Museum of the Southwest

Hours: Tuesdays – Saturdays 10:00am until 5:00pm; Sundays 2:00pm till 5:00pm

Fees: The Art Museum is free with donations accepted. The Children’s Museum admission is $3 for everyone over 1 year of age. Call for Group Rates. The Blakemore Planetarium has undergone a major renovation and now has a new permanent Exhibits area and is hosting several Sky Shows weekly in the new Theater Dome. General Admission is $3 for the Exhibits, or $6 for the Sky Show and Exhibits for 13 year olds and older; $4 for 12 and under; one year olds and under free. Call for Sky Show times (432) 683-2882.

Directions: The Museum of the Southwest is located in the Historic Section of old Midland, about 4 blocks west of downtown and one block south of Wall Street, between “K” and “J” Streets.

Mission statement:
The Museum of the Southwest is comprised of an Art Museum, a Children’s Museum, and a Planetarium situated on a 5 acre campus of shaded grounds with a Sculpture Park. The Museum seeks to excite the senses through discovery in arts, culture and science.

Exhibitions:

Rene Alvarado: The Madonna as Muse
August 9 - October 17

Rene Alvarado

In 2009 he was named the Texas State Two-Dimensional Artist by the Texas Commission on the Arts and the Texas Legislature, an honor given to talented Texans for the outstanding artistic achievements.

However, Rene Alvarado’s career as a artist began in the small Mexican village of El Manantial. After moving to his West Texas home of San Angelo, he enrolled in a program with the Museum of Fine Art called Envision, an environment that was designed to assist promising high school art students.

From there he began a positive working relationship with the director of the SAMFA, Howard Taylor. It was from Howard that I learned about Rene’s work several years ago. He’s now living in a neo-gothic former Lutheran church converted into his home/studio . From that formally designed spiritual space Rene has produced his most mature body of work to date on view with us here tonight he calls “The Madonna as Muse”, When seen in his studio I’ve read that you feel there is somewhat of a spiritual quest going on because these paintings assume their place on his easels and bright white walls as naturally as if they were being honored in a church sanctuary.

I have to agree that it is tempting to declare his work surrealist, because of the odd combinations of figures, still life objects and locations depicted. More correctly he is known as an Imagist. A movement that predates surrealism and has it’s roots in the work of poetry by way of T.S Eliot, Ezra Pound, and Hilda Doolittle. Like surrealism, imagist art employs recognizable images in fantastic or unreal juxtapositions. You might recognize a place, a person or thing but these figurative elements are not put together in a sensible way; instead, they often appear disjunctively. Imagist painting is constructed in the same way as poetry, using the images as visual metaphors.

Rene is using only partially invented metaphors because he is a huge collector of inspirational objects for his endeavors such as taxidermy animals, bird cages, masks, votive objects, and if it weren’t part of our museum property I think he would like to acquire the bull out of the solarium.

Being raised as a Catholic he would pray to Mexico’s most beloved saint, the Virgin of Guadalupe because as a child he did not separate the imagery of folktales from the religious rituals honoring the saints. Connections to his cultural roots are evident in each painting. Childhood adoration of the saints, the numerous religious portraits he saw in the many churches of Mexico and the anonymous folk paintings have all influenced his visions. He honors his grandmothers, sisters, and the older girls who watched over him as a young child in the saintly portraits of the women that influenced his life giving them the status of Madonnas.

John Banovich: Nature of the Beast
August 9 - October 17

Art of the Taos Masters
June 1 – October 28, 2010
Hogan Gallery

Many of the original Taos Society of Artists painters are on display in the Hogan Gallery of the Museum of the Southwest’s Lissa Noel Wagner Wing through October October 28, 2010. The core of the collection came to the Museum of the Southwest from Fred T. and Novadean Hogan as a gift. Artists Oscar E. Berninghaus, Victor Higgins, E,L. Blumenschein, E. Martin Hennings, Eanger Irving Couse, and Joseph Henry Sharp are among the artists on display. There are 13 paintings from the Hogan Collection on display as well as “The Craftsman” by Eanger Irving Couse which was a gift of John H. and Rose Marie Healey.

A special addition to this selection of paintings is an important early work by Eanger Irving Couse from his Paris period titled, The Flower of the Prison. Couse was an accomplished artist before moving to Taos. Following studies, at the National Academy of Design, NYC, he left for Paris in 1886, where he studied at the Académie Julian under William Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905). Flower of the Prison is a tender piece painted in the established academic style of the period. Bouguereau’s influence can be seen in the compositional arrangement, perfection of human anatomy, and use of symbolic imagery. The painting recently returned from an extended loan to the Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Here and Now Gallery
Contemporary Series 2010: Expatriates, Friends and Neighbors

Joyce Howell: Recent Paintings
September 17 – October 24, 2010

Joyce Howell, b.1950, raised a family in Midland while a part-time student at UTPB where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree before committing to the Master’s program at Texas Tech University. Howell received her Masters of Fine Arts degree in 2006 and has since made her home in Kingsland, Texas. This high functioning artist designed her home and studio on the Colorado River and there her days revolve around the art making process to keep up with a rigorous demand for her mixed media paintings. Her exhibit schedule is full for 2010 through 2012 as she just opened a solo exhibit in Galveston at Bogan’s Gallery prior to the opening of her one person exhibit with the Museum of the Southwest.

