Roy Helen Herndon Mingus Ackers was not only the “Life of the Party”, she was a businesswoman, a columnist, a mother, a wife, and a supporter of many of the charitable organizations in town. Her legacy will make a lasting impression on the community. This memorial to Roy Helen not only celebrates her colorful life, but also reveals a woman … Remembering Roy Helen

Children’s clothing trends transformed over time similarly to fashion trends for adults. However, the clothing tended to be a little more practical than adult clothing throughout history. The current exhibition, At Play: Children’s Clothing and Toys in the History Gallery at The Grace, highlights a few of these early clothing styles and changes during the early twentieth century. Visitors can also … At Play: Children’s Clothing and Toys

Josef Albers (1888-1976) was an American-German artist best known for his iconic color square series, Homage to the Square, which he began in 1949 and major contributions to color theory. A student of famed colorist Johannes Itten, Albers took over his course at the Bauhaus school in 1923 and co-taught with László Moholy-Nagy. “Simultaneous contrast is not just a curious optical phenomenon—it … Josef Albers: Homage to the Square

Robert Motherwell (1915-1991) studied art and philosophy in several schools before he attended Columbia University in New York. While in New York he met several Surrealist artists with whom he exchanged artistic and philosophical theories. Through his frequent experimentation with various media, he became an important Abstract Expressionist painter and central figure in postwar American art. Incorporating many of the … Robert Motherwell: London Series

“In the world of still life and landscape, conceptual events meet one another – the structural meets the narrative, the small stands in the space of the large, and color has a chance to navigate these meetings, changing everything. All my paintings show this shifting world.” — Mary Vernon The Grace Museum is pleased to present a solo exhibition of … Mary Vernon: Painting is Drawing

Artist Statement In 2004, I quit my day job as a staff photographer at the Dallas Morning News to pursue freelance and fine art photography. Day one of being self- employed, I drove to Marfa with my future husband, our two dogs and my red Hasselblad and a bunch of film.  I took the opportunity to slow down, wait for … Allison V. Smith: Plain View

ho r i  z   o   n    s    c     a      p      e      s The small scale of Katie Maratta’s vast miniature vistas demands closer examination. Only then are you rewarded with the impeccable detail of her horizontal narratives of the vast Texas landscape. Katie Maratta’s “horizonscapes” present an opportunity to experience … Katie Maratta: horizonscapes

Ashton Thornhill is a fine art photographer currently working on the Llano Estacado of Texas. He spent several years working as a photojournalist before he returned to his alma mater, Texas Tech University, to share his love of the medium and teach photography. After almost three decades in the classroom, he retired to devote his considerable talents to developing his own … Texas Noir: Photography by Ashton Thornhill

Identifiable subjects are only part of the enduring allure of realism. Each generation of realist artists brings new subjects and new media to the genre.  AS IS rural realism features the art of contemporary realists whose work transforms the mundane into the magical by concentrating on off-road subjects and offering unique ways of seeing just how significant the seemingly insignificant can be. Just … As Is Rural Realism

This exhibition will highlight the career of Abilene architect David S. Castle. As one of the most significant and prominent architects in Abilene and the Big Country in the early to mid-1900s, David S. Castle designed and built hundreds of schools, residential buildings, hotels, medical buildings, municipal buildings, churches, recreational buildings, and courthouses. The exhibition will discuss Castle’s role in … Skyline Maker: The Architecture of David S. Castle

We have captured the rapid changing world through the lens of a camera since the mid-nineteenth century. From early daguerreotypes to digital smartphones, photography has advanced just as quickly as the society that utilizes these cameras to capture history’s most significant events to everyday life.  This exhibition includes various cameras, tools, and instruments to illustrate the evolution of cameras and … History of Cameras Before the iPhone

A Visual Epilogue: Linda Ridgway & Harry Geffert is the first and last, two person exhibition of works on paper and sculpture by two of the most prolific and widely- recognized contemporary artists of the past decades. Ridgway ad Geffert worked together in life and in the studio. The original concept for the exhibition was transformed by the November 2017, … A Visual Epilogue: Linda Ridgway & Harry Geffert

The art of Margaret Smithers-Crump is rooted in a life-long love of both our planet as well as personal and global human interactions with the natural world. Her current work examines microscopic and macroscopic relationships in nature. Travels aboard and experience of the vast open spaces of West Texas has had a particular influence on the works to be exhibited … Inherit the Earth: Margaret Smithers-Crump

“The sculptures emerge from the making, from the initial process of joining pieces of wood anticipating the evolution of forms in significant relationship, which becomes the focus for exploration. I prefer not to plan but to discover surprises. The titles come later and are suggestive. The drawings follow the hand in the same way. What is not planned cannot be … Outside of Time: Philip John Evett (1923-2016)

International Holocaust Remembrance Day takes place each year on January 27th, the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. This exhibition highlights the history of the Holocaust, displacement and mass murder of Jewish people, the role Texans played as liberators, and the history of Abilene’s Jewish community.

“The exhibition title ‘Journey’ refers to both my own life’s journey, ‘looking’, as well as the visual journey I want to share with you.” -Kate Breakey For this exhibition, Journey, Kate Breakey draws from several bodies of work made over several decades of image making. Breakey has always altered her photographic images. Over her 40-year career, her techniques include hand … Kate Breakey: Journey