“The Big Bend country
is the most paintable place
I have ever worked.”
THE LOST COLONY:
Texas Regionalist Paintings ~
Rediscovering an Artistic Past
~ Mrs. Ruth Lovelady,
1940 art colony student
by Mary Bones
N inety years ago a department of
drawing was established at Sul
Ross Normal College. Within 30
years, Sul Ross had evolved into a state
teachers’ college, and the department of
drawing had transformed into a fullfledged
department of art offering courses
to students seeking public-school teaching
certificates, as well as those wanting
careers as professional artists.
The early years of the art department
at Sul Ross are now an overlooked story in
the history of the university. Few know
about the early artists who taught in the
art department. Even fewer are aware
that for over 15 years the school hosted an
extremely successful summer art colony,
with some of the best Texas artists conducting
the classes.
Sul Ross Normal College opened its
doors in the summer of 1920, and by the
following summer a department of drawing
was established. In 1922, it was reported
that San Antonio native Beatrice
Emiline Matthaei would teach five courses
in both art history and drawing.
Matthaei taught at Sul Ross for a single
year, after which, due to illness, she was
replaced by Mable Vandiver. After leaving
Sul Ross, Matthhaei continued her teaching
career in the Houston public school
system for more than 50 years.
Vandiver and her students produced
numerous works of art to beautify the
school, including batiks, screens and
drawings. These first exhibits were held in
the Girls’ Rest Room, a room set aside for
the female students to study, visit and rest.
The students would produce tableaus of
masterpiece paintings in costume, color
and poise for student assemblies. After her
time at Sul Ross, Vandiver spent more
than 20 years, from 1933 to 1954, at Fort
Hays State University, where she first
taught at and then served as the head of
the art department. She never stopped
creating and began experimenting with
oil crayons at the age of 99.
In 1925, Anna Elizabeth Keener
replaced Vandiver. Keener commented
that “in my opinion the Davis Mountains
of Texas provide as promising material for
the artist as any I have found.” She introduced
a course that emphasized en plein air
or outdoor painting.
Photos by Jim Bones
Clockwise from the top: “Kokernot Lodge,” ca.1930s, oil on canvas, Julius Woeltz,
Museum of the Big Bend; “Davis Mountains,” 1922, watercolor, Mabel Vandiver, Fort Hays
State University, Hays, Kan.; “Black Eagle Dance,” ca. late 1920s, color etching, Elizabeth
Keefer, collection of Judy and Stephen Alton; “Pioneers,” ca. 1926, oil on canvas board, Anna
Keener, collection of Bruce Covey.
During the time that Keener was at Sul
Ross, special courses in art were offered
that could lead to a certificate, diploma or
degree. Keener would later recall that
President Horace W. Morelock would
often appear in her art room on Friday
afternoons and ask, “Where do you and
your students want to go this weekend?”
Once a destination had been chosen,
Morelock’s only requirement was “take
Rudolph Mellard to drive the car, know
the country and speak Spanish.” Keener
continued her teaching career at schools
in New Mexico. She was one of the
organizers of the New Mexico Arts
Commission.
From 1926 through 1932, Houstonian
Elizabeth Estella Keefer headed the newly
formed art department. While at Sul
Ross, she worked closely with the students
in producing the school’s yearbook, The
Brand. She worked particularly closely
with the future Chicago lithographer
James Swann. She, like the instructors
before her, continued to produce the “living”
masterpieces and to decorate the
campus. Keener refined her skills as an
etcher and invented a technique to produce
color etchings. She was allowed
access to the northern New Mexico reservations
and became known as the “Etcher
of Indians.”
By 1932, Keefer had married Texas
historian Mody Boat wright, and the couple
moved to Austin. Keefer was replaced
by Julius Woeltz of San Antonio, and that
summer Woeltz implemented an art
colony. He chose his former teacher and
friend Xavier Gonzalez to conduct the art
colony for the first summer session.
Gonzalez was a natural choice to lead the
colony as he had prior experience at an
art colony at Christoval, Texas, and he
continued on page 26
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Cenizo
Fourth Quarter 2011