The Art Museum of Southeast Texas (AMSET) will present JACQUELINE BLEY RYALL: Abstract Connections on view from February 8 – April 28, 2024 in AMSET’s Café Arts series for local artists.

Abstract Connections will include recent paintings by local artist and attorney Jacqueline “Jackie” Ryall in the museum’s café. The focus of her café exhibition at AMSET depicts the faces of humanity. She states, “although we are different, we are still interconnected.” Ryall was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but moved to Chagrin Falls, Ohio as an adolescent, and then to Houston as a young adult. Later she moved to Beaumont when she was married and currently resides here.

Ryall has a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing and worked as a Registered Nurse in the Houston Medical Center for almost eight years. She then attended law school and received a Doctorate of Jurisprudence degree in 1991. She is currently an attorney at Provost Umphrey Law Firm, where she specializes in medical malpractice, general litigation, personal injury and products liability.

Ryall is inspired by family members, including her grandmother who was artistically inclined, and by acclaimed artists, Salvador Dalí, M.C. Escher and Jackson Pollock. She works primarily in acrylic on canvas, creating abstract and figural compositions. The works in this exhibition will focus on her figural compositions.

When asked what she would want visitors to think about when seeing her work, Ryall said, “Most of all, I would like my paintings to make people happy [and] I would like them to think about relationships and how they affect others.”