David McManaway’s Studio Revisited

David McManaway’s Studio Revisited is designed to recreate the experience of visiting the studio that is now gone but certainly not forgotten by those who were privileged see firsthand McManaway’s world. An artist’s studio is typically described as a creative laboratory where all the required tools and materials await the master’s creative transformation into fine art. But, David McManaway’s studio was not typical. McManaway moved to Munger Place in Dallas from Chicago in the 1959. He soon abandoned painting in favor of assemblage; a medium that required a completely different set of tools. Over the following decades McManaway covered his studio walls, ceilings and table tops with carefully selected, reclaimed, cultural castoffs that became his primary medium. After McManaway’s death in 2010, his longtime studio assistant, Robin Ragin undertook the daunting task of documenting and saving the contents of the studio. Ragin’s efforts inspired the concept and provided the contents necessary to replicate the studio at the Grace Museum. Lenders to the exhibition and many individuals who worked with McManaway enthusiastically supported this effort to recreate this one last visit to the legendary studio.