Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com

Marketplace \| Services \| Contact Us \| Community \| Arts & Entertainment \| Local Guides

Published by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. CLICK FOR NEWSPAPER DELIVERY

Thursday, October 18, 2001
Museum blossoms
Got art? The Beeville Art Museum hosts exhibit of prints, textiles
By Brendan Walsh
Caller-Times

George Tuley/Caller-Times

Brenda Fleming Pawelek, director of the Beeville Art Museum, stands next to a bronze sculpture by Colin Webster-Watson titled ‘The Bull Dancers.’ For the first time since the museum opened, it will host an exhibit borrowed from another institution, the San Antonio Museum of Art.

Click here to view some of the prints and textiles from the Beeville Art Museum.
Though the Beeville Art Museum first opened its doors in 1983, museum director Brenda Fleming Pawelek says it hasn't always been as inviting a place as it is now. Before she was installed as the museum's first paid staff member in March 2000 and additional funding boosted the museum, things were quite different.
   It was only open for three days a week for three hours at a time, and its permanent collection consisted of, among other things, 12 western-style paintings that Pawelek described as being of "Elvis-on-velvet quality - they were horrible, so awful."
   For the first time since the museum opened, it will soon host an exhibit borrowed from another institution.
   Textile and prints

George Tuley/Caller-Times

Part of the Beeville Art Museum exhibit of prints and textiles from Mexico include this serigraph from 1965 by Teresa Casatillo Yturbide titled ‘Otomis of the Mezquital Valley, Hidalgo.’

   "Trajes Mexicanos: Prints and Textiles from the San Antonio Museum of Art" will make its debut next week in Beeville. The exhibit showcases Mexican huipils (a woman's sleeveless tunic), quechuémetls (a woman's shoulder garment), fajas (sashes) and enredos (wrap-around skirts). Accompanying the textiles are prints by Teresa Castillo Yturbide that depict men and women in traditional garments similar to the ones on display.
   An opening reception with wine and other refreshments will be held Wednesday evening from 6 until 8 p.m.
   Making museum 'hip'
   Pawelek has made it her mission to make the modest museum, housed in a historic Queen Anne-style mansion outside downtown Beeville, a cultural hub of the town. In the past year and a half the museum has started to host opening receptions when new exhibits open to reinforce its status as an educational institution.
   "My goal is for the museum to be the hip cultural place to come to (in Beeville), where everyone wants to go to see who's there and what people are wearing," Pawelek said. "I'd like to see that happening, and it slowly is."

What: Trajes Mexicanos: Prints and Textiles from the San Antonio Museum of Art
When: Exhibit runs through Feb. 15. Opening reception is Wednesday 6 to 8 p.m.
Where: Beeville Art Museum, 401 E. Fannin St., Beeville
Cost: Free
More Info: (361) 358-8615

   The Houston-based Joe Barnhart Foundation has owned the building and contributed financially to the museum since it opened, but its involvement has increased since Pawelek was hired. The foundation hopes that the museum will take an active role in providing art education for the children of Beeville.
   Before the foundation became active, the museum averaged about seven visitors a day for the three days a week it was open, attracting just less than 1,000 people a year. Between March 2000 and 2001 (when the museum was open six days a week), 5,069 people (16 per day) strolled through the museum. Since March of this year, the museum has already matched that number.
   To attract more visitors, the museum has reached out to the community in several ways. "It's amazing the changes," Pawelek said. "Before, people thought they couldn't come in if they weren't members. Now we're really reaching out and letting people know that everyone is welcome."
   More Hispanic art
   Part of that outreach will involve showcasing more Hispanic-themed art, such as the textile exhibit organized by the San Antonio Museum of Art. "Having such a large Hispanic population, I think this is so important," Pawelek said.

George Tuley/Caller-Times

This cotton blouse from Puebla is decorated with glass beads and is from the early 20th century.

   The textiles, all made between 1910 and 1990, show both Spanish and pre-Columbian influences. The intricate designs - woven into the fabric or made with glass beads - are more than simply aesthetic. According to Marion Oettinger, Jr., the Curator of Latin American Art at the San Antonio Museum of Art, the designs often indicate social status, wealth, marital status, religious affiliation and the hometown of the person wearing the clothing. Many of the designs can be traced to Mexican-Indian tradition.

George Tuley/Caller-Times

A serigraph from 1965 by Teresa Castillo Yturbide titled ‘Pinotepeas of Oaxaca’ depicts the weaving process.

   While the exhibit is on display, an instructor at the museum will show fifth graders from the nearby Thomas Jefferson Intermediate School how the clothing is woven with traditional looms.
   In teaching children, the Beeville Art Museum will be fulfilling its primary purpose as an educational institution according to Bobbie Lasiter, the president of the Beeville Art Association.
   "Beeville is a small town, and (the museum) gives children an opportunity to be knowledgeable about art without going to the big city," said Lasiter.

   Contact Brendan Walsh at 886-3763 or walshb@caller.com

| Talk about this story | Next Story | Home |

[ Printer-friendly version ]
[ Subscribe to newspaper ]

SEND THIS PAGE TO A FRIEND