Wednesday, January 11, 2012

The Lost Colony: Texas Regional Paintings

James Swann Rural Free Delivery
The Museum of the Big Bend has been running an exhibit entitled "The Lost Colony: Texas Regional Pairings" that chronicles the history of a summer camp for artists held in the Big Bend region at Alpine, Texas on the campus of Sul Ross State University. This camp began in 1932 and continued until 1950. A series of well known Texas artists taught and studied at the camp. It attracted students, many of them practicing artists, who wished to refine and improve their technique.  Mary Bones of the museum staff served as curator of this exhibit, gathering dozens of art works from across the nation representing those artists who taught or studied at the summer encampment. These include a number of well-known individuals including Mabel Vandiver, Anna Keener, Elizabeth Keefer Boatwright, Julius Woeltz, Xavier Gonzalez, Harry Anthony De Young, William Lester, James Swann, Otis Dozier, and others. My wife Victoria and I loaned three of our James Swann prints for this exhibition, including our favorite, Rural Free Delivery seen above. As the catalog of this exhibits notes: "The success of the Art Department and the Art Colony can be measured in the number of students that attended, the works they produced, and the continued excellence of the Art Department at Sul Ross State University.
Katherine Cummins admires her family's Swann print at exhibit



For more about this exhibit, visit the website of the Museum of the Big Bend. Click here