Ubiquitous: new work by Liz Conces Spencer and Gene Hester

Archway Gallery presents Ubiquitous, featuring new work by Liz Conces Spencer and Gene Hester. The exhibition will be on view November 5 through December 1, 2016. The artists will be available to visit with guests during the opening reception Saturday, November 5, 2016, from 5 – 8 p.m. with a brief artists’ talk at 6:30 p.m.

The concept: Constantly encountered people, things and activities can blend to a monotony or they can be isolated for their intrinsic and remarkable values. The artists Gene Hester and Liz Conces Spencer will present collaborative and solo works that delve into and explore this idea. The works will include paintings, fused glass and sculpture.

Liz Conces Spencer   grew up in the refinery town of Pasadena, Texas and is a 1975 graduate of the art program at the University of St. Thomas. Intrigued by the visual tangle of urban/suburban life, she began to visually interpret what would become a lifetime study of figures and patterned landscapes. This reflection has crossed media lines from traditional painting to printmaking, sculpture and glass.

She has shown her work extensively since 1979 in gallery, group, festival and competitive venues. Spencer has completed commissions for the Houston Arts Alliance, the Houston Public Library, the City of Houston, Silver Eagle Distributing, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Talento Bilingue of Houston, the Cool Globes Project and Habitat for Humanity, as well as corporate clients and individuals. She frequently collaborates with other artists, notably Hester of Genesis Art Glass.

A teaching artist with Young Audiences of Houston, Spencer has been active in art education since 1979, serving on the board of City ArtWorks and teaching in public and private schools. She has worked for ad giants McCann Erickson and J Walter Thompson since 1996 in broadcast production and talent management.?

After receiving a B.A. from Midwestern State University in 1970, Hester joined the Peace Corps and served two years as an elementary teacher on the island of Borneo in Malaysia. Upon his return to the U.S., he went back to Midwestern State and received a B.F.A. in ceramics in 1974.

Purchasing an antique stained glass window prompted Hester’s move to Houston in 1975 to learn how to make the necessary repairs. He was then hired to work in the same glass studio until he and three other employees decided to open their own teaching studio in the summer of 1976; thus, was born Genesis Art Glass Studio and in 1977, Hester became its sole proprietor. Hester has created commissioned stained and leaded glass panels for residential, commercial and liturgical installations in addition to repairing numerous antique windows and a wide variety of artifacts for more than 37 years.

He has grown to love the fused glass process, producing sculptural and utilitarian items such as bowls, platters and boxes sold at outdoor art festivals and galleries such as Archway Gallery. On a larger scale, Hester has created fused panels for the Chevron Texaco headquarters, the Floyd Medical Center in Rome, Georgia, as well as light fixtures and wall sconces for several restaurants. His resume of corporate commissions and installations is broad, international and diverse, with completed projects too numerous to mention.??

In 2007, Hester started collaborating with Spencer to design and produce works of interest to both artists. The Chapel at Camp Aranzazu in Rockport, Texas, reveals the legend of our Lady of Aranzazu across five floor-to-ceiling exterior panels. The steel and fused glass Flores Public Library public commission project in Houston’s Second Ward was awarded to Spencer and Hester by the Houston Arts Alliance and installed in 2010. They collaborated on the national touring Cool Globes project, brought to Houston to celebrate clean energy. Today, their sculpture stands in front of the corporate headquarters of Silver Eagle Distributing.

The team completed fused glass backlit donor panels for the Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism, and is now working on collaborative projects for residential and commercial clients, as well as local and regional exhibitions.

Pictured: Gene Hester and Liz Conces Spencer, “Aspens.”