February 24, 2023
Chris talks with Mary Bones, Director of the Museum of the Big Bend, about the completion of the new Emmet and Miriam McCoy building expansion and its Grand Opening on March 10, 2023. The new building, connected to the current historic structure, doubles the Museum’s footprint with multiple areas for art exhibits and special events.
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Transcript for “Museum of the Big Bend: a Grand Opening!”:
Intro
Welcome to the Heart of the Big Bend. It’s time to kick back, put your feet up, grab your favorite beverage or snack as we discussed, declare, proclaim, publicize and articulate about the wonders, magic, beauty, music and happenings here in the area known as the Big Bend of Texas.
Chris Ruggia
Hello welcome and thank you for joining us again for heart of the Big Bend. This is a podcast and radio show coming to you every other week about visiting the beautiful Big Bend of Texas. Specifically, we will cover what’s happening in Alpine, an incredibly friendly, small town nestled in a desert mountain valley at the heart of the Big Bend region. With easy day trips from Alpine, you can take in everything this amazing region has to offer.
I’m Chris Ruggia, Director of Tourism for the City of Alpine, and today we’re talking for, I think the third, maybe the fourth time about the Museum of the Big Bend with museum director Mary Bones. Hi, Mary.
Mary Bones
Hey Chris, thank you very much for having me on this afternoon.
Chris R
Thanks so much for one, coming back on the show and two, running such a great museum.
Mary B
Thank you very much and for your listeners outside the area, I highly recommend taht you come to the Museum of the Big Bend when you start your adventure in this great big beautiful country
Chris R
Absolutely and Heather at the Visitors Center always points that as the best place to start, like you said, because especially if you’ve never been to the region, it gives such a great overview. In fact, there’s a literal over view with that little table of the topographic map.
Mary B
Exactly, exactly. That’s such a great way to start at the museum, because for folks it’s their first time out here or it’s been a while to get an idea of where area towns are, attractions, technology, and how they’re all interrelated. So it’s a great start and overview. Plus, it also just gives the viewer the opportunity to see how vast this country really is.
Chris R
Yeah and since we’re headed on this topic, the rest of the permanent exhibit really gives that historical and pre-historical overview as well. Of all the different cultures and kinds of folks that have contributed so much to the history and life.
Mary B
Exactly, yeah. So looking from the earliest folks here in the Big Bend – if you wanna call them folks – dinosaurs. Then moving into the native peoples and then the coming of the Spanish, then the europeans coming in as immigrants. How the culture has evolved over hundreds of years.
Chris R
Absolutely. For a town this size, I’m sure we talked about this when you first came on the podcast, but for a town the size of Alpine, when you say, “oh here’s the museum,” a lot of times one thinks of a historic home that might have the collections of families in the area have donated. Those are super valuable institutions, but this is something much more like you think of a quote, unquote real museum this is a first class museum experience for people.
Mary B
Oh, well I agree with that statement one hundred percent! As y’all know, the original, the historic building where the permanent exhibits are talk about the history and pre-history of the area. That building was built during the Texas Centennial, so about 1936. Then we opened – actually, the building was dedicated in 1937 so it was designed to serve as a museum and I think there were probably ten of these Texas Centennial memorial museums that were built across the state one that’s still operating as a museum, the Texas Centennial Museum up at University of TExas at El Paso. Very few still operate as a museum and we’re just so fortunate to have this wonderful buildng to tell that story.
Chris R
We really are and especially considering that there were many decades when the building was not serving as the museum. If you want to hear that whole story, go back to the first episode in the podcast fed about the Museum of the Big Bend, because that was quite a journey to come back to this historic building as the home of the museum. Now speaking of the home of the museum, the immediate reason that we asked you to come back and talk again iss that theres’ kind of some big news about hte building.
Mary B
Yes, it’s huge news. It’s big news about the museum, it’s big news for Sul Ross State University and the Texas State University system. More importantly for the community. We are going to be opening our second museum building, the Emmet and Miriam McCoy building. It opens to the public on March 11th, that’s a Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm. Everybody’s invited, it’s free and it’s just this amazing building that will be physically connected to the historic building. We are going to have some incredibly wonderful art exhibits. One show is coming to us on a long-term loan from the Dallas Museum of Art by the late El Paso artist Tom Lee looking at the history of cattle in America. So from the offloading of cattle at Veracruz in 1521, to at the time taking a beef steer up to Chicago in 1946. Just big, beautiful and interesting paintings and history of how cattle came to be in the Americas.
