Sneak peak of Sallie Reynolds Matthews Collection items being reinstalled in the New Archives and Local History Galleries...
Formal building dedication to be held November 13, 1-3 p.m.
Patrick Kelly, Executive Director and Curator
If you haven't been by lately, make sure to check out the OJAC Sculpture Courtyard at night during the month of October.
This beautiful glow on the original jail building, as well as our sculpture serves as a lovely reminder. It will be lit pink each night this month in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness.
Erin Whitmore, Education Director
These are exciting times in the archives as we count down to the final days of construction on the new addition space! The main structure is nearly complete and the work remaining is focusing in on the details; making sure all of the finishing touches are correct and clean. The Caldwell Family building, which was made possible by a generous gift from Clifton and Shirley Caldwell, will house both the Robert E. Nail, Jr. Archives and the Sallie Reynolds Matthews Collection.
The large stacks area and collapsible shelving units will provide the Archives with at least four times more shelving room than it currently has, giving us plenty of room to grow into the future. In addition, it will allow the archives to expand its collection policy, which originally limited the historical materials to those concerning only Shackelford County history. Now the archives will be able to also accept materials from Stephens, Throckmorton and Young counties.
The exhibition space will feature historical items from the Sallie Reynolds Matthews Collection, with new case displays and exhibit label text which will help provide information and context to our many out of town visitors. There will also be space for other, smaller rotating exhibits which will highlight materials, photographs, and other historical documents found in the Archives collections.
Be sure to come see the new space later this fall!
Molly Sauder, Archivist
Visit the OJAC on any day of the week and you are likely to run into a JuDo or two. (Junior Docent, that is!)
In addition to an active adult Docent Volunteer Corps, the museum hosts a Docent training program for ages 14-19. Since 2008, this program has played a large role in the museums relationship with its small, West Texas community. Children that grow up attending OJAC Summer camps or Family Festivals apply for the Junior Docent program, knowing they will help to continue those same events for younger students and families in their hometown.
This experience of this program is part internship/ part art education and arts advocacy training. Junior Docents aid Education Department Staff in a variety of tasks- from pinning flyers around town, program supply prep and event set-up, to researching and leading gallery talks and curating an exhibit of local student art each Spring. By high school graduation, these students have had an invaluable exposure to the fine arts, as well as an opportunity practice their research and public speaking skills and invest in the cultural assets of their community.
These teen volunteers are an integral part of the OJAC family, and while they are rewarded with snacks, Appreciation Field Trips and even college scholarships, the museum views itself the true winner as it develops precious relationships with these future advocates.
Molly Gore Merck, Education Coordinator
Merger, 1957-77
EN CULWELL (1918-1992)
Oil on canvas
Collection of the Old Jail Art Center. Gift of the Artist’s Estate.
2005.00
Sometimes the back of a painting can peak my interest as much as the front. And Ben Culwell’s painting Merger, 1957-77 recently did just that.
Merger has a colorful heavily layered surface packed with visual information imbedded in unconventional combinations of media worked and re-worked over time. But when the painting was recently moved out of my office, I discovered the artist had left us with almost as much contextual information on the back.
It seems the full title of this painting is “MERGER” (WHEN SAN ANTONIO TRANSIT CO. SOLD SOUTHWEST GENERAL INSURANCE CO. TO PACIFIC NATIONAL INSURANCE CO.). Additional text on the back reads No. 57-12 (perhaps it was the 12th painting that Culwell began in 1957) and, interestingly enough, HANG ANY SIDE UP. To add to the mystery, the name “YANKEE DOODLE” is visible on the center support bar beneath a thin layer of white paint.
Of course, I googled the merger to find out more...
Even though I didn’t find any information specific to the merger, I did discover that Culwell maintained two careers, one in art and the other in business. In the late 1950s, Culwell worked as the Executive Vice President of Southwest General Insurance Co. in San Antonio, Texas. With this new information, I considered the range of emotions that would naturally come with having to sell a company in which you had invested so much and gained new insight into this painting that the artist would work on for 20 years.
Amy Kelly, Registrar
This week a fabulous group of teachers from Region 14 visited us for our Hispanic and Latin Arts and Culture Workshop.This workshop, for 5-10th grade Spanish Language or History teachers,
Teachers investigate artifacts and research from classic and contemporary Hispanic culture, enjoy games and videos then create samples of the coordinating art projects they will lead with their students this year.
It was a GREAT time to swap stories and ideas as we gear up for the Fall Semester!
Erin Whitmore, Education Director
Being a Junior Docent has played an important role in my life.
