MUSEUM of the Big Bend

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FALL : 35th Trappings of Texas September 16-November 6 , 2021 September 16-18 – Trappings of Texas Opening Weekend

Bringing the best of contemporary Western art and custom cowboy gear together under one roof in the ranching country of Big Bend . A Do Not Miss Event !

• September 16- Preview Party at the Museum of the Big Bend , 5-8 pm .

• September 17- Trappings of Texas presentations and demonstrations at the Museum of the Big Bend , 11 am-3 pm and Opening Reception , Exhibit and Sale 6-9 pm . Partnered with Big Bend Family Crisis to promote their dance and fundraiser at the Alpine Civic Center starting at 9 pm .

• September 18- Trappings of Texas presentations and demonstrations at the Museum of the Big Bend , 11 am-3 pm .

MID WINTER : Texas as Art January 14-April 2 , 2022

The focus of Texas as Art is to bring to bring art and science together and engage students and teachers - as well as the public -with earth observations . TexasView , the organization that received the grant funding for the exhibit , is a consortium of 13 universities in Texas , including Sul Ross State University . Dr . Kevin Urbanczyk , from the Biology , Geology , and Physical Science Department at SRSU , is the SRSU partner contact for TexasView .

Additionally , the USGS Earth as Art Gallery of images curated by Doug Spencer will send some of the Earth as Art imagery will be included in the Texas as Art exhibit .

• January 18- Opening Reception , 5-7 pm

• January 18- Gallery Talks featuring SRSU geologists and others ( TBD ). Exhibit remains on display through March 25 , 2021 .

SPRING : Fred Darge Paints the Big Bend and Beyond April 22-June 4 , 2022

Friedrich Ernst ( Fred ) Darge was born in Rendsburg , Germany March 1 , 1900 and died in Dallas , Texas April 10 , 1978 .

He entered the U . S . at Port Arthur , Texas in 1923 . By 1924 he was in Chicago painting under the W . P . A . Artists policy and attending the Art Institute of Chicago ( 1925-27 , 1929 ) and at the Arts Students League in New York . While in Chicago , Darge painted , made model sailboats , which was a interest he acquired in the German Merchant Marine at the age of 16 . During this period , he made a painting trip with his wife and son through Minnesota and the Dakota ’ s .

By July of 1933 he had separated from his wife and son in Chicago and had settled in San Antonio as a Starving Artist . In 1935 he moved to Dallas where he finished his paintings during the

Winter months and spent the Summers painting and sketching on Ranches in West Texas , mostly the area between the Davis Mountains and the Rio Grande and in New Mexico . Darge stated “ I believe the simple , direct living of the pioneer people will soon come to an end . I want to register the ranchman as he lives today , his daily habits , his mode of living and doing business .”

He soon learned to follow the life of the hands on the ranches he visited and became adept at riding and roping and made himself handy around the campfires .

Darge entered the Army in 1942 and served in the South Pacific and was honorably discharged in March 1944 . He worked for North American Aviation ( defense industry ) as a technical illustrator until wars end .

Darge returned to Dallas in 1946 and bought a W . W . II ambulance and converted it to an artists studio / van and spent the years 1946 to 1978 traveling and painting throughout Texas and New Mexico and returning to Dallas to finish his paintings , carve , build and sail his model boats .

His paintings have been exhibited in Chicago ( Union League Club / Art Institute of Chicago ); New York ( Art Students League ); Miami , Philadelphia , Dallas ( Museum of Fine Arts / Texas Centennial Exposition ); San Antonio ( Witte Museum ); Fort Worth ( Annual Texas Artists Exposition ); Corpus Christi , Austin ( Laguna Gloria Art Museum ); Taos and Santa Fe , New Mexico and others , winning numerous awards and honorable mentions .

His later years were spent at his studio adjacent to the Dallas Art Association where he also acted as an Instructor .

• April 22 : Opening Reception , 5-7pm

• April 23 : Gallery talks featuring art historians and others ( TBD ).

• April 24 : 6th Annual Heritage Dinner honoring a friend of the MoBB . Ticketed event Exhibit remains on display through May 28 , 2021 .

SUMMER : Jim Bones : A Romance with Light June 17-September 3 , 2022

Jim Bones was born in Monroe , Louisiana in 1943 . His father was in the Air Force ; hence Jim and his family moved a great deal . As a child he lived in Florida , Texas , California , Maryland and Virginia . One Christmas when he was in junior high , his parents gave him a Brownie 8mm camera and shortly thereafter they began a cross-country trip from one home , in Norfolk , Virginia to another in Lompoc , California . It was on that trip that Jim developed an interest in both photography and the desert .

He started college at the University of Texas with the intention of studying aerospace engineering , took a semester of physics , then switched to geology . Toward the end of college , he switched to fine arts , primarily to study with and work for Russell Lee , who is the master of large-format black and white documentary photography .

In 1965 Bones began working with a largeformat ( 4 x 5 ) camera . He spent a year ( 1972- 1973 ) at the Dobie-Paisano Ranch , near Austin and the photographs he took during his residency there were published in 1975 in Texas Heartland : A Hill Country Year . From 1975 to 1978 , he worked in Santa Fe , as printing assistant to Eliot Porter , who is widely respected for his largeformat color work , especially of nature . Bones ’ other books include Texas Earth Surfaces ( 1970 ), Texas Wild ( 1976 ) and Texas West of the Pecos ( 1981 ). Encino Press of Austin , Texas , has published two portfolios of Bones ’ handmade dye-transfer prints , A Texas Portfolio ( 1977 ) and A Wildflower Portfolio ( 1978 ).

• June 17- Opening Reception , 5-7 pm

• June 18- Photo weekend presentations , demonstrations and workshops ( TBD ). Exhibit remains of display through September 3 , 2022 .

36th Annual Trappings of Texas ( Tentative ) September 15-November 5 , 2022 September 15-17 – Trappings of Texas Opening Weekend

Bringing the best of contemporary Western art and custom cowboy gear together under one roof in the ranching country of Big Bend . A Do Not Miss Event !

• September 15- Preview Party at the Museum of the Big Bend , 5-8 pm .

• September 16- Trappings of Texas presentations and demonstrations at the Museum of the Big Bend , 11 am-3 pm and Opening Reception , Exhibit and Sale 6-9 pm . Partnering with with Big Bend Family Crisis to promote their dance and fundraiser at the Alpine Civic Center starting at 9 pm .

• September 17- Trappings of Texas presentations and demonstrations at the Museum of the Big Bend , 11 am-3 pm . Exhibit remains on display through November 5 , 2022 .

Visit museumofthebigbend . com for more information .