Iris Bechtol
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Iris Bechtol is an artist, educator, and curator living in Oak Cliff - Dallas, TX. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Intermedia from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2010 and is currently a Cultural Programs Coordinator and Curator at Oak Cliff Cultural Center in Dallas, TX.
Bechtol's work has been included in exhibitions in across Texas, Nashville, TN, New York, and San Diego, CA. She is founder and curator for TERRAIN Dallas, a
temporary public exhibition space with a focus on exhibiting site specific, temporary interventions by established and emerging artists in and around the conventional landscape of a suburban front yard.
Statement
Something ongoing, unfolding, acting – this is how I view my work. With an interest in just about everything, I see the world as a living field – a space that requires a diversity of responses. Avoiding categories that might simplify my work or stifle the breadth of my interests, I refrain from working with only one material or process. Working in a variety of materials, I draw on my examination of the phenomenological or “lived experience” and how it is reflected back through image, object, and place.
Education
MFA | 2010 | University of Texas At Arlington, Arlington, TX
BFA | 2001 | University of North Texas, Denton, TX
Professional Experience
Curator/Gallery Programs Coordinator | Oak Cliff Cultural Center | 2021-current
Gallery and Collections Manager | Eastfield College | 2010- 2021
Photography Lab Technician | University Of Texas At Arlington | 2009-10
Instructional Specialist | Eastfield College | 2006-08
Gallery Coordinator | El Centro College | 2004-2006
Solo Exhibitions
Carry, The Safe Room at The Texas Theater, April 2018
Several, near each other, Anthem Gallery, Blue Star Arts Complex, San Antonio, TX, 2017
Lots (of things), but nothing (I could use), MFA exhibition, UT Arlington, 2010
Sound, Gallery 219, Eastfield College, Mesquite, TX, 2008 59 minutes, Gallery West, UT Arlington, Arlington, TX
2007 Tags, Artruck at Mighty Fine Arts, Dallas, TX, 2007 Welcome to Oak Cliff, Mighty Fine Arts, Dallas, TX, 2005
Selected Group Exhibitions
150 Years/150 Artists, Texas Christian University, curated by Sara-Jayne Parsons, 2023
Time and Temperature, El Centro College, Dallas, TX curated by Ashlyn Lee, 2019
Tenuous, Mountain View College, Dallas, TX, curated by Alison Starr, 2019
Identity: I am one, I am many, Oak Cliff Cultural Center, Dallas, TX curated by Sunset Art Studios, 2017
Super Fantasy Mercado, Red Bird Mall, curated by Taro Waggoner and Mylan Nguyen for Decolonize Dallas, 2017
MFA 10th Anniversary Expo, UTA Art Gallery, Arlington, TX curated by Benito Huerta, 2017
Girls Just Wanna, Galleri Urbane, Dallas, TX, curated by Adrian Zuniga, 2016
Now What, Coop Gallery, Nashville, TN, curated by Tom Williams, 2016
Things that are now visible, Eastfield College, Mesquite, TX, 2014
And then I whirled at the sound of, Oil and Cotton, Dallas, TX, curated by Janeil Englestad, 2011
Big and Bright, San Diego, CA, curated by good good things, 2011
Sustenance, Warehouse in West Dallas, curated by Stephen Lapthisophon, 2010
Temporary Occupants, Eastfield College, Mesquite, TX, 2010
Sound Art Exhibition, Galerija 73, Belgrade, Serbia, curated by Snezana Petrovic, 2009
Rising Eyes of Texas, Rockport Center for the Arts, Rockport, TX (juried), 2009
Word & Image, Lumenhouse Project, Brooklyn, NY, 2008
MFA at CAA, University of North Texas, Cora Stafford Gallery, Denton, TX (juried), 2008
Selected Curatorial Projects
Sequential Self: Female, Non-binary, Trans, And Queer Voices In Comics And Zines
April 2019 Eastfield College, Gallery 219
January 2020 Tarleton State University, Clyde H Wells Fine Arts Gallery
Fall 2021 Texas Christian University, Moudy Gallery
Terrain Dallas, Dec 2014 - current
Site Specific Projects At 1122 Elmdale Place, Dallas, Tx
Public Art Projects
Curator, Marine Creek Parkway, Fort Worth, TX, Fort Worth Public Art (working with artists Leticia Bajuyo and Alicia Eggert) Projected completion 2023-2024
Presentations
Terrain Dallas: A History presented at University of North Texas, Public
Sculpture Course taught by Alicia Eggert (classroom lecture)
Association of Academic Museums and Galleries Virtual Conference
Panel: Diversity and Bravery in the Academic Museum (panelist/presenter)
Exploring Identity and Empathy in Contemporary
Portraiture presented at Dallas College, in collaboration with Center for
Equity and Diversity (public lecture+activity)
Sequential Self: Female, Non-Binary, Trans, and Queer
Voices in Comics and Zines — Dallas College, Tarleton State (public curatorial talk)
University, Texas Christian University (public curatorial talk)
Residencies
Sunset Art Studios, Dallas, TX, April-May 2017
Private and Public Collections
Marilyn Bechtol, Dallas, TX
Robert Bennett, Dallas, TX
Rick and Lisa Cook, Seattle, WA
Nic Davies, London, England
C.J. Davis, Dallas, TX
Jill Hay, New York, NY
Jessica McCambly and John Lewis, San Diego, CA
Jennifer and Lee Pepper, Nashville, TN
John Reoch, Dallas, TX
Charlotte Smith, Dallas, TX
David Willburn, Fort Worth, TX
Kathy Windrow, Dallas, TX
Eastfield College, Mesquite, TX
Sarita Westrup, Dallas, TX
Andrea & Erik Tosten, Dallas, TX