About

Paulina van Bavel-Kearney

Paulina’s artwork career began as a student at the University of Texas, studying under Ishmael Soto in the early 70′s.  After graduating she worked in a cooperative studio in Austin known as Westbank Pottery.  Teaching was always a love for Paulina and she began some of the earliest classes for children in clay through Laguna Gloria Art Museum.  She was the instructor of pottery for St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in the late 70′s and in 1977 she began working full time on her artwork.  A recipient of the Texas Institute of Letters – Paisano Fellowship in 1978 meant a six month stay on the J.Frank Dobie Ranch in the Hill Country above Austin.  This was a formative experience helping Paulina and Jim to make the decision to move to Colorado County in the early 1980′s to raise their children and to take up the family cattle business .  In 1993 with three children in the public school system Paulina was asked to begin a program of art in the local elementary schools.  She taught for 8 years at this level and then 10 more at the high school level.  She has kept producing work showing for many years in Santa Fe at the Contemporary Craftsmen and then Patina Galleries.  Over the years she has had many articles featuring her work, numerous one and two person exhibits in Museums and galleries around the state.  She also won regional prizes at the Texas Crafts Exhibitions at the University of Texas at Winedale.    Her work has been collected by several museums and many private and corporate collections.  Below is a summary of her career.  In 2011 she retired from teaching and is now back at work in her studio with renewed excitement.  Please return often to see new work which will be posted on this website.

Born 1949, Ames Iowa

Graduate BFA, with Honors, University of Texas, Austin 1971

Married to James C. Kearney, author and rancher,

Retired in 2011 from teaching art for CISD, Columbus Texas.

Gallery representation: Harris Gallery, Houston,  Round Top Gallery, Round Top, TX

 

Selected Awards

Recipient of J. Frank Dobie Paisano Fellowship, 1978-1979

Texas Crafts Exhibition, UT Center for American History, First Place Award

Winedale, 1976, 1981, 1990, Third Place, 2003, First Place Award – 2004

Texas Clay Festival, Houston Texas , Best Overall Display 2008

 

Selected Group Exhibitions

 

Made in  Texas, UT San Antonio Art Gallery, curated by Ron Boling,  New Braunfels Museum of Art and Music, 2001

Texas Clay II, Southwest Texas University, San Marcos, curated by Michel Conroy

Arlington Museum of Art, 1993

Contemporary Crafts:  A Concept in Flux, curated by Helen Drutt English, 1987

New Expressions in Contemporary Crafts, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1981

Texas Crafts, Touring exhibition, Blaffer Gallery, 1979

 

Gallery and Museum Exhibitions

 

Live Oak Art Center, Columbus, Texas with Ann Matlock and V. Chin, 2000

Contemporary Craftsman, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1988

Harris Gallery, Houston, Texas 1987

Front Room Gallery, Dallas, Texas 1987

Galerie Ravel, Austin, Texas 1987

Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas 1980

Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas 1977

 

Museum and Corporate Collections

Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas

Lannan Foundation, Palm Beach, Florida

Standard Oil of Ohio, Houston, Texas

M-Bank, Houston, Texas

Hill Bank and Trust, Weimar, Texas