I signed up to be a junior docent my seventh grade year. I heard of the program through my older brother who was also a junior docent. I saw how he enjoyed his time at the Old Jail and decided I would give it a shot. I loved art class and I loved making art and hoped that the Junior Docent Program would bring me the same creative joy. Being an awkward 12 year old, I was shy, quiet, and didn’t like to step outside of my comfort zone. Over the years, working with the junior docents has brought me out of my shell and taught me to be more social. I have loved getting to work all of the family festivals and summer art camps. When I was asked to be a high school intern my sophomore year, I was so excited. I get to work at the Old Jail every week and I honestly enjoy every minute of it. I love getting to make samples for Art-to-go and Distance Learning and volunteering at the family festivals. It’s heart warming to watch other children make art and enjoy it as much as I do. Being a part of junior docents has had a big role in my becoming who I am today. I keep telling Erin I’m going to drive back and forth from San Angelo State so I can keep working here while I’m in college.
I have enjoyed my time here at the Old Jail Art Center and I highly recommend joining the Junior Docents program to any student interested in art.
Savannah Perez
2016 Graduate of Albany High School
The Old Jail Art Center would like to welcome Molly Gore Merck to it's Education Team!
Molly will serve as Education Coordinator at the OJAC, facilitating programming for School, Family and Public Audiences.
Molly comes to us with local museum, art gallery and classroom art education experience- with work for the Grace Museum and National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature, Jody Klotz Fine Art Gallery and Dyess Elementary School. Additionally, Molly is a working stained glass artist and painter.
She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art and Art Communication from Howard Payne University in 2011.
She and her family are from the Abilene area.
Erin Whitmore, Education Director
Following each school semester, our Junior Docents (JH and HS volunteers) are rewarded for their service with a free field-trip day of museums and food.
Junior Docents volunteer at the museum once a week, as well as staffing our family festival booths, judging/ curating an exhibit of Student Art each March, and researching/ presenting on the collection on Slow Art Day.
This week, we wrapped up the Spring Semester with a trip to the Amon Carter and Fort Worth Modern Museums...capped off by the oh-so-important Frozen Yogurt Stop on the way home.
Fabulous exhibits and a fun time with this group of special teens. (And a big word of thanks, as well, to the other 6 that weren't able to come with!)
See you in the Fall, JuDo's!
Erin Whitmore, Education Director
The Old Jail Art Center is very fortunate to be the recipient of artwork from the Larry Kleinschmidt Estate of Fort Worth. Larry was a longtime collector of Fort Worth Circle artists as well as other local artists. Just one of the many works the OJAC has accessioned, Whale, 1953 by Bror Utter, was included in the OJAC’s Texas Moderns: Bror Utter exhibition last fall.
Bror Utter (1913-1993) spent the entirety of his life studying, working, exhibiting, and teaching in Fort Worth until Alzheimer’s disease ended his painting career. An influential member of the Fort Worth Circle, he was a longtime teacher at both the Fort Worth Art Association and the Woman's Club of Fort Worth.
In the 1940s and 50s, Utter developed his distinctive “architectural landscapes,” a style that included arches and windows to compartmentalize his subjects. At this same time, he did a series of whale paintings in response to a visit to the old whaling port of New Bedford, Massachusetts. In a 1979 interview, Utter described these paintings of suspended whales as “Roman arches upside down….Nothing scientific at all. Purely fanciful. I was painting compulsively, and did not think they were likely to sell. But there’s not one left.”
Amy Kelly, Registrar
Bill Bomar (front) and cousin Reilly Nail, in front of the museum, ca. 1983.
Bill Bomar
March 5-May 14
Born in Fort Worth, Texas on December 30, 1919, Bill Bomar began his life-long love of painting at the age of seven. It was at this young age, while sitting for a commissioned portrait by the artist Murray Bewley, that Bomar’s interest in the world of art was kindled. “It felt right, to a young boy,” he remembered. “It was a feeling I got from the oils, the turpentines, even the pipe Bewley smoked.” So affected was he by this feeling, that Bomar painted exclusively in oils until the age of 16.
It was through his mother, Jewel Nail Bomar, and the Nail family, that Bomar maintained a connection with the Albany, Texas area. In the late 1970s, together with his cousin Reilly Nail, the two co-founded what would become the Old Jail Art Center. Combining their collections of 20th century modern art along with art from their mothers’ collections, the museum opened in December of 1980. Today the Old Jail Art Center encompasses some 17,000 square feet and is a thriving, widely-acclaimed art museum dedicated to the visual arts and to preserving the local history of the Shackelford County area.
Molly Sauder, Archivist and Librarian
Many art museums provide lesson plans, traveling trunks and online resources for the schools in their community to explore their collection. A lucky few have devoted teaching staff who travel to those schools and facilitate their own curriculum. The OJAC is fortunate to be of that lucky few. Reflective of our mission of "Art for All," our school outreach program is offered to any school within an hour of the museum, completely free of cost. At each visit, students enjoy books and videos, close viewing and discussion of artworks and artifacts and a connected studio activity. Classroom teachers enjoy TEKS-aligned, cultural and social awareness themes which enrich their existing curriculum and provide their students an opportunity for both critical thinking and creativity. The museum enjoys the chance to inspire a love for visual art (and museums!) in the youngest members of the community it serves.
