BEN WOITENA

BORN: 1942, San Antonio, Texas
RESIDES: Since 1972, Houston, Texas

EDUCATION:

1961 -1964 University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas - B.F.A.
1968 -1970 University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California M.F.A.

TEACHING:

1971 -1998 Glassell School of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

DOCUMENTARIES:

1976 Thirty-minute documentary awarded by Houston’s National Educational Television Station (Channel 8, KUHT)

entitled, Actual Yardage Gained

1977 Twenty-minute film in conjunction with The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX

exhibition entitled, Studio

1988 One-hour documentary by Professor Jay McHale, Associate Professor of English, Salem State College, Salem, MA

entitled Kerouac Commemorative Dedication

1994 Eleven-minute documentary by Houston’s Public Television Station (Channel 8, KUHT)

entitled Sculpture on the Green

COMMISSIONS:

1988 Jack Kerouac Commemorative, Eastern Canal Park, Lowell, Massachusetts

1990 Emett F. Lowry Commemorative, Texas City, Texas

2005 Time Line, Bush Intercontinental Airport, “Terminal E”, Houston, Texas

2005 Kinkaid School Centennial Sculpture, Kinkaid School, Houston, Texas

2016 GRB IS GREEN, Houston First Corporation, George R. Brown Convention

Center, Houston, Texas

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

2022 The Box: An Invitational Exhibition Honoring Geri Hooks, Hooks Epstein Gallery, Houston, Texas

2021 Salmon Sculpture Competition in Memory of Pam Salmon, Sunken Garden Park, San Angelo, Texas

2019 Ben Woitena: Nature of the Sublime, Arts Council of Midland, Midland, Texas (solo exhibition)

2018 33rd Annual International Exhibition, Meadows Gallery, University of Texas at Tyler, Texas
Beyond Narrative: Variations Set Free From A Theme, College of the Mainland Art Gallery, Texas City, Texas. (Solo Exhibition)

2017 Profusion in the Void, TSG juried exhibition, Artspace111, 111 Hampton Street, Fort Worth, Texas

2016 Texas 12, Texas Sculpture Group, The Arts Center Texas Gallery, College Station, Texas. Curator: Alison de Lima Greene, Isabel Brown Wilson Curator Modern and Contemporary Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

Sculpture Month Houston, ¾ Time sculpture in Memorial Park, Houston utilized as logo for Sculpture Month exhibitions.
Site Gallery Houston, Sculptor Month Houston, The Silos at Sayer Yards, Houston, Texas
Above and Below, Sculpture Month Houston, Decorative Center, Houston, Texas
Space Garden, Art Scan Gallery, Houston, Texas

2015 The Lyricism of Ben Woitena, Selected works in wood, steel and stone, Heritage Plaza Lobby, Houston, Texas

West Texas Triangle Artist 2015, exhibiting at the Museum of the Southwest in Midland, Ellen Noël Art Museum in Odessa, the Grace Museum in Abilene, Old Jail Art Center in Albany, and the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts in San Angelo, Texas
Amplified Abstraction, El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, Texas

AMOA Biennial-600 SCULPTURE, Amarillo Museum of Art, Amarillo, Texas
Ben Woitena, Solo exhibition Hooks Epstein Galleries, Houston, Texas

2014 Third Annual Richard and Pam Salmon Sculpture Competition, Sunken Garden Park, San Angelo, Texas

Texas A & M University, Islander Gallery, Corpus Christi, Texas

A Panoramic View, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, Texas
Another Layover: Selections from the Portable Works Collection, Houston Arts Alliance – Alliance Gallery, Houston, Texas
In Space: Member Exhibit, Texas Sculpture Group, Dougherty Art Center, Austin, Texas
Art on the Green, 2014 Sculpture Invitational, Kemp Center for the Arts, Wichita Falls, Texas

2013 Second Annual Richard and Pam Salmon Sculpture Competition, Sunken Garden Park, San Angelo, Texas (Awarded First Place)

