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Silent Conversations |
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Learning the Language of Art .
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Television Documentary Bachers featured as part of a 26 episode HD-/TV series focusing on artists and the healing arts The Art of Living to air Winter 2007-08 Veria Network
Publications
The Best of Colored Pencil Volume 2, 1994 Rockport Publishers, Inc
The Best of Colored Pencil Volume 5, 1999 Rockport Publishers, Inc.
Selected Juried Shows2007 Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council Fourth Place 2006 Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council Purchase Award 2006 Texas and Neighbors Art Competition, Irving Texas 2005 TRAHC Juried Exhibition 2005 Texas and Neighbors Regional Exhibition Irving, Texas 2005 Fiesta Arts Fest, San Antonio, Texas 2004 Rockwall National Juried Exhibition, Rockwall, Texas 2004 Texas and Neighbors Art Competition, Irving, Texas 2004 Annual Regional Juried Show, Richardson, Texas Second Place 2003 Texas and Neighbors Art Competition, Irving, Texas Second Place 2002 Texarkana Regional Arts And Humanities Juried Exhibition, First Place 2002 Viewpoint Gallery, Schenectady, New York, Purchase Award 2001 International Art Show, Minneapolis First Place 2000 Hill Country Arts Foundation COUNTERPOINT Exhibition, Ingram, Texas 2000 National Exhibit 2000, Visual Arts Center, Punta Gorda, Florida 2000 Plano Art Association National Juried Exhibition, Plano, Texas 2000 34th Annual Regional Juried Show, Richardson, Texas 2000 TRAHC Juried Exhibition, Texarkana 1999 42nd Annual DELTA Exhibition, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock 1999 Critic’s Choice Exhibition, Dallas Visual Arts Center, Dallas 1999 Citation ’99, Texas Visual Artists, Dallas 1999 American Physician Artists Association Juried Exhibition, Dallas Convention Center, Dallas First Place 1998 The 1999 Easter Seal Art Competition, Chicago Work selected as 1999 Easter Seal 1998 Hot Springs Convention Center, Hot Springs, Arkansas Five works selected for opening exhibition 1998 Hill Country Arts Foundation CONFLUENCE Exhibition, Ingram, Texas Confluence Award 1998 Texas and Neighbors Art Competition, Irving 1998 International Art Show, Minneapolis First Place 1998 Colored Pencil Society of America 6th International Exhibition, Arlington, Virginia 1998 Southwest Color ’98, San Diego 1998 Florida Art Center NATIONAL 100, Havana, Florida 1998 TRAHC Exhibition, Texarkana First Place 1997 TRAHC Exhibition, Texarkana Best of Show 1997 Southwest Color, San Diego 1997 Laredo International Exhibition, Laredo, Texas Third Place 1996 International Art Show, Minneapolis Second Place, 1997 Snyder Calendar Award 1996 Texas Visual Arts Association Regional Exhibition, Dallas City Hall 1996 Hill Country Arts Foundation COUNTERPOINT Exhibition, Ingram, Texas Ed R. Turner Memorial Award for Drawing 1996 TRAHC Exhibition, Texarkana Best of Show 1996 Texas and Neighbors Art Competition, Irving Honorable Mention 1995 Prints, Drawings and Photographs Exhibition, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock 1995 TRAHC Exhibition, Texarkana First Place 1995 Breckenridge Fine Arts Center Art Competition, Breckenridge, Texas 1995 Very Special Arts Exhibition, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D. C. 1994 Lafayette National Juried Competition, Lafayette, Louisiana Winsor and Newton Award 1993 Artisphere National Exhibition, Naples, Florida 1992 Delta Art Exhibition, The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock Solo and Group Exhibitions
April 2008, CHICAGO ATIST PROJECT, Chicago IL Febuary 2008 Solo Show, Judith Summerville Gallery, Palestine, Texas December 2007 Studio Show New Boston, TX September 2007 Guest presenter: Benini Ranch Art Encounter Weekend Johnson City, TX September 2007 Solo Show Kirchman Gallery , Johnson City, TX August 2007 Fayetteville Arts Festival, Fayetteville ARMarch-May 2007 Solo Show Benz Gallery of Floral Art, Texas A&M Univ. College Stn.,TX November 2006, Solo Show Gallery One Eleven, Tyler, Texas November 2005, Int’l Invitational Group Exhibition, ARTSPACE, Richmond Virginia Oct/Nov2005 Group Touring Show Labor of Love VSA Arts Austin, Texas September 2005 Solo Show Black Mountain Center for the Arts, North Carolina April, 2005 Solo Show, ARTSPACE Richmond Virginia