Following the close of her Museum of the Southwest exhibit she is scheduled for the Nauhaus Gallery in Houston opening in March of 2011. Then a return is scheduled with Bogan’s Gallery before doing an exhibit with the Wally Workman Gallery in Austin in 2012.

For her, the act of painting is, “an internal navigation based on instinct and rooted in nature. “My paintings are attempts to transfer sensory memories to a visual reality.” Seeking rhythm and contradiction in her hues, marks and textures. “Each painting is an attempt to tap into the beauty that appears spontaneously at my feet and in my memories – if only I am willing to pay attention.” Howell’s imagery is intuitive and non-representational merging her imagery with what is just beyond the threshold of her river studio, drawing on her life experiences for content.

Prior to this body of work she spent the months of May through June of 2009 as one of several artists participating in the Artist In Residency program at Hilmsen, Germany with contemporary German artist Hans Molzberger, creator of "Never Let It Rest”.

Howell appears to take that work ethic to heart telling a prolific mixed media story that evolves into the fresh fluid surfaces she enjoys sharing with her viewers.

Opening Reception
Friday - September 17, 2010
6:00 till 7:30 pm

Mary Baxter
November 5 – December 30, 2010

Mary Baxter, b.1964 in Lubbock, Texas, attended the University of Texas at San Antonio where she graduated in 1989 receiving her Bachelors in Business and Marketing. While enrolled at UTSA she collected over 50 hours of study in the Fine Arts department concentrating on painting and advanced printmaking. Since 2002 she has owned and operated Baxter Studio and Gallery in Marathon, Texas. From there she has participated in numerous group and solo exhibits in the area and is represented by the Hunt Gallery in San Antonio. With a keen eye for the subtle and quiet beauty of the desert Mary has found her place painting oil and watercolor landscapes and animals from the Big Bend area. These works pay homage to the Chihuahuan desert in a contemporary style capturing the light and color of that dry, yet lively, landscape. She also sculpts desert creatures in a variety of mixed media, some of which are included in this exhibit.

This series sponsored by the Arts Assembly of Midland & The Beal Foundation.

Events

SeptemberFest 2010 “SOUTHWEST SAFARI”
Saturday September 11, and Sunday September 12

September 10, the Preview Party

SEPTEMBERFEST returns in wild style with a weekend to mingle among the 80 plus artist booths while working on some early Christmas gift ideas and where a close encounter with a camel, crocodile or water buffalo is just around the next corner!

On Friday evening, September 10, the Preview Party for SeptemberFest will give that special “first look” for those in attendance. Co-chairs Story Butts and Kenye Kay Tranum have created a far-reaching theme that turns the 41^st SeptemberFest into an African expedition for the entire weekend. Bill Rivers, wildlife handler from the “Prince of Persia” movie has brought some gentle giants for fairgoers to get up close and personal with! Hop aboard for a camel ride or alongside a water buffalo for a Southwest Safari photo opportunity.

Saturday September 11, and Sunday September 12, the artist booths, Kinderfest area, entertainment stage, and food vendors will be open for everyone. On Saturday, the hours will be from 10am until 7pm with exotic animal encounters beginning at 10:30am.

Premiering this year is the “Children’s Preview Party” please call 770-5965 for a reservation and to learn details on what the admission charges include, or you can “Book Your Adventure” on line at southwestsafari@yahoo.com We ask that all participants in this new idea please arrive early Saturday, September 11, because the fun starts at 8:30am until 10:30am with a private “Croc Show”. This is a special educational show by The Crocodile Encounter from Houston, Texas, featuring Asian & Nile Crocodiles along with their other turtle and reptile friends. Included with your reservation is a sunrise safari breakfast sponsored by Jason’s Deli and Tony’s Bakery plus a guided safari expedition in the exotic petting zoo and many more fun activities for the young and young at heart!

The hours for SeptemberFest on Sunday will be from Noon until 5 p.m. Admission prices are $5 for ages 12 and older, $3 for ages 3-12, $4 for seniors. Children 2 and under are free. For reservations to the Preview Party or for information, please phone the Museum at 432-683-2882. (Please mention you are calling in regard to Septemberfest.)