OPAL: Downtown Tyler Outdoor Public Art on Loan Program, City of Tyler, Texas

Florida Outdoor Sculpture Competition 2013, Polk Museum of Art and cities of Winter Haven and Lakeland, Florida

Tenth Annual: Art in the Garden, San Antonio Botanical Garden, San Antonio, TX

2012 2012-2013 Chicago Parks District, Chicago Sculpture International Exhibition, Chicago, Illinois

Odyssey 2012-2013 Exhibition, Purdue University North Central Campus, Westville, Indiana

2011 2011 Texas Sculpture Symposium, University of Texas, Tyler, Texas

2010 Point Counter Point, Solo exhibition, San Jacinto College (south campus), Houston, Texas

2010-2011 Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA), 220 Cypress Street, Abilene, Texas

2009 Seventh Annual Sculptors Dominion Invitational 2009, Outdoor Gallery and Sculpture Garden Exhibit, Large to Monumental Scale Sculpture, San Antonio, Texas

Mid-South Sculpture Alliance, Conference 2009 Inside, Chattanooga, Tennessee

2008 Ben Woitena: A Retrospective 1963-2008, Umlauf Sculpture Garden & Museum, Austin, Texas

A Prognosis of Death, The Coburn Art Gallery, Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio

2008 Art in the Park, Arts Assembly of Midland, Windlands Park large scale sculpture exhibition, Midland, Texas

2007 Justice for All?: Artists Reflect on the Death Penalty, M2 Gallery, Houston, Texas
Fifth Annual Sculptors Dominion Invitational 2007, Outdoor Gallery and Sculpture Garden Exhibit, Large to Monumental Scale Sculpture, San Antonio, Texas
Metal Art, Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, Missouri
2007 Waco National Outdoor Sculpture Invitational, Waco, Texas

Texas Uprising 2007, Blue Star Contemporary Art Center, Sunset Station, San Antonio, Texas
Sculpture Invasion, Koehnline Museum of Art, Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, Illinois
2007 Texas Sculpture Symposium, Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas

2006 A Southern Presence, Lexington Art League, Lexington, Kentucky
Justice for All?: Artists Reflect on the Death Penalty, Gallery Lombardi, Austin, Texas
Fourth Annual Sculptors Dominion Invitational 2006, Outdoor Gallery and Sculpture Garden Exhibit, Large to Monumental Scale Sculpture, San Antonio, Texas
Miniature Art, 22 Annual Exhibition, Council for the Arts, Chambersburg, PA

2005 Third Annual Sculptors Dominion Invitational 2005, Outdoor Gallery and Sculpture Garden Exhibit, Large to Monumental Scale Sculpture, San Antonio, Texas
Navy Pier Walk 2005, Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois

2004 Texas Uprising, Indoor & Outdoor Sculpture, Blue Star Contemporary Art Center and Sunset Station, San Antonio, Texas

Second Annual Sculptors Dominion Invitational 2004, Outdoor Gallery and Sculpture Garden Exhibit, Large to Monumental Scale Sculpture, San Antonio, Texas
38th Annual National Drawing and Small Sculpture Show, Del Mar College, Corpus Christi, Texas

2003 Avenue Community Development Corporation Seventh Annual Art on the Avenue, Winter Street Art Space, Houston, Texas

38 for XXXIII, Reliant Energy Plaza, Houston, Texas

2002 Pier Walk Maquette Exhibition, Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois
Synthesis, Richard Stout and Ben Woitena, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, Texas
Pier Walk 2002, Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois
North Carolina Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, Greensboro, North Carolina
Pier Walk Maquette Exhibition, Southwestern Illinois University, William and Florence Schmidt Art Center, Illinois

