"Beef Island to Memphis," 2013, Watercolor, solvent transfer, and collage on paper, is on view in "Floating Life: Mississippi River Drawings by Liz Ward" at Tyler Museum of Art. 

The Tyler Museum of Art explores the mystique of the South as seen through the eyes of a Texas talent with its next major exhibition, “Floating Life: Mississippi River Drawings by Liz Ward.”

The show opens on Sunday and continues through Aug. 25. 

Organized by the museum and curated by Caleb Bell, “Floating Life” is the first large-scale museum exhibition of Mississippi River works by Ward, a San Antonio artist and professor of art and art history at Trinity University whose work largely is informed by natural history and the environmental crisis.

The exhibition spotlights pieces from two recent bodies of work: “Ghosts of the Old Mississippi” and “Veritas Caput.”

The works from “Ghosts of the Old Mississippi” are based on geological maps of the river’s ancient courses and inspired by the artist’s childhood memories from South Louisiana, where her great-grandfather spent a career as a riverboat captain.

Pieces from “Veritas Caput” focus on the search for the source of the river by explorers.

Ward’s work has been widely exhibited and is featured in numerous public collections, including the Tyler Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Support for “Floating Life” is provided by Collectors’ Circle-Gold Sponsors Betty and Dick Summers.

SPECIAL EVENTS

The artist will be on hand for a gallery talk to launch the museum’s Summer Lecture Series at 2:30 p.m. May 19. A reception will follow. Admission is free, but seating is limited. Those who plan to attends should call the museum at 595-1001.

Other programs in the Summer Lecture Series will include:

• “Divide and Conquer: An Overview of the Mississippi River’s Role in the Civil War” by Dr. James Newsom, senior lecturer in political science and history at The University of Texas at Tyler, 2:30 p.m. June 23.

• “I Knew Mark Twain” by Dr. Jim Richey, professor and department chair of English at Tyler Junior College, 2:30 p.m. July 21

Other special events in connection with the exhibition include free First Friday tours at 11 a.m. June 7, July 5 and Aug. 2; and Family Days from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, June 8, July 13 and Aug. 10.

Tyler Museum of art is located 1300 S. Mahon Ave. on the campus of Tyler Junior College. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday

Jon Perry is the museum’s communications coordinator.