Gone are the cubicle walls and linoleum flooring left over from a tanning salon. Instead, the scent of dried paint and open space remain in the university’s new 2,500-square-foot satellite art gallery.

The Fort Worth Contemporary Arts gallery will hold its community opening tonight from 6 to 9 p.m. Its first exhibit, titled “Material Culture”, consists of 30 3-D, non-traditional pieces created by 12 artists, said Frances Colpitt, who holds the Deedie Potter Rose Chair of Art History.

“This is a survey of Texas artists – what we call emerging or mid-career (artists) – who are not really famous yet, who work in three dimensions using real materials like fabric,” Colpitt said. “They make sculptures but they don’t use bronze and other traditional sculpture materials.”

A yearlong search for a potential gallery space resulted in the renovation of a TCU-owned commercial space next to the Fort Worth Police Department substation on Greene Avenue across from the GrandMarc.

“We wanted to be in a real urban location and this seemed really appropriate,” Colpitt said.

The gallery was created with assistance from one of five TCU Vision In Action transformational grants, in which projects are “expected to transform the nature of the institution,” according to the grant’s Web site.

Ronald Watson, project director and chairman of the department of art and art history, said the grant is highly competitive.

“This was our second year to apply for the grant,” Colpitt said. “We applied in 2006, but weren’t successful until this past year.”

The gallery opening coincides with Tuesday’s annual meeting of the College Art Association of America in Dallas. A second opening reception will also be held that day specifically for visitors from the convention.

“We wanted to attract people from all over the country who are going to be in Dallas for this meeting,” Colpitt said.

In addition to the Fort Worth Contemporary Arts gallery, the University Art Gallery in Moudy Building North will remain open.

“Moudy is going to become a teaching gallery. It will be more integrated into the classroom with student shows,” Colpitt said. “This gallery is a way of bringing TCU out into the community.”

For Your Info

Fort Worth Contemporary Arts:
Open 1 to 6 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays