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Past McNamara Exhibits

Portraits of Victoria
May 29 - July 13, 2008

Portraits of Victoria: A Tribute by Buddy Lee / Supported by an Oral History Video Presentation. The exhibit included portraits and oral histories of 10 Victoria "icons": Polly Lou Livingston, Henry Hauschild, Lee Durst, Mary Sue Koontz Nelson, Harold Nichols, Kerry McCan, Harold Cade, Bea Treviño, Mary Francis McCall and Jim DeLeon.

Picture My World 2008

Marilyn Lanfear: A Durable Trace

January 17, 2008 - April 11, 2008: Marilyn Lanfear, a storyteller, does not use words to convey the wisdom and emotions of the personalities who live in her family’s oral history. Instead she utilizes buttons, lead, paper, fabric and other creative resources to convey her memoir.

Life Collages 2007
November 1 - December 31, 2007 Life Collages featured art and writings of Mitchell Guidance Center students, and traveled to the Victoria Public Library during the month of March 2008.

Picture My World 2007

Maestro Grabador: Master Printer Ernest de Soto

November 2, 2006 - January 14, 2007: The exhibit featured 11 lithographic prints donated by de Soto to MexicArte Museum, including artists Alejandro Colunga, Adja Yunkers, Terry Allen, Luis Jiménez, Jose Fors, Lionel Maciel, Edmundo Aquino, Gustavo Rivera, Jerry Cocha, Robert Baxter, and Rupert Garcia. The exhibit debuted at the Ben Bailey Gallery of Texas A& M Kingsville, October 2006.

Life Collages 2006

October 5 - 29, 2006: Life Collages featured art and writings of Mitchell Guidance Center students. The exhibit traveled to the office of the Mexican Consulate in Houston, TX, later in 2006.

Apron Strings: Ties to the Past

January 5, 2006 - February 19, 2006: Apron Strings: Ties to the Past featured fifty-one vintage and contemporary examples that reviewed the apron's role as an emotionally charged vehicle for expression with a rich and varied craft history that is still viable today.

Using aprons dating from the late 1930s through the present, the exhibition chronicled changing attitudes toward women and domestic work. It also surveyed the wide range of design and craft techniques apron-makers have used to express themselves, while still working within creative venues traditionally available to women.

A Century of Teens, 1880-1980

October 6, 2005 - December 30 , 2005: Appealing to current and former teens, the Century of Teens exhibit gave insight to the history of teenagers from 1880 to 1980. The exhibit included artifacts, photos, oral histories (displayed on DVD), period music, and hands-on activities. Visitors experienced subjects such as work, technology, political issues, education, speech, dress, amusement, sports, and music. The exhibit opening included a Teen Concert performed from the porch of the McNamara House Museum on September 29, 2005.

This Contest is for Real Hands:

Rodeo Photographs of the 1930s and Illustrations of the Trail Ride by Jill Stover

March 3, 2005 - April 14, 2005: The O'Connor Gallery of the McNamara House hosted this exhibit of 30 black-and-white photographs from vintage negatives taken in the 1930's by Otho Hartley (1895-1964). Complimenting this exhibit, original illustrations from The Trail Ride by Jill Stover were on display in the museum. In addition to the Trail Ride, Ms. Stover authored Popsicle Porty and Alamo Across Texas. Her works are based on her childhood memories growing up in Small Town Texas in the 1960s.

Past Nave Exhibits 

Madeline O'Connor

May 9 - July 20, 2008: Balance, space and purity of form are major strengths of Madeline O'Connor's paintings and constructions, and these were evident in this exhibit of her works, the first since her death in 2001.

Buck and the Kid

March 7 - April 27, 2008: Buck and The Kid, a compilation of diverse works of the legendary Texas artist E. M. "Buck" Schiwetz and his younger friend and protégé, renowned watercolorist Harold Phenix. This exhibit brought together an enchanting collection of sights and memories.

Art Guys: Cloud Cuckoo Land

November 30, 2007 - January 13, 2008: The Art Guys exhibit featured selections from twenty-five years of drawings, proposals, failed schemes, and pipe dreams of the Houston artist team of Michael Galbreath and Jack Massing who work collaboratively under the name The Art Guys.

14th Annual Celebration of El Día de los Muertos

October 5 - November 18, 2007: Painted Memory: Fidencio Durán and Oaxacan Sand Paintings by Santa Barraza and Eloy Jimenez were presented. Works by Fidencio Duran, a painter, printmaker and muralist, conveyed inspiration derived from his rural upbringing in Texas and the deeply rooted traditions of the Mexican-American population. Also presented was a pigmented sand painting of Oaxaca, by Santa Barraza and Eloy Jimenez.

Passages: Bob Parvin and Sandra Nykerk

May 11 - July 15, 2007: Works by Bob Parvin and Sandra Nykerk, talented photographers who provoke thought and capture beauty, were showcased with images that illustrate passages both physical and abstract.

Collages by Ann Harithas

March 2, 2007 - April 21, 2007: Texas-based surrealism collages by internationally renowned artist Ann Harithas were presented, including a vibrant video installation.
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Victoria Region Collects Folk Art

November 14, 2006 - January 17, 2007: Curated by Sharon Steen and featuring works from area folk art collections, the display included a variety of media such as wood sculpture, fabric art, metal sculpture, oil paintings, and mixed media. 

El Día de los Muertos

September 8, 2006 - November 5, 2006: The Victoria Regional Museum Association presented its 13th annual celebration of El Día de los Muertos in Victoria, hosting Abrazado Por el Arte/ Embraced By Art, curated by Lidia Serrata, and Immigrant Memorial. The DeTar Gallery of the Nave Museum showcased Immigrant Memorial, featuring Nancy O’Connor’s installation of the Exxon Truck Stop/Immigrant Memorial Site, depicting the place where 19 immigrants died in May 2003 while bound for Houston, suffocating in the searing heat, trapped in a truck trailer left along the highway.

Melissa Miller: Works On Paper

June 16, 2006 - August 6, 2006: The Victoria Regional Museum Association presented Melissa Miller: Works on Paper at the Nave Museum.Melissa Miller is widely known for her expressionistic paintings, which uses animals as metaphors for human observations and dilemmas. Her works on paper present distinct but closely limited imagery on unspecified, almost blank grounds.

Charles Field: The Landscape Paintings

April 19, 2006 - June 4, 2006: The Victoria Regional Museum Association presented Charles Field: The Landscape Paintings at the Nave Museum. Light, abstract gestures, and the ever-changing sky figure prominently in Field's landscapes of Texas, Ireland, New Mexico, Nova Scotia, the Pacific Northwest, and Tuscany.

Nancy O'Connor: Soul Cages

February 3, 2006 - April 9, 2006: Victoria Regional Museum Association presented Nancy O'Connor: Soul Cages, which evoked powerful experiences through the use of photography, sound, and objects gathered from a Black ranching community that no longer exists.

Victoria's Early Painters

November 18, 2005 - January 22, 2006: Victoria Regional Museum Association presented Victoria's Early Painters, including works by Royston Nave, Dolly Spidle Nabinger, and Anna Dupré. This exhibit featured several paintings that have never been shown in the museum from private collections throughout the Victoria area.

Selections from the Joe A. Diaz Collection and Altars by Joe "King" Carrasco

September 9, 2005 to November 6, 2005: The Victoria Regional Museum celebrated El Día de los Muertos, Mexico's Day of the Dead, which is observed on November 2. Traditionally, the celebration is a time for honoring deceased loved ones by creating folk art, decorating altars, adorned with mementos. All races and cultures were invited to experience the Joe Diaz collection and altars created by Joe "King" Carrasco at teh Nave Museum.

Faces and Places in Pastel by Carolyn Hancock

June 3, 2005 to August 7, 2005: The Victoria Regional Museum displayed Faces and Places in Pastel by Texas artist Carolyn Hancock at the Nave Museum June 3 through August 7, 2005. The exhibit glowed with the emotion of people of diverse cultures and the vibrant colors of landscapes and transformed magnolias. Opening with a double self-portrait, the exhibit then circled the galleries and the globe with the people of Japan, India, the Middle East, Africa, Central Europe and the United States.

Leffland Legacy

April 15, 2005 to May 22, 2005:Denise Counley, B. F. Williams House, pen and ink, 1998.The Victoria Regional Museum Association (VRMA) presented Leffland Legacy at the Nave Museum April 15 through May 22, 2005. Working in conjunction with Victoria Preservation, Inc., the VRMA prepared a new and greatly expanded exhibit of Leffland drawings, which included works by Jules and Kai Leffland, and James Hull, who worked with the Lefflands as a partner in the firm Hull and Leffland. Leffland?s Legacy included the architects who either trained or worked with Jules Carl Leffland, Charles E. Praeger and Sam H. Dixon, who went on to design a number of structures in Victoria.

Into the West:

February 4, 2005 to April 3, 2005: The Art of Robert Summers And Victoria?s Master Craftsmen: Joe Bianchi and C.I. Tibiletti

The Victoria Regional Museum Association presented Into the West: The Art of Robert Summers and Victoria?s Master Craftsmen: Joe Bianchi and C.I.Tibiletti at the Nave Museum February 4 through April 3, 2005. A resident of Glen Rose, Texas, Robert Summers is an oil painter and sculptor in realist style of western subjects, especially cattle ranching. He is the creator of numerous public art projects including the world's largest bronze for the Pioneer Plaza at the Dallas Convention Center. In 1976, he was recognized as the official Texas Bicentennial Artist. Gracing the Detar Gallery will be the work of Joe Bianchi (1874-1949), known for his world-class spurs, and C.I. Tibiletti (1890-1980), leather craftsman.

The Royal Robes of Texas!

November 19, 2004 - January 16, 2005: The Nave Museum displayed gowns, detachable trains, and accessories from two exquisite coronations that take place in Texas. The ?Coronation of the Queen of the Order of the Alamo,? is part of the annual Fiesta celebrations in San Antonio, Texas. The Buccaneer Days ?Las Doñ¡³ de la Corte Coronation? takes place in Corpus Christi, Texas, as part of the annual Buccaneer Days festival held each spring.

Las Comadres:

September 24 - November 7, 2004:  Women of Vision and Altars to our Ancestors

Las Comadres, a highly talented group of artists from Corpus Christi, Texas were the featured artists at the annual El Dí¡ de los Muertos exhibit at the Nave Museum. This talented group of female artists reflect our concerns about life and provide narrative statements about social issues through their artwork. Together these artist celebrate each others' art, love of life, and the creative process. Clay Synergy!

July 9 - September 12, 2004

The Victoria Regional Museum Association presented Clay Synergy: Interconnections of Form and Content, displayed at the Nave Museum July 9. This exhibit featured five exceptional clay artists from across the state: Ramon Barela, Juan Granados, Dale Neese, Steve Reynolds, and Fred Spaulding. These artists created recent artworks that explore the various capabilities of how clay can be manipulated and incorporated with other materials. Both children and adults added their own creative touch to the community sculpture inside the Nave. An additional interactive station focused on the relationship between art and science. Assemblage artwork adorned the lawn of the Nave and was displayed at Victoria Mall.

Faces of the Past: Portraits by Royston Nave 1910-1930

March 26, 2004 - May 9, 2004: Faces of the Past featured the portraits of Royston Nave painted during the years from 1910 to1930. Several of these paintings, which belong to private collections in Victoria, had never been on display at the Nave Museum. Nave painted portraits of friends and relatives, and painted places he knew and loved. To view a Nave painting is to take a trip back in time, seeing real people and experiencing real places of the early 1900s. During Nave's younger years he studied and painted in New York city where he achieved renown for his portrait work, of which he had many one-man exhibitions. Later he married and settled in Victoria where he painted extensively for the remainder of his life. The year after his untimely death at the age of 44, his widow, Mrs. Emma McFaddin McCan Nave, commissioned the building of a memorial, which later became known as the Nave Museum, to honor her late husband and to house his paintings.

Routes Toward Modernism: American Painting 1870-1950

January 30, 2004 - March 7, 2004: Routes toward Modernism traced the development of American art during a dramatic period of innovation, inspiration and cultural upheaval. This exhibition of works collected by the author, James A. Michener, wasloaned to the Nave Museum from the permanent collection of the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas. The collection showcases the works of Thomas Eakins, Robert Henri, and William Merritt Chase, among others. It shows how artists at the dawn of the twentieth century struggled to understand the sciences, behavior, and visual properties of light, color, and form. Their art seems to conclude that modernity presents us not with static conditions requiring simple observation and description, but with a dynamic and unpredictable interplay of circumstances and responses.

Dance Halls and Last Calls! 

November 21, 2003 - January 11, 2004: Visitors experienced the oldest dance halls in Texas with a two-part exhibit on loan from the New Braunfels Museum of Art and Music featuring the artwork of Gail Wendorf and the archival photographs that document the history of our Texas dance halls. On display was the whirling "Waltz Across Texas" paintings of Gail Wendorf. Full of rich, vibrant color, these paintings were created on an enormous scale to create a feeling of inclusion for the viewer. The exhibit captured the cultural and musical contributions that the dance hall has made to the development of Texas music. The exhibit featured a multi-media aspect with a film that played in the Nave Museum throughout the exhibit, and also a compilation CD that grew from the work. 

Altars of our Ancestors: Related exhibit at Victoria College
October 28, 2003 - November 2, 2003

The Old Masters:

Selections from the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Collection 

May 22, 2003 - July 6, 2003 

This Victoria Regional Museum Association special exhibit was a once in a lifetime opportunity for local Victorian's to see and enjoy rare masterpieces of 16th and 17th century European art. Sarah Campbell Blaffer assembled this collection of 16th and 17th century European paintings over her lifetime to help enhance the appreciation and understanding of historic masterpieces of art. Her belief in the power of art caused Ms. Blaffer to allow these exemplary works to travel to the people of communities where it is not readily available in hopes that it would enrich their lives as she knew it had touched her own.

Artsreach Residency Project: Facing Life's Challenges

May 2, 2003 - May 11, 2003

Art Education student Judith Hauboldt from Victoria was selected by the Dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas to participate in their Artsreach residency Project this year. This program provided UT students with the opportunity to take their art back to their communities in hopes of developing new audiences for the arts. Ms. Hauboldt exhibited her own artwork as well as implemented an instructional unit that she designed based upon art as a means to communicate life experiences with others. A group of art students from Memorial High School participated in this program and had their work on display.

All About Texas:

Landscapes by Mary Lou Klotzman and Bill Zaner

January 24, 2003 - February 23, 2003

Mary Lou Klotzman paints with a gentle courage that fears no bounds. She is as talented with watercolors as with oils or acrylic mediums, and the subject does not exist that she cannot recreate. Paintings of landscapes, still life?s, and geographical formations are representative of the artist's broad range of subject matter. Dedicated to the beautiful wildflowers of her adopted state, Mary Lou Klotzman has created paintings that give the viewer a feeling of waterfalls of color with the wildflowers as subjects.

Reflecting on his career, Bill Zaner says he wanted nothing else but to paint. To view his paintings is to walk the Great American Southwest with one's eyes. He has been a cowboy, knowing little else for his first twenty-two years, which has very much to do with his love for the land, his need for

space, and his capacity for understatement. He is a philosopher who speaks to us with paint, on canvas, and listens, to the wind, and to his heart.

It's Not the End of the World

Sigrid Sandstrom & Karyn Olivier

March 7, 2003 - April 13, 2003

These two notable artists share more in common than just being students together at the Glassell School of Art, the Art School sponsored by the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, they both use symbolism, imagination, and minimalist approaches to art. Sigrid Sandstr?aints imaginary landscapes, landscapes as memories that express specific spirits or atmospheres, and large sublime paintings that employ vast horizons and traditional perspective. The Nordic landscape has had a tremendous impact on her and her art, the vastness and stillness of it.

Karyn Olivier's artwork, also created by the imagination, transforms itself into a tangible, real entity. The almost absurd quality of her work is intended to open one's mind to the imagination. "My work investigates one's physical entry inside an architectural site in tandem with the psychological entry inside one's own mind."

A Starry Night - Fundraiser

April 4, 2003

These two rising stars in the art world share more in common than just being students together at the Glassell School of Art, the Art School sponsored by the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, they both use symbolism, imagination, and minimalist approaches to art. Sigrid Sandstr?aints imaginary landscapes, landscapes as memories that express specific spirits or atmospheres, and large sublime paintings that employ vast horizons and traditional perspective. The Nordic landscape has had a tremendous impact on her and her art, the vastness and stillness of it.

The theme for the 2003 fundraiser corresponds with the 150th anniversary of Vincent Van Gogh's birth. Raffle tickets were sold for a trip for two to New York City to view the original Starry Night by Van Gogh at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to view a great Broadway show of the winner's choice and to dine at the Tavern on the Green. The Victoria Regional Museum Association thanks all of its volunteers, committee members, benefactors, patrons, and museum members for making this evening another successful "Starry Night"!