The Permanent Collection of the Grace Museum is home to works of art by many Celebrities of the art world including Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Henri Matisse, Alice Neel, Romare Bearden, Francisco Goya, Joan Miro, Ansel Adams, Robert Rauschenberg, and many more!

The members of this artist collective, a rare occurrence today, were close companions who supported independent and shared artistic pursuits. Much of the art in this exhibition was created in response to their relationships with one another resulting in visual puns, inside jokes and shared experiences at home, in the studio and in the art world.

Artists have played key roles in times of war. From documenting maneuvers and battles – to illustrating equipment and use manuals – their skills have served in ways that may sometimes be overlooked.

Creative Reuse for materials was important to survival in the era of the Great Depression. Limited resources promoted ingenuity and conservation of materials – which we can relate to in small part today! Gather your cardboard tubes to make this repurposed material sculpture.

It’s time for another Illustrated Happy Hour – this week highlighting artist Benton Spruance. Learn how to make a French 75 cocktail from Cypress Street Station, learn about the artist, and then get your watercolor paints out to paint along!

E.O. (Eugene Omar) Goldbeck was a commercial photographer active in Texas in the early 1900s until his death in the mid-1980s. He was a second generation German-American and grew up and lived in San Antonio. The 36th Infantry Division formed during World War I and fought in France throughout the duration of the war. They were comprised of soldiers from both Texas and Oklahoma until after the First World War. The patch for the division, which you see in this photograph, is a symbol for both states – the arrowhead for Oklahoma and the “T” for Texas.

In the wake of severe economic uncertainty, social upheaval and political shifts that followed the disastrous Great Depression, American artists maintained a commitment to projecting a very personal view. Intent on shunning the influence of European artists and instruction, these artists struggled to establish and maintain their own identity. Much of this work, especially that now known as Social Realism and Regionalism, falls within the larger movement known as American Scene.

Located in the Grace Museum’s 1948 historic period room living room is a small white flag with a red border and gold fringe. At the center of the flag are two blue stars. This small flag, known as the Service Flag, carries with it great significance to those who know its meaning.

It’s #FilmFriday and we are traveling from New Orleans to El Paso via Texas & Pacific Railway Depot photographs from the T&P Collection of The Grace Museum!

Today we are featuring PLANES that from the Grace Museum History collection via a lesser-known newspaper titled “The Fighter”!

It’s #WayBackWednesday and Collections Manager, Erika Parker is sharing about the Grace Museum’s Texas & Pacific Railway Collection!

We are inspired by passenger trains for today’s special HISTORY focused Illustrated Happy Hour. Make yourself one of these Midnight Train cocktails and settle in for a discussion about the Sunshine Special passenger train from the T&P fleet – and then paint along with us at the end

We are kicking off Home Essentials week with The Grace Museum’s painting (with a twist), The Farmer, by Marie A. Hull – coincidentally the first painting ever acquired by the Abilene Museum of Fine Arts. For national pet month we followed some of our museum friends at the #GettyMuseumChallenge and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art by “updating” our collection this week with special pet guests and a fun art activity.

Next in our Home Essentials series we are featuring sculptor, David Everett and his piece “Cotillion” in the Grace Museum permanent Collection. Inspired by his sculpture for #NationalPetMonth we made our own stacked sculpture of some of our Grace Staff pets and a fun “Exquisite Corpse” art activity as a fun extension.

We have our next Pet Takeover of our permanent art collection with Pippa posing as Miss Beverly Kirk by Corporal Samuel David Smith as well as a free coloring page!

It’s #FilmFriday and our Collection Pet Takeover continues with Willow posing as a Victorian woman in the Cartes-de-visite style and then Bonnie as Colonel W.L. Beckham and Cheddar as Grace Beckham (the Hotel Grace-turned-museum’s namesake)!