Chris R
Tom Lee’s an interesting figure. He’s mostly associated I think with El Paso.
Mary B
Very much so, yes.
Chris R
The El Paso art museum has the section that is usually or maybe it’s permanently devoted to his work. So that’s a real treat that we’ll be able to see those long term and have those.
Mary B
Exactly and for the folks that are listening, if you’re familiar with the Tom Lee trail, the Tom Lee trail is going to various sites across the state that have some Tom Lee work in either the collection or other significance to Tom and Sarah Lee’s life. With the inclusion of these Lee works at the Museum of the Big Bend, we’ll be part of the Tom Lee trail.
Chris R
You have a brand ew space dedicated for that exhibit that’ll stay there, but then you have several more brand new spaces as well.
Mary B
Yeah so with the new building, we’re looking at the new building to be more of our art museum and the historic building will of course continue to tell the history of the area. The other exhibits we’re going to have are this beautiful selection of work from the John L. now the third collection of Texas art. I’ve seen the pieces that the curator Christopher Beer pulled and it is going to be a spectacular show. It’s really beautiful. He kind of focused his selection by artists who are influenced by the expansive Big Bend, west Texas/Mexico border, and Davis and Chinati mountain ranges. Some of the folks were born in this area, some folks came from outside from as far away as Europe, and some of the artists even came here and taught even during the summer art colony at Sul Ross State University. It’s not just going to be landscapes, there’s also portraits as well as architectural. It’s an outstanding exhibit. Folks need to come and see both the Lee and the Now because they are just incredibly beautiful shows. The museum will also have on exhibit works that have recently been donated to the museum. Works by Fred Darge, William Lester, Otis Doger, there’s really beautiful works of art that I’m very excited to have on exhibit because we just got them in and we haven’t been able to show them to folks. That’s going to be so exciting. Then the last thing we’re going to bring into the building are all of the large murals that were done by Javier Gonzalez and Julius Waltz. So I’ll have to give up Branding Scene at Cathedral Mountain, that’ll be coming out of my office, but it’s for the enjoyment and education of folks who come to the museum. We’re just excited.
Chris R
That long Javier Gonzalez painting, for a long time it was behind the Alpine City Council at their meetings. that was years and years and years ago.
Mary B
Yes and the chairs that would bump up against it. I remember when the city called me and they said, “you need to come get your painting.” I was like, “what?” So we showed up down there and this one guy had his hands the palm of his hands squarely in the middle of one of the smaller murals and I was like, “okay, time to come home.” So we were able to restore two of the Julius Waltzes. The Gonzalez I’m going to have to fundraise because I think it’s, what, 12 or 14 feet in length. They’re magnificent and beautiful. The other half of the building will be our cultural events center as well as an exterior patio space.
Chris R
I believe the first event is going to be the grand opening.
Mary B
Yes, the very first event will be the grand opening. That will be Friday night, March the 10th from 6-8 pm. It is a ticketed event, it’s a fundraiser for the museum, so it’s $75 per person.
Chris R
Be the first in the door.
Mary B
Be the first in the door. It’s a really special building and we’re so excited that it has come together so quickly for the museum. And for everyone here in our community.
Chris R
I want to acknowledge Marty Davis. The late person he was on your advisory board for a long time and if i remember correctly, this was his brain child.
Mary B
You’re absolutely right, I think when we finished the restoration on the historic building Marty was already talking about building the second. And we were like, “can we just come up for air for a minute?” He just knew that we had to expand and the historic building is a fabulous building, but we’re at capacity. Marty continued and we first had to make sure the university would transfer the land over to us to build a building on that part of it. Once that was all in place, then we put out a request for architects and went with Page and here we are. It’s really stunning then, of course, the importance of the McCoy family.
Chris R
Oh, no question. for the museum in general. both those big, big projects, they were instrumental.
Mary B
Emmet and Miriam, I can’t thank them enough. Mr. McCoy has passed away, but Miriam is still alive. Sending me home with a 5 million dollar check was pretty mind boggling, but that was what really got us over. We were on a high point and we were fundraising but that 5 million took us to the next level and really got that project up and running. I cannot thank and recognize the McCoy family enough for being such good friends of the Museum of the Big Bend and Sul Ross State University.
Chris R
Yeah I know we talked about it on the earlier podcast but Mr. McCoy – you told the story of him identifying that seedling in the old building and that really drove his interest in helping to fund. For those who don’t know, the building was in the process of becoming the museum again. There was a renovation going on.
