Frances Bagley: Oklahoma

September 10 through October 15, 2021

Location: 3317 West 4th Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76107

Hours: daylight

Blind Alley projects is pleased to announce Frances Bagley: Oklahoma, a single piece holding its own in a singular space. It is the presence of Oklahoma, with its parts in service to the whole, that first attracted us, and then there was the story of its collaborative making which poetically points to what art is and does as a collection of exchanges, ideas, influences, references, and inspirations manifested in a particular form.

In a statement for this exhibition, Bagley asserts, “I am interested in the form of the figure as sculpture because it conveys energy and information relevant to our relationship with the body. Through the sense of our own physicality there is empathy either consciously or unconsciously with figural sculpture. In addition, figurative sculpture occupies the same space that we do with a similar sense of presence you feel from another person in the room.” She goes on to explain, “This sculpture titled Oklahoma began as a different piece. After the original piece was exhibited in a gallery in Oklahoma it was returned to me wrapped in two blankets as if someone had dressed the figure. The functional act of protecting the sculpture for travel had a curious consideration about how it was done. Some stranger had unknowingly transformed my sculpture into a better piece by adding a layer of subconscious empathy to the form of the body. I could not take the blankets off.”

Living and working in Dallas, Texas, Frances Bagley has exhibited extensively throughout her 40-year career along with a strong community involvement in support of women’s and artist’s rights. She has been a member of the women’s collaborative, Toxic Shock since its beginning in 1980. An award recipient in the 10th Kajima Sculpture Exhibition in Tokyo, Japan, and in the 2007 Texas Biennial, Bagley’s work is included in museum and corporate collections, including The Dallas Museum of Art, The National Museum of Women in Washington D.C., The El Paso

Museum, and American Airlines, among others. Bagley has also been involved in numerous public art projects, and collaborated with her husband, artist Tom Orr, to create sets and costume designs for Verdi’s Nabucco, which opened The Dallas Opera’s 50th anniversary season. Her awards include, the Moss Chumley Artists Award from the Meadows Museum, the Individual Artist Grant from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, and the Legend Award from the Dallas Center for Contemporary Art.