"A Showing on the Beach" Rockport Art Center Poster

"A Showing on the Beach" Rockport Art Center Poster       May 28 - July 5 1988

Rare Historical Signed Poster by All Four Artists

~ Kent Ullberg, Herb Booth, Jack Cowan, Al Barnes ~

Kent Ullberg, an internationally-recognized wildlife sculptor, is a native of Sweden who has lived on Padre Island, Corpus Christi, for decades.   He has been part of the Rockport art scene for many years, exhibiting and participating in conservation causes.  Several of his public art sculptures are part of the Rockport Center for the Arts Sculpture Garden.  He studied at the Swedish Konstfack University College of Art in Stockholm and at museums in Germany, the Netherlands and France. He lived for seven years in Botswana, Africa and served the last four years there as curator at the Botswana
National Museum and Gallery.   www.kentullberg.net

Herb Booth was a skilled wildlife artist who merged his experience as a hunter, fisherman and naturalist to produce authentic sporting scenes in watercolor and prints.  He, Jack Cowan and Al Barnes called themselves “The Rockport Gang,’ spending time together, often with Kent Ullberg and Steve Russell, in the wild and encouraging each other as artists.   They also donated much of their art and time to raise money for environmental causes and organizations such as the Coastal Conservation Association and Ducks Unlimited.  Booth was the poster artist for the Rockport Center for the Arts in 1996.   He and Russell both mentored Chance Yarbrough as the next generation of sporting and wildlife artists.

Al Barnes was an internationally-known nature and wildlife artist active in Rockport for many years.   His paintings of water and fishing scenes along the Gulf Coast, in Mexico and the Caribbean have been prized by many discerning collectors.  His work is held in many private, corporate and museum collections.  He was the “Waterfowl Artist of the Year for the National Ducks Unlimited organization and the Coastal Conservation Association Stamp Artist three times, in addition to other wildlife honors.   He, Jack Cowan and Herb Booth called themselves “The Rockport Gang,” working for conservation and environmental causes.   Barnes was the 1995 poster art for the art center’s art festival.

John P. “Jack” Cowan was a long-time Rockport resident considered the “Grandfather” of the Texas Gulf Coast Sporting and Wildlife School of Art.   With Herb Booth and Al Barnes, “The Rockport Gang,” he supported many early environmental groups, including the Coastal Conservation Association and Ducks Unlimited.   He and his son-in-law Joe Allen were instrumental in passing Texas legislation to protect redfish for future generations.  He was named Texas State Artist in 1978-1979.  His paintings are in many important art collections, including that of former President George W. Bush, with whom he fished and who he painted at San Jose Island.

His notes on “The Island” print available in the auctions:

“I was pulled up on Mud Island one day, studying my navigation chart, when I noticed a group of Canada geese loafing along fairly low, making their way up San Jose Island against a light norther.  I looked at the chart, then the geese, then the chart, and an idea began to gel.  That chart indicated that Mud Island almost intersects the big island at about 45 degrees.  If I could get above Mud Island and look east into a nice sunrise, the smaller island would make a graceful lead-in element to the larger island, with its interesting ranch-house complex, runway, and harbor.  Even the gulf beyond would probably show.  The Canadas, always a graphic bird, could be the dominant element and symbolize the big island’s abundant wildlife….Ideas for paintings sometimes start in strange paces.”

Size 16 1/2" x 10 1/2"