August, 2004 Group Show, Longview Museum of Art Longview Texas December 2003 Group Show, Buchanan Gallery, Galveston, Texas August, 2003 Solo Show Buchanan Gallery, Galveston, Texas May, 2003 Solo Show Cultural Activities Center, Temple, Texas September 2002 Group Show Little Rock Invitational, Little Rock, Arkansas October 2002, Group Show. Harris Gallery, Houston, TexasSeptember 2002, Solo Show Gallery One Eleven, Tyler, Texas April 2002, Group Show, Buchanan Gallery, Galveston, Texas October 2001, Solo Show, Plaza Art Gallery, Paris, Texas December 2000, Solo Show, Texarkana Regional Arts Council (TRAHC), Texarkana, Texas October 2000, Solo Show, Buchanan Gallery, Galveston, Texas May 2000, Solo Show, American Art Gallery, Hot Springs, Arkansas November 1999, American Art Gallery, Hot Springs, Arkansas August 1999, Gallery One Eleven, Tyler, Texas November 1998, American Art Gallery, Hot Springs, Arkansas November 1997, American Art Gallery, Hot Springs, Arkansas November 1996, American Art Gallery, Hot Springs, Arkansas July 1995, American Art Gallery, Hot Springs, Arkansas April 1994, TRAHC, Texarkana
Education
Bachelor of Science University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, 1970 Master of Science Organic Chemistry, University of Manitoba, 1971 Medical Doctor (MD). University of Manitoba Medical School, 1976
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Gary E. Bachers never planned to become a visual artist. He was a popular family practice physician in northeast Texas, where he lived with his wife and three children after moving from Winnipeg, Canada, in 1977. In 1987, at the age of 38, he suffered a debilitating stroke that forced him to retire from medicine. The stroke robbed him of the ability to speak or produce conventional language (a condition called expressive aphasia), and he also lost the use of the right side of his body. Part of Bachers's therapy after the stroke was to learn to hold a pencil in his left hand. After struggling to form words, he started fluently sketching flowers from his wife's garden. With colored pencils, he began perfecting his compositions, often depicting lilies, peonies, irises, and birds of paradise. In this new language uniquely suited to his condition and innate talents, Bachers's artworks evolved from simple sketches to meticulous and complex designs. Bachers's chosen medium is Prismacolor pencils on Mylar film. Mylar—often used for architectural drawings and akin to photographic film—intensifies pencil color and permits Bachers to create blended layers with the smooth consistency of oil. Bachers's signature motif is the full moon, hovering above flowers, human figures, insects, and architecture. At once pleasing design and moving symbolism, the moons call to mind not only man's place in the cosmos, but also the force that turns the tide, and even the mythical influence on madness. Lizards, chameleons, and praying mantises often hide in the labyrinthine compositions. In later works these creatures sometimes take more central positions, assuming almost human characteristics as they gaze from domestic interiors. Also recurring in Bachers's floral designs are giant rings which frame the compositions. The focus of a recent series of works was trees. Monumental, barren branches, often arching over water and framing full moons, recall the symmetry of his earlier ring designs. The trees seem ancient, rooted and thriving, and yet leafless, autumnal. Another group of pieces explores the simple yet intricate beauty of leaves. Crystalline patterns of foliage frame moons and lizards, infusing the compositions with undulating greens and interwoven networks of layered images. Several solo exhibits of Bachers’s work have been titled “Silent Conversations,” a phrase referring both to his loss of speech and to each composition’s ability to express complex ideas and feelings beyond linguistic expression. Having lost conventional means of communication, Bachers learned this new language, as richly articulate as speech, as universal as the moon. |