Press Release

 

Bird and Rocks Listening to the Sound of Blue, Kelly Fearing. © 2011

Sunday, March 13, 2011 OJAC Trustee Advisor, Wm. Kelly Fearing passed away at his home in West Lake Hills, Austin, Texas.  One of the pioneers of Modernist art in Texas, Fearing has been involved with the Old Jail since its founding, becoming associated with the OJAC Board in 1979.  Wm. Kelly Fearing, a native of Arkansas, enrolled in the Louisiana Polytechnic Institute in the late 1930s, achieving a BA in 1941. Fearing went on to become (for a short time) a public school teacher before volunteering for defense industry training, which brought him to Fort Worth, Texas in the 1940s. He worked as a draftsman and production illustrator with to-be friend Dickson Reeder, prior to the creation of the "Fort Worth Circle."

 

Beginning in the mid-1940s, Fearing began to rise in the local art scene, exhibiting with other Fort Worth artists and friends such as the Reeders, Bill Bomar, and others. Fearing quickly developed themes of human spirituality in his work, often creating mystical and vibrant scenes. In the late ‘40s, Fearing was named Head of the Texas Wesleyan College Art Department, where he remained until 1947, at which time he left the school for a position in the newly-created University of Texas Art Department in Austin. Fearing remained an honored educator with the UT Austin art department until 1987.

The Permanent and Study Collections of The Old Jail Art Center contain numerous works by Kelly Fearing including paintings, collage, and prints. Fearing was also featured in a 60-year retrospective exhibition in 2002, The Mystical World of Kelly Fearing. We will all miss the generosity, creativity, and kindness of spirit which Kelly gave freely to all.

Read the article from the Fort Worth Star Telegram HERE.