Cenizo Journal Fall 2011 | Page 26

Bell GAlleRy SPriggS BooT & SAddLE Repair • Tack • Jewelry • Rodeo Motorcycle Gear • Gifts and more! CONTEMPORARY WEST TEXAS ART 401 N. 5th Street • Alpine TX 79830 (432)837-5999 Representing work by Charles Bell • Karl Glocke Ling Dong • Carlos Campana Hours vary or by appointment Art and Guitar classes • Weekend workshops offered Hand-painted signs and graphics Music To Your Ears CDs • DVDs • Vinyl Games • Special Orders Mon-Fri 10-6 203 E Holland Ave, Alpine 432.837.1055 ringtailrecords@sbcglobal.net We ship anywhere 608 1/2 E Holland Ave. • Alpine (432) 837-5000 Quilts Etc. by Marguerite Made in the Big Bend HWY 118 • Terlingua 3/4 mile N of HWY 170 432.371.2292 front street books Alpine & Marathon ~ www.fsbooks.com ~ (432)837-3360 Colony, cont’d from page 4 was “well acquainted with the Davis Mountains as he (had) walked over a greater part of them.” This initial art colony set the template for all to come. The teaching emphasis was on composition, landscape, figure and design. Coursework for students emphasized the art and techniques of outdoor painting with trips into the Davis Mountains, the Big Bend country and the surrounding areas. The course included private instruction and criticism with Gonzalez. At the conclusion of the six-week art colony a certificate indicating the quality and quantity of work done was awarded to those students who successfully completed their work. The certificate was signed by Gonzalez and the president of the college, Horace W. Morelock. For four years Gonzalez and Woeltz taught one summer session of the art colony each. However, in 1933 Gonzalez talked his friend Paul Ninas of New Orleans into leading an art colony session. Ninas said that his students were soon “realizing that there can be new shadows under the sun and only five hours painting in the afternoon seems not enough.” Ninas later became known as the “dean of New Orleans artists.” Woeltz resigned from Sul Ross in 1936, and Sarah Miltia Hill of Eldorado, Texas became the head of the art department and continued in this capacity until her retirement in 1961. After leaving Sul Ross, Woeltz taught at the University of Texas at Austin from 1942 through 1953, though he took time away while he served in the military during World War II. According to Woeltz’s sister Evelyn Reveley, “I just remember how happy Julius and Xavier were with every summer class. They always found students with promising talent, which made the art classes a joy to teach.” Gonzalez and Ethel Edwards were married in Alpine on Aug. 24, 1935 at the Brown Ranch. During his 1937 art colony, Gonzalez and his students formed the Rio Grande Group of artists and painters. The goal of the group was “to give students the opportunity to exhibit their work in museums and galleries in different parts of the country, and to foster the arts in the South west.” Gonzalez led the art colony through 1939, when he and his wife, a former student and artist in her own right, moved to New York City. On the East Coast, they established a summer art school at Wellfleet, Mass. During the 1939 summer session Coreen Mary Spellman of Dallas worked with Sarah Hill teaching the regular art courses. Spellman taught at her alma mater, Texas Women’s University, from 1925 until her retirement in 1974. Hill continued the tradition of a summer art colony begun by Woeltz and found outstanding instructors to bring in to lead the art colony, in addition to conducting one herself. For the 1940 and 1941 art colony, Harry Anthony De Young was selected. When asked to speak at the Fort Davis Men’s Mile High Club supper on how to judge a picture he offered this advice, “A picture is good if you like it. That’s a good rule to go by.” In 1943, Beatrice Cuming of New London, Conn. conducted the colony. When asked why she was in Alpine she replied, “I’m not really sure, but back in the East, everyone thinks that the Photo by Jim Bones “Sun Dancers San Idelfonso,” no date, color etching, Elizabeth Keefer, Museum of the Big Bend, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas. Photo courtesy Archives of the Big Bend, Bryan Wildenthal Memorial Library, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas. Dr. Horace W. Morelock, 1933, conte crayon on paper, Xavier Gonzalez. Southwest is a very special place, that every painter should go there.” Field trips were essential, and according to one reporter they could be rather strenuous: “The sun is always at an odd angle so that you get blistered only on one side, the only place soft enough to sit down in is an ant bed (just ignore the ants and keep painting)…” In the late 1940s, Otis Dozier conducted the 1947 art colony, and William Lester from the University of Texas at Austin helmed the 1949-1950 sessions. The Big Bend country was a natural for Lester as according to Art Digest, “Lester’s world is one of brilliant, pulsing color afire with life and sun.” The art colonies held during this 10-year period offered students the same opportunities as those that had been conducted by Gonzalez and Woeltz. Painting outdoors remained the emphasis, and field trips were still an important aspect for instruction. Students were encouraged to try a variety of media such as watercolor, oil, pastel and scratch-board. It is unclear why the art colony ceased to exist after 1950. Intermittently thereafter, starting in 1955, three-week workshops were held in lieu of the colony. Students could still receive either undergraduate or graduate course credit as was offered in 26 Cenizo Fourth Quarter 2011