Do you really believe that?

The Art Galleries at TCU are pleased to present Do you really believe that?, a group exhibition in honor of the late art historian and curator Dr. Frances Colpitt, August 30–November 16, 2024, at Fort Worth Contemporary Arts.

Featured artists: Terry Allen, Jesse Amado, Edith Baumann, Richie Budd, Jerry Cabrera, John Eden, Sharon Engelstein, Vernon Fisher, Tommy Fitzpatrick, Thomas Glassford, James Hayward, Felice Koenig, Casey Leone, Constance Lowe, John M. Miller, Yunhee Min, Aaron Parazette, John Pomara, Chuck Ramirez, Hector A. Ramirez, Susie Rosmarin, Chris Sauter, Cameron Schoepp, Hills Snyder, Terri Thornton, and John Wilcox.

Do you really believe that? is conceived in honor and celebration of Dr. Frances Colpitt (1952–2022), her renowned scholarship, critical pedagogy and unyielding commitment to teaching along with her profound respect for artists, their work, and critics alike. The exhibition is guided by themes coalesced from Colpitt’s work over the course of her career with a focus on abstraction, Minimalism and Conceptual art. They illuminate her scholarship and curatorial practice, and also emphasize the significant impact and enduring legacy of her mentorship of artists in Texas. The title of the exhibition is a phrase Colpitt often used to challenge her students and galvanize critical thinking and discussion in class.

Artists invited to participate in the exhibition represent a small selection of those Colpitt followed and supported through curatorial projects, art criticism, and mentorship, including students, colleagues, and artists in her personal art collection. Alongside these artworks, the exhibition features a selection of ephemera and documentary items that further highlight critical influences and essential relationships Colpitt nurtured for decades. Such items include correspondence with artists Donald Judd and John McCracken, audio interviews with artists Anne Truitt and David Novros, and Colpitt’s personal copy of Ed Ruscha’s artist book Every Building on Sunset Strip (1966).

An accompanying exhibition publication features key essays by Annette Carlozzi, Dr. Michael Corris, Jennifer Hope Davy, Michael Delgado, Anjali Gupta, Kathryn Kanjo and Tulsa Kinney. And in the spirit of Colpitt’s curatorial projects which often involved her students, many of the catalogue entries have been written by her former students and recent graduates from Texas Christian University and the University of Texas at San Antonio. The publication also documents temporary on-site installations by artists Gregory Ruppe and Terri Thornton who responded to Colpitt’s vacant office at Texas Christian University.

Do you really believe that? will travel to the Main Art Gallery at University of Texas at San Antonio for presentation January 22–February 28, 2025. The two exhibition locations reflect Colpitt’s impact in Texas academic institutions where she taught and created exhibitions as a tenured professor.

About Dr. Frances Colpitt (1952–2022)
Frances Colpitt was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At the University of Tulsa she earned her BFA in Painting (1974), an MA in Humanities (1977) and a PhD in Art History at the University of Southern California (1982). After teaching at Cornell University (1985–86) as a Visiting Assistant Professor, she returned to California as Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara (1986–88), and then as a Visiting Assistant Professor at USC, Los Angeles (1988–90). Dr. Colpitt received a full professorship at the University of Texas at San Antonio where she taught for fifteen years. In 2005  Dr. Colpitt accepted the Deedie Potter Rose Chair, an endowed professorship in contemporary art history, at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth where she continued to teach until 2022. At both Texas universities, Dr. Colpitt was instrumental in inaugurating the off-site gallery spaces UTSA Satellite Space and TCU’s Fort Worth Contemporary Arts.  During her distinguished  career Dr. Colpitt published two books focused on American art after 1960, her area of expertise:  Minimal Art: The Critical Perspective (University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1990) and Abstract Art in the Late Twentieth Century (Cambridge University Press, UK 2002).  She also published numerous book chapters, catalog essays, articles, book reviews and exhibition brochures, and was a feature writer and contributing editor for Art in America for nearly twenty-five years. Among others, she was a frequent contributor to the former Texas quarterly Art Lies and most recently Artillery magazine, Los Angeles.

Curatorial Team: Dr. Jennifer Hope Davy, artist & writer; Constance Lowe, artist; Dr. Sara-Jayne Parsons, Director & Curator, Art Galleries at TCU; Hills Snyder, artist  & writer; and, Dr. Scott Sherer, Professor & Director of Galleries, University of Texas at San Antonio. The Curatorial Team would like to thank Alison Hearst, Curator, Modern Art Museum Fort Worth, for her contributions to planning conversations as a student and friend of Colpitt.