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Art In Texas at The Grace Museum features three major exhibitions opening together

ABILENE, Texas (September 2, 2009) – The Grace Museum will open three major art exhibitions Sept. 25, as part of the 2009 centennial celebration of The Grace Museum. Under the umbrella title Art In Texas, all three exhibitions focus on the remarkable contributions of Texas artists past and present.

Texas Art Seen; Michael Frary: In Sight; and Texas Photography from the Alice and Bill Wright Photography Collection at The Grace Museum, all open Sept. 25 at The Grace Museum with a public preview reception at 6:30 p.m. Dr. Francine Carraro, Grace Museum executive director, said through these three exhibitions, “The Grace Museum is establishing itself as a forum on critical topics related to the Texas experience through art.”

Texas Art Seen, guest curated by Carl McQueary of Austin, will present seventy rarely publicly exhibited paintings from early- to mid-twentieth century from private and public collections. The exhibition reveals how artists across the state portrayed the people and places of Texas, and how we see Texas through their art. The exhibition will be on view at The Grace from September 26, 2009 through February 16, 2010. Texas artists of the past represented in the exhibition include: Jerry Bywaters, Harold Bugbee, Otis Dozier, Dorothy Hood, Boyer Gonzales, Ward Lockwood, Coreen Spellman, Eugene Thurston, and many others. The exhibition includes artworks by Texas artists from The Grace permanent collection including the 1936 painting Texas Landscape by Charles Bowling (1881–1985) and the 1945 painting Country Church in Palo Pinto by Edward Eisenlohr (1872–1961). A central theme of the exhibition is that, as Texas matured as a state and grew in population in the first half of the 20th century, there was an assumption and an assertion that Texas art is unique and special. The people, places and perceptions of Texas challenged and inspired artists. Texans believe they possess a unique culture and history. Artists have responded to those long-held beliefs and have expressed their own personal interpretations of the Texas experience.

Michael Frary: In Sight, curated by Grace Chief Curator Judy Deaton, presents more than sixty paintings by Michael Frary (1918–2005), a legendary Texas modernist. On view in Abilene from September 26, 2009 through January 16, 2010, this exhibition presents oil and acrylic paintings on board and canvas by this innovative artist who was a professor of art at The University of Texas from 1952 until 1986.

“Frary experimented with a multitude of modernist art theories,” Deaton said. “His sustained preference for structural forms, constructed spaces, as well as architectonic composition is evident throughout his long and productive career.”

Frary’s work was widely exhibited during his life and is held in private and public collections including the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Los Angeles County Museum, Dallas Museum of Fine Art, and The Grace Museum. This exhibition, which focuses on the strength of the artist’s formalism, is the first exhibition focused on the artist’s work since his death in 2005.

Texas Photographers from the Bill and Alice Wright Collection is the inaugural exhibition of the new Alice and Bill Wright Photography Gallery located on the third floor of The Grace Museum. The Wrights recently donated more than 400 photographs from their private collection to The Grace Museum, the single largest gift of works ever given to the museum. On view from September 26, 2009 through April 3, 2010, this exhibition features iconic images by important Texas photographers from the Alice and Bill Wright Photography Collection of The Grace Museum. Artists of the past and present represented in the collection and in the exhibition include Russell Lee, Ave Bonar, Frank Armstrong, Keith Carter, E. O. Goldbeck, and others. Deaton said, “This exhibition gleaned from the new collection of photographs donated by the Wrights is exemplary of the depth and richness of the resources that The Grace now has to create important exhibitions of art photography.”

An Art In Texas panel discussion and a dedication luncheon will be held Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009. The panel discussion at 10 a.m. in The Grace’s loggia will be moderated by Carraro, an authority on art in Texas. Panelists will include Carl McQueary, Guest Curator of the Texas Art Seen exhibition; Deaton; Michael Grauer, curator of Panhandle Plains Historical Museum; and historian Scott Barker. The discussion will address issues related to art in Texas and how artists have captured the unique culture and character of Texas. The panel discussion will be followed by a dedication luncheon in The Grace Museum’s historic ballroom to commemorate the opening of the Alice and Bill Wright Photography Gallery. The luncheon will feature guest speaker Roy Flukinger, Senior Research Curator at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin. Flukinger will discuss the history and character of photography in Texas and the importance of the Alice and Bill Wright Collection at The Grace Museum. To register for the panel discussion or to reserve a seat at the luncheon, guests may call Patricia Ditmore at The Grace Museum at (325) 673-4587 by Sept. 20.

The Grace Museum is accredited by the American Association of Museums, and houses a children’s museum, history museum, and art museum. At 55,000 square feet, The Grace Museum is the tenth largest general museum in Texas, and is the cornerstone of cultural arts and education in West Texas. The museum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Grace Museum is a non-profit organization, and the museum’s exhibitions and educational programs are supported in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Texas Commission on the Arts, the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council, the City of Abilene, Taylor County, and the Downtown Revitalization Program of the Tax Increment Finance District.

The Grace Museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. every Thursday. Admission is free Thursday evening after 5 p.m.

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