AUSTIN, TEXAS.-Arthouse proudly announces that Eileen Maxson has been named the recipient of its inaugural Arthouse Texas Prize for Contemporary Art. The Honorable Ann Richards, former Governor of the State of Texas, presented the award to the artist at the commemorative Texas Excess party held Friday, November 4th 2005. The juried prize is the largest regional visual arts award in the country. By awarding Eileen Maxson the inaugural Arthouse Texas Prize, the jury recognizes her outstanding talent, and her great potential to make a significant contribution to the contemporary art scene. According to Sue Graze, director of Arthouse, “the jury enthusiastically embraced the merit of her work and her authentic artistic voice. They are thrilled to participate in launching her career”.

Eileen Maxson is a Houston-based video/installation artist whose works poetically and humorously probe the limits of communications in our digitally wired world. Maxson’s venture into installation art began in 2004 with a highly regarded piece called Distance Education. For the Arthouse Texas Prize exhibition, she created a new installation entitled Grand Opening (2005), and presented two videos: Michigan, 1971 (2002) and Tape 5925: Amy Goodrow (2002). She has shown her work throughout Texas, as well as in film festivals in California, Chicago, New York, Portland, and Toronto.

Arthouse’s Texas Excess party kicked off with a cocktail reception and exhibition viewing and was followed by the highly anticipated award presentation and a festive dinner at the Driskill Hotel, which was co-chaired by Carla McDonald and Julie Thornton .The memorable event celebrated the thriving Texas contemporary art scene while embracing the virtues of Texas Excess – from high culture to traditional Texan high hospitality, high kickin’ and, of course, high hair. The event also featured a special greeting from Miss Texas Excess, an Arthouse cheer performed by University of Texas cheerleaders, and a Texas-inspired surprise dinner created by renowned Chef David Bull.

Guests at the event, which came from all over Texas and from many different parts of the country, included Arthouse Texas Prize jury members James Elaine, Curator at the Hammer Projects, UCLA Hammer Museum of Art, Los Angeles; Vernon Fisher, artist; Dave Hickey, Las Vegas-based independent art critic and curator; Kathryn Kanjo, Executive Director of ArtPace, San Antonio; Shamim M. Momin, Associate Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Valerie Cassel Oliver, Associate Curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; and Sue Graze, Executive Director of Arthouse. Also in attendance were Cameron Silver of the world-renowned vintage couture boutique Decades from Los Angeles; renowned Houston philanthropists and collectors Laura and Greg Casey, and Becca Cason Thrash and John Thrash; collectors Deborah Irmas and Audrey Irmas of Los Angeles; philanthropists Michael and Susan Dell of Austin; Architects Paul Lewis and Marc Tsurumaki of New York firm LTL; artists Dario Robleto and Trenton Doyle Hancock; Dallas Museum of Art Associate Curator Suzanne Weaver; and Melissa and Michael Mithoff of Houston.

Works by Eileen Maxson and the three fellow finalists, Robyn O’Neil, Robert A. Pruitt, and Ludwig Schwarz, are featured in a special Arthouse Texas Prize 2005 exhibition at the Jones Center, Arthouse’s facility, which will be on view until November 13th. A catalogue documenting the artists and their work has also been published on the occasion of the exhibition. Gala proceeds will go towards supporting the Arthouse Texas Prize and general operations of Arthouse, whose mission is to promote the growth and appreciation of contemporary art and artists in Texas.

About Arthouse: Headquartered at the Jones Center in Austin, Texas, Arthouse is the oldest statewide contemporary art organization in Texas. Arthouse seeks to promote the growth and appreciation of contemporary art and artists in Texas. Through its exhibitions and programs in Austin and statewide, Arthouse helps nurture artists’ careers and deepen public understanding of contemporary art.

About the Arthouse Texas Prize: A biannual award, the Arthouse Texas Prize for Contemporary Art was created to celebrate a promising Texas-based artist who has produced a significant body of contemporary work in the past two years and has not had a solo exhibition at a major museum in the past three years. Nominations were provided by a highly respected group of art-world professionals tuned into the Texas art scene, and from them four finalists were selected.