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Wednesday,
October 18, 2000:
Note:
This story is from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal archives. The
story is a complete reprint from the original news feature. This
web posting ©2001-2002, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. For more information
about copyrights, view our web site.
From
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, September 8, 1997
Holly mail art show gets stamp of approval
By WILLIAM KERNS
A-J Entertainment Editor
Buddy Holly's influence has been felt throughout Lubbock since
the second annual Buddy Holly Music Festival kicked off Thursday.
A mail art exhibit titled ''The Day the Music Died'' opened Sunday
at the Lubbock Fine Arts Center, 2600 Ave. P. Admission is free
and the exhibit will remain on display through Oct. 3.
Mail art refers to art work submitted by mail, usually in thematic
fashion.
''The art can be inside the envelope, or it can be the envelope
itself,'' said center Director Connie Gibbons. ''Some mail art
pieces are meant to be opened, and some are not. A lot of people
do designs using rubber stamps or unique postage stamps.
''There have been galleries doing mail art shows for years, but
this is our first. And I've met a lot of people who do only mail
art, and it is a very, very serious endeavor for them.''
Gibbons received advice from Lubbock architect Michael Martin,
who has participated in many mail art exhibitions. Using his mailing
list and Internet sites, she compiled the names of artists to
be invited. A total of 149 took part in the Lubbock exhibit.
Works in ''The Day the Music Died'' represent various media, including
photography, printmaking, ceramics, collage and painting. The
Lubbock Fine Arts Center received art from Russia, Germany, Japan
and Great Britain.
Pieces also came from Lubbock, San Marcos and Colorado and Florida.
Gibbons and her staff members have been somewhat surprised by
the diversity of interpretations of the exhibition's theme. Most
associate the title with the lyrics in Don McLean's ''American
Pie,'' in which he refers to Buddy Holly's death - in a 1959 plane
crash - as the day the music died.
''But it's not a direct reference,'' Gibbons pointed out. ''We've
received a lot of pieces that include drawings or pictures of
Buddy Holly. But the phrase also was associated with other things,
other people. For example, we've received one piece that is not
about Buddy Holly but instead devoted to Frank Zappa.
''And to tell the truth, that's really what we wanted. Yes, the
exhibit was planned in conjunction with the Buddy Holly Music
Festival. But we're excited by the wide range of responses to
the overall theme. We wondered how all of these different artists
would respond to that phrase.''
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