Stark Museum of Art coloring book original drawings on view May 27 through Oct. 28

Add a splash of color to your summer with a visit to the Stark Museum of Art's exhibition "Welcome to Color: Stark Cultural Venues Coloring Book" on view from May 27 through October 28 in the Community Art Gallery. The exhibition features original contour line drawings created by SMA Teaching Artist Karen Leonard that highlight the unique locations and collections at the Stark Museum of Art, The W.H. Stark House, Stark Park, Lutcher Theater and Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center.

"We began this project in 2020 with a single coloring sheet featuring the museum exterior, and over the past four years, it has grown into an incredible series of 19 original drawings that highlight the beauty and wonder of the locations and collections here at the Stark Cultural Venues," said SMA Director of Education Jennifer Dickinson. "We are especially excited to highlight visitor participation with the drawings this year by including a selection of special edition prints colored by past summer camp participants at the Stark Museum of Art, as well as two oversized prints that were colored by visitors to our Family Day events over the last year."

The exhibition includes large-scale prints of 19 original drawings Leonard created between 2020 and 2023. In addition to viewing the drawings, visitors can learn about Leonard's process to create the artwork, enjoy a time-lapse video of her creating one of the drawings from beginning to end, view over-sized special edition prints colored by visitors to the museum in 2022 and 2023 and pick-up copies of this year's coloring sheets to work on at home.

Leonard uses a combination of traditional and digital media to create the artwork. She created the original drawings beginning with the illustration of the Museum in 2020. The project grew in 2021 when the Stark Foundation published the "Welcome to Stark Cultural Venues Coloring Book." Since then, Leonard has added new prints each year.

"I started this project in a very organic way, creating a few standalone pieces of a view of the museum and a painting within it," said Leonard. "From there, the pages caught the attention and imagination of others within the Foundation. I traveled into the depths of the Foundation's history, art, nature and passion for building a lasting cultural impact in Orange, Texas. Hundreds of ideas, artworks, and photographs were researched to create this small series that anyone can pick up as a book and add their own flair in color."

The "Welcome to Stark Cultural Venues Coloring Book" is available for free download at starkmuseum.org.

The Stark Museum of Art is open Wednesday-Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free of charge thanks to the generous underwriting of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation. For more information visit starkmuseum.org. Stark Museum of Art is located at 712 Green Avenue in Orange, Texas.