2001   Texas Best! Sculptors on Sculpture, 2000 Lecture Series, January 24, 2001, Umlauf
Sculpture Garden and Museum, Austin
Pier Walk 2000 Maquette Exhibition, James R. Thompson Center, Chicago, Illinois
Ben Woitena, Sculpture and Drawings, San Antonio College, Visual Arts Center Gallery, San Antonio, Texas
Robert Tiemann, Paintings and Ben Woitena, Sculpture and Drawings, Joan Grona Gallery, San Antonio, Texas
Pier Walk 2001, Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois

The 41st Annual Invitational Awards, Sculpture, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, Texas

2000 Pier Walk 2000 Maquette Exhibition, James R. Thompson Center, Chicago, Illinois
Texas A & M University Art in Public Places Program organized by the Arts Council of Brazos Valley, City of Bryan Municipal Building, Bryan, Texas
34th Annual National Drawing and Small Sculpture Show, Del Mar College, Corpus Christi, Texas
Journey: Sculpture 2000, Large outdoor sculpture exhibition conceived and curated by Ben Woitena to coincide with the 18th International Sculpture Conference, Houston Sculpture 2000, sponsored by the International Sculpture Conference, Houston, Texas
Pier Walk 2000, Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois

Life & Death: Sculpture Court, Art League of Houston, Houston, Texas
Go Figure, Houston Sculpture 2000, Group exhibition of area sculptors, Louisiana Place, Houston, Texas
Oakton Community College exhibition of large-scale sculpture entitled Around Midnight, Des Plaines, Illinois

SELECTED COLLECTIONS:

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, Texas

City of Houston, Memorial Park, Houston, Texas

Trammell Crow Company, Irving, Texas

Brown and Root, Inc., Houston, Texas

Chevron Chemical Company, Houston, Texas

City of Houston, Houston Police Department: Wellness Center, Houston, Texas

City of Texas City, City Hall, Texas City, Texas

Eastern Canal Park, Lowell, Massachusetts

The Woodlands Corporation, The Woodlands, Texas

Enron Corp., Houston, Texas

United Gas Pipeline Company, Shreveport, Louisiana

John Hansen Developer, Houston, Texas

City of Abilene, Civic Center Grounds, Abilene, Texas

Old Jail Art Center, Albany, Texas

Museum of the Southeast, Beaumont, Texas

Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, Texas

Amarillo Museum of Art, Amarillo, Texas

El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, Texas

Kinkaid School, Houston, Texas

City of Houston, Terminal “E”, Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston, Texas

Vassar Museum, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., Houston, Texas

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:

John DeFore, “A public sculptor’s intimate side”, San Antonio Current, ArtSpace, p. 15,
March 15-21, 2001, (photograph)

The Art Center of Waco, Altered States, catalogue, Waco, Texas, September, 1998.
Little, Carol Morris, A Comprehensive Guide To Outdoor Sculpture In Texas, pp. 25, 29--30, 43, 54, 117, 278-279, 302, 402,447, Austin, University of Texas Press, 1996. (photograph)

Grabel, Naomi, Editor, “Cast: Marble Sculptor, Ben Woitena,” Houston Performances, Arts And Theatre Magazine, p.15, October, 1992.

Wilson, Michael, Editor, Danton’s Death, book, Alley Theatre, Houston, Texas, 1992.

Hickey, Dave, Free-lance writer/art critic, “Outdoor Sculpture Looking at Art in Public Places ‘Ben Woitena-Dos Equis,’ “ Abilene Fifth Annual Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition and
Retrospective, catalogue, June 1986. (photograph)

Schjedahl, Peter, “Art and Money in the City of Future-Think,” Houston City Magazine, pp. 46 & 56, February, 1980. (photograph)

Reese, Becky Duval, Curator, Made in Texas, catalogue, Archer M. Huntington Gallery, University Art Museum, The University of Texas at Austin, August, 1979. (photograph)

Smith, Roberta, “Twelve Days of Texas”, Art In America, pp. 42-48 July/August, 1976.
(photograph)

Ben Woitena

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