Despite it’s reputation for stockyards and slaughterhouses, Fort Worth artists were on the cutting edge of modern art in Texas during the mid-20th century. Since then, people who grew up around here recall school trips to the impressive collection of museums in the Cultural District and can remember the fascination that comes with discovering art and artifacts.
So it’s great to see Alice Walton bringing a world-class art museum to Bentonville, Ark., home of her Wal-Mart headquarters. The mammoth, 201,000-square-foot museum is on 120 acres with two ponds, and will feature American art, much of collected over the years by Walton. (Walton lives at her huge ranch in Millsap, Texas, and is been a major player in the American art collecting world.)
Closer to home, North Texas singer-songwriter Sara Hickman is busy with her own contribution to the art world. Her new 38-track CD The Best Of Times includes song contributions by Texas musicians Robert Earl Keen, Willie Nelson, Rhett Miller, Shawn Colvin, Marcia Ball, Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, Asleep at the Wheel, and many others.
The CD release is in August, and sales will benefit the Theater Action Project (TAP), a nonprofit that brings art, music, and theater to Central Texas schools. The album project was inspired by the recent slash in arts funding by the state legislature.
“I wanted to utilize my position as the official state musician of Texas to promote families being creative together,” Hickman said. “Many times this starts with children bringing home ideas they learn at school.”
I own a Bror Utter painting that he gave to my late father and I love it.
I love Bror’s style and wish I owned one of his paintings but they’re expensive now.