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NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS - Works on paper by four internationally known Siberian artists are included in "Message from Siberia," which will open at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House, 329 E. Main St. in downtown Nacogdoches.

The exhibition is the second half of an exchange developed by Charles Jones, retired Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ professor of art, and Andrey Martynov, a previous curator for the Novosibirsk State Art Museum, and current director of the Moscow Bienale. Both men will speak during the opening reception.

Jones and Martynov met while both were jurying the Ural Print Triennial competition in November 2007, in Ufa, Bashkortistan, Russia. After Martynov visited Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ in the following spring, the two men made plans for exchange exhibitions that would counter stereotypes Russians have about Texans and Texans have about Russians.

Works by Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ and area artists were exhibited in Moscow in the summer of 2009, and now Martynov is bringing the Russian work to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ.

"Message from Siberia" is a joint presentation of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ College of Fine Arts and School of Art. It is sponsored in part by Nacogdoches Junior Forum and the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Friends of the Visual Arts.

The show will run through Tuesday, Nov. 23. Regular gallery hours are 12:30 to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. Admission to the opening and the gallery is free. For more information, please call (936) 468-1131.