Mary B
That was like a 3.2 million dollar project and I remember after he came down off the ladders looking after the roof and the ceiling, a week later, we get a million dollar check in the mail. The McCoys, as I understand it, ,they have a big ranch up near Balmorhea. Big ranching interest. As I understand it, the McCoys like to give back to the communities where they are living or have resided. So they’ve been very good to different organizations in the San Marcos area, but also I think they’re good friends and neighbors here to this community as well.
Chris R
Tell me again – give people that description of the ceiling before we move on. When you go into the old building and you look up, there’s an elaborate wood…I don’t know, trussed structure that’s curved. The curbed ceiling.
Mary B
It’s called the lamella arch. It was used a lot in airplane hangars and gymnasiums. It was a really popular design. It’s also truss-less. So you don’t have all the –
Chris R
So there aren’t trusses.
Mary B
Right. It’s one of the larger remaining examples of that truss-less system. That was as I understood it, when Mr. McCoy – he served in the Korean War. When he came back, his parents, his Dad had a roofing business. He roofed a lamella arched roof and really loved that design, so this was a chance, not only to preserve that beautiful building, or that arched roof, but also to preserve the building that it was protecting.
Chris R
I want to jump back over to Marty and Yana Davis for a second, because one thing that adding the new building enables to happen in the original historic building is a literal elevation of the map collection, which is a huge and important asset that the Davises gave to the museum. You have to go down the stairs to find the map room and there’s always a little permanent map exhibit down there, but it’s going to come up.
Mary B
What our goal was, if y’all remember, the museum was awarded $750,000 one to one matching grant for the National Endowment for the Humanities. I, of course, want to raise all $750,000 because it’s the best deal going. Usually with a NEH grant, every dollar I raise, they would give one. But this is a one-to-one match. I certainly want to raise that total amount. What we’re going to do with that money is then turn our focus to the historic building. It’s a great work horse, it’s got great bones, but it needs some updating and attention. Part of that plan is to physically move the Davis map collection from the bottom floor up to the upper floor. It’ll make it easier for anyone who has a mobility issue, it’s right on the same floor as the permanent exhibit, we will have more space because we’re expecting yet another donation of maps from the Davis estate, and a larger room for researchers to work in, plus we’ll always have a map exhibit in that hallway.
Chris R
What about the main exhibit room that has been for all this time, the room that you do your exhibit?
Mary B
One of the things we have been talking about is, since those exhibits were built on the floor, you just can’t rotate them very easily or at least I don’t know how to do it. So it’s looking at what we have. Can we reimagine that exhibit if we can’t rotate the actual exhibit itself, what kind of AV, what new technology can we bring in that can update and refresh and also tell more stories about all the various folks that call this area home?
Chris R
You bet. That’s going to be an interesting new experience for everyone because you’re going to be coming in from a different door.
Mary B
That’s right, yeah. Now the main entrance will actually be the connector, this beautiful glass connector between the historic and the new building. when you walk to the historic building, you’l be walking into the 1500s. That’s going to be an interesting challenge, but thank goodness there are wonderful museum exhibit people and people that have a way of looking at what you have and to reimagine it, make it better. That’s going to be very exciting for that historic building as well.
Chris R
For the folks who haven’t been to the museum, I’ll let you know it’s on the campus of Sul Ross State University entrance number 4, i believe.
Mary B
That’s actually the only entrance that will get you to the museum.
Chris R
Right because there have been so many campus design changes and things and roads and parking and such. So that’s avenue B when you’re in town, might be the easiest to find it. Then there’s a large parking lot. There’s going to be a new parking lot as well.
That’s right. As part of this new building plan, we also have a designated parking lot, so it’ll be right across the street from where the historic and new buildings are. Then we’ll have a sidewalk that’ll take you from that parking lot on a gentle slope up to the connector for the two buildings.
Chris R
If I want to be one of those first people in the door on the grand opening night, how do I get my ticket?
Mary B
There’s a variety of ways you can get tickets, hopefully you’ve received an invitation from the Museum of the Big Bend. You can fill out the reply card, you can go online to our museum website, which is museumofthebigbend.com, all lowercase and you can go there and order your tickets online. Or you can call Rebecca Antrosio at ********** to reserve your tickets, or one more option – that evening you can purchase your ticket at the event, at the door. It’s $75 per person.
Chris R
Now there’s also going to be some demonstrations or talks over the weekend?