This Fall Semester, the OJAC brought art experiences to more than 5400 students in their own classrooms. At the end of the school year, these classes will visit the museum on a free field trip to explore the objects and galleries they have been learning about remotely. Looking ahead to the new year we are excited to realize that we will reach more students than any before- and while large numbers can be exciting for small institutions, the real satisfaction comes with the knowledge that this program is an investment in the future of our collection, community and continued mission.
Erin Whitmore, Education Director
With the year coming to a close, like most, I can’t help but wonder where did the time go? While my days (and nights) were filled to the brim with a variety of events, I’ve siphoned down my memories of 2015 into a Top Three.
Without further ado, My Top Three OJAC Moments of 2015:
3. Bobbing for Apples
Each Summer, the Education Department hosts a slew of camps inspired by our collection and current exhibitions. One of these camps focuses on a culture represented in the collection. The culture/theme changes every year so we can cycle through the many cultures and countries represented at the museum.
2015 focused on Ancient Greece.
Obviously we had an Olympics of a sort with the campers, with the grand finale being a twist on the Golden Apple myth and Bobbing for Apples (any way to cool down in the hot Texas sun is a must!).
Between the squeals of laughter (yay!) and runny noses (gross!) it was a great afternoon
2. Capturing artist Natasha Bowdoin’s installation of HEX∆M.
One of my absolute favorite things about the Old Jail is its Cell Series. Meeting contemporary artists, hearing what inspires them and learning about their processes is a priceless aspect of my job. Natasha Bowdoin was our Cell Series artist this spring, and golly, was she a treat!
Her work is vibrant and captivating, just as much as her personality. Chatting with her was a definite highlight of the year. (check out the time-lapse of her install: http://theoldjailartcenter.org/exhibitionlist/2015/2/7/natasha-bowdoin-hexm)
1. Exploring Downtown Dallas with the Jr. Docents…because let’s face it, who doesn’t love good art and food trucks?
Here at the OJAC we are fortunate to have a group of Jr. High and High School volunteers called the Jr. Docents. As a thank you for all of their hard work and time, we take the kiddos on an adventure at the end of each semester to a variety of museums. This summer we explored the museum district in Dallas.
Between imitating art at the Nasher, enjoying the food trucks (gryo pita anyone?), and having an immersive experience at the DMA, I can honestly say it was a fun-filled day with high energy, ending in a sleepy and quiet car ride back to Albany.
Have yourself a very Happy New Year, everyone!
Molly Gore Merck, Education Coordinator
The first public exhibition of my own art came when I was around six or seven years old. It was an October debut and the venue was eight windows of our garage in Lubbock, Texas. (Yes, it remained on my resume until recently.) The subject matter was Halloween scenes—haunted houses were my forte. These 8 ½ x 11 inch masterpieces of the macabre included ghost and goblins silhouetted in the windows, flying witches, and graveyards. (Oh, I was good at leafless trees with bats hanging from branches as well.) The opening was Halloween night; the only oversight was that it was too dark for my evening visitors to see my creations; they simply passed by on their way to our front door for free treats. Nothing has changed in the art world…viewers at openings bypass the art and head straight for the free food and drink.
This exhibition “venue” dilemma continues into adulthood for fellow artists and myself. Where to show the creations that we have thought hard to conceive and execute is problematic. (Why we want to share our creations in the first place is for another time.) For most artists—especially those in school, just out, or creating work that is conceptual or edgy—it’s next to impossible to find a commercial gallery to show the work and hopefully sell enough in order to break-even on materials. Forget making a profit. Showing at an established institution or museum is also difficult at this stage in a fledgling career and often for those who have been productive and active for many years. Artist Vernon Fisher once told us as students that you had to create or find your own opportunities to show your art… not excluding the local Dairy Queen.
Good artists are instinctively creative in finding opportunities and locations to show their work. The early European Modernists had similar issues and therefore created shows in their tiny apartments. Artists invited other artists’ friends to participate, then installed their art salon style throughout the space for a short duration. Today group popup shows are the same concept but installed in vacant commercial spaces or storefronts, usually just for one evening or short-term. Some rent art spaces intended for short month-long exhibits or join coops with the intent to utilize a common exhibition space. For all these exhibits/performances, artists have to do all the work of marketing, installing, manning the space, and everything in between. In short, the more creative the endeavor combined with quality work, catches the attention of those that write about art, gallerist, and curators. I’m leaving out a lot and simplifying for brevity, but that is the current way of the “glamorous” art world.
