bloom,” Molly Glentzer, Houston Chronicle, April 2013
“100 Creatives 2012: Libbie J. Masterson, Artist, Curator and Creator,” Olivia Flores Alvarez, Houston Press
“Libbie Masterson: Nuit,” interview program, KUHF, Houston Public Radio, March 2012
“Libbie Masterson: Storms Under Plexiglass,” Afrodet, The Loop Scoop, May 2010
“Night and Day with Libbie Masterson,” Stacey Holzer, Visualseen, Fall 2010
Texas Artists Today, Catherine Anspon, Marquand Books, 2010
“SKY,” Front Row, interview program on KUHF, Houston Public Radio, April 2010
“For Art’s Sake,” Lance Walker, Houston 002, December 2009
“Revelry Report” interview, KTRU 91.7 Houston, December 2009
“Perspectives 162: Snow,” Front Row, interview program on KUHF, 88.7 FM Houston, July 2008
“Revelry Report,” interview, KTRU 91.7 Houston, July 2008
“ArtGirls,” Catherine Anspon, Paper City, Houston, March 2008
“Arms and the men,” dance review, Molly Glentzer, Houston Chronicle, Feb 9, 2008
HIWI, Houston It’s Worth It, published by ttweak LLC, 2007
“Ís,” Sean Carroll, Houston Press, June 2007
“Ice Age”, Elaina J. Martin, Brilliant Magazine, Texas, May 2007
“Great Minds Think Alike,” Sharon Lorenzo, In-Town Magazine, Houston, February 2006
Ceelite, casestudy published to industry websites, 2006

22

Made possible in part by a grant from
the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance.

LSC-Kingwood Fine Art Gallery
20000 Kingwood Drive

Kingwood, TX 77339-3801
Phone 281.312.1534
LoneStar.edu/Kingwood

Affirmative Action/EEO College