Mary B
For those folks who can’t make the Friday evening event, both buildings will be open on Saturday, March 11 from 10 am to 4 pm. That’s our normal operating hours, so we will not be charging admission and during that day. We are going to have folks come in and do presentations and book signings, all during that opening time. Adair Marco, who created the Tom Lee institute, she’s going to come and do a presentation. I saw Adair speak 20 years ago, she’s just a fabulous speaker. Really amazing.
Chris R
She knows her Tom Lee.
Mary B
She knows her Tom Lee. Ron Tyler, who was the former director, I think at the Aman Carter, has just released a book on Texas lithographs. He’s going to come and talk about works on paper. We will have Christopher Beer, Bonnie, and Robert McKee, these are the folks along with the museum that came together. We had a beautiful exhibit of works by German immigrant named Fred Darge, who came and painted out here in the Big Bend. In particular, down on the Sam Niall and the Burnam branches, which is now part of Big Bend National Park in the 30s and 40s. He really captured that slice of time out here and especially inn the ranching community in south county. We had this beautiful exhibit and from that we created this really spectacular, I’m going to have to call it a book because it’s way above just being an exhibit catalog. It’s really beautiful. So they’re going to come out and do a presentation and book signing. Christopher Beer along with Judy and Steven Alton are going to talk about, one he’s going to talk about the Joh Now collection
Chris R
Because he’s a curator of that show.
Mary B
But also, talking to folks about how you go about building a collection. We’re also hoping that David Dyke, who sells Texas art up in the Dallas area, works with a lot of folks trying to help them decide the focus of their collection – what’s your budget is, what you’re interested in. I think for maybe some of the folks who come, that might be of interest about how you really go about creating a collection and even if you have a small budget, you can – especially with lithographs and works on paper – you can have a really nice collection.
Chris R
It might even, for folks who aren’t thinking of collecting, it gives you a peak behind the scenes for all of these museum shows internationally. They come from people’s collections.
Mary B
Exactly, that’s a wonderful point. Saturdays’ going to e great, we’re going to have cookies and bottle waters and soft drinks. It’ll be a really great day to come to the museum.
Chris R
After that, folks should expect $5 admission fee is that right?
Mary B
Exactly.
Chris R
As museums go, it’s a bargain for sure.
Mary B
It is. And now you get to tour two buildings for the same low price of $5 a person. It’s a great deal. It’s going to be a really – I cannot emphasize enough – it’s going to be a really great building with really great exhibits.
Chris R
Well, we are – the community is really looking forward, speaking as part of it. To come in and see the thing finished, it’s very exciting. Congratulations on approaching the end of this leg of the journey of museum fundraising. A capital project.
Mary B
I do want to let folks know – we will be substantially complete, but it won’t be complete. I would recommend you come back and come back often to see how it is evolving. When the landscape goes in and other little bits and features that we’re still working on. Even the building is going to change color over time because it’s a core ten that has an accelerant that will rust the metal. It will be interesting, especially when it rains, that really gets that applied material to start reacting. You can come and actually see the museum evolving than what you saw maybe when you came for the opening or two weeks or two months afterward. It’s going to be cool to watch that as well. It won’t be quit so static.
Chris R
Exciting. Lots of changes, lots of new things on an ongoing basis.
Mary B
Good stuff, too.
Chris R
You have plenty to look forward to as well.
Mary B
It’s good stuff and I’m very excited to folks coming and enjoying this great, wonderful museum we have here in Alpine that’s something to be really proud of, truly.
Chris R
Once again, that’s museumofthebigbend.com. If you’re planning your trip, have a look there and like we said, stop at the museum first because it really does give you that entry point to the whole area. Even if the whole bulk of your trip’s going to be in south county, stop into Alpine and stop at the museum before you head down there. It’s going to really enhance what you encounter when you go to anywhere else in the area.
Mary B
That is well put. I couldn’t say it any better, thank you.
Chris R
Thank you Mary so much for joining us again. And thank everybody listening for joining us for Heart of the Big Bend every other week. You can get more information about Heart of the Big Bend at visitalpinetx.com/podcast or search for Heart of the Big Bend on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and most other podcast apps. And for all of you guys, listening to us on KALP/KVLF radio in Alpine, we’ll see you in two Fridays.
Outro
You’ve been listening to the heart of the Big Bend. Hope you liked what you heard and that you’ll find the time to experience all that the Big Ben has to offer. See you soon, partner.