New on the horizon though is another opportunity for artists. Artists and art professionals, Cam Schoepp and Terri Thornton of Fort Worth, are near completion of Blind Alley. (Both Cam and Terri’s works are in the collection of OJAC.) It was conceived through a conversation that Terri had with a curator friend stating that curators (and I will add, most institutions) are not willing to go down a blind alley—reluctant to take chances or embrace failure as a natural part of the process.
Six years from conception to (near) completion, Schoepp designed and built a space that is “off grid, a drive-by vitrine, flexible to new technologies, nimble to new ideas, and able to be maintained, developed within our busy lives, and operated within our household economy.” Though small in stature (the interior space being 8 x 10 ft.), every aspect is carefully considered from its versatile space to its living roof of native prairie grass and stone gabion skin that flows into defining walls.
Blind Alley will allow artists the opportunity to present works within the space “without the pressure of ‘success’ or outside expectations” as Terri states. Rotating “exhibits” with an accompanying simple website (more for archiving past installations) will be aspects of this new and exciting space. (I hope to encounter many other Blind Alleys in the future.)
Soon “art seekers” will have another opportunity to see work of artists by simply making a one minute drive from the Fort Worth museums, park 20 feet from the Blind Alley and view work that one will unlikely see at any gallery or museum—no admission or parking issues either. Regardless if you deem it a success or failure it likely will be something you have never seen before…isn’t that something we always seek…discovering the new?
Patrick Kelly
(Note: Exact address of Blind Alley and website will be released when the project is up and running. Stay tuned.)
Workshop participants Winifred Waller, Diana Nail, Carolyn Waller and Leta Bell watch Dr. Marian Ann Montgomery demonstrate storage techniques.
The second Saturday in November marked the occasion of the Archives first adult workshop. The Veteran’s Day Textile Workshop offered registrants the opportunity to bring in a treasured piece of family history with them. Dr. Marian Ann Montgomery, Curator of Clothing and Textiles at the Museum of Texas Tech University in Lubbock led the workshop, giving a presentation on basic fabric care to begin. The second half of the workshop Dr. Montgomery worked with the textile items the workshop participants had brought, showing them how to carefully store and protect their pieces using archival boxes and tissue provided.
Molly Sauder, Archivist and Librarian
One of the great things about living in Albany is that we are just a short drive from three world-class museums in Fort Worth. For example, on November 8, the Kimbell Art Museum opens a new exhibition, Gustave Caillebotte: The Painter’s Eye. This is big news for two reasons.
First, Gustave Caillebotte (pronounced Goo-stahf Kai-buh-t) was one of the most interesting artistsof the French Impressionist period. To paraphrase the Kimbell website, his bold paintings, which experimented with radical points of view and audacious perspective, focused on Paris streets, domestic life, and the French countryside. The exhibition, organized jointly by the National Gallery of Art and the Kimbell, focuses on Caillebotte’s masterpieces made between 1875 and 1882.
Second, if you can’t make it to Fort Worth to see Caillebotte’s paintings, you can come to the Old Jail Art Center and see our outstanding Caillebotte painting, Paysage Avec Riviere (Landscape with River), painted around 1888. Although painted too late to be included in the Kimbell exhibition, collection connections like this link smaller museums like the OJAC with bigger museums like the Kimbell, and remind us of the universal power of great art.
https://www.kimbellart.org/exhibition/gustave-caillebotte-painters-eye
Patrick Kelly, Executive Director
Demonstrating how to carve linoleum to high school students during Art to Go.
Art to Go is a point of pride, and I am very happy to spend a large portion of my job participating in this outreach program. While there are countless aspects and benefits of this program that I love, from sharing the museum’s collection with over one-thousand students a month across rural Texas to encouraging students to explore new creative outlets, there is one trait of this program that I relish above all: experiencing the developmental processes and abilities of students at an accelerated rate.
What do I mean by this? Let me explain.
Throughout a single month, I will visit the classrooms of Preschoolers through Seniors in High School. Working with this range of students every month, I experience the mental, physical, and emotional progression of a young child to adolescent to young adult condensed in a matter of days, rather than years.
I like to think I am watching the students of this region, as a collective, growing up double time.
It is a fascinating thing.
Molly Gore Merck, Education Coordinator
Each year the museum parking lot is transformed by a sea of red and white shirts! During one home game in Albany, the OJAC and First National Bank sponsor a tailgating party for fans of our local High School team.
Fun tunes, delicious tacos, crafts for the kids, a piñata and a raffle for local goodies make this one of our favorite Community Events each fall.
If you missed it this month, join us next Football Season for a great pre-game party!
Go Lions!
Erin Whitmore, Education Director
Check out these pics from our 2015 West Texas Triangle Workshop, honoring Jesus Moroles!
We had a blast celebrating Greek culture this week at Cultural Connections Camp 2015!