Abilene has always been ambitious but for many locals, the 1950s and 1960s were the golden years of record breaking accomplishments in commerce, culture and high school football. If you remember the Sandy Chapel Show and the Slim Willet Show, Gandy’s Big Buy, the Abilene Astronomical Society meetings at the Dixie Pig, cruise night, the Zoo in Fair Park, Mack … Flashback to Midcentury Abilene

Spanish Legacy in Abilene The growth of Mexicans/Mexican-Americans/Hispanics in Abilene, especially after the early 1900s, can be attributed to the need for workers to build the Texas & Pacific Railroad, migrant workers in the cotton fields and nearby farms, and construction and street workers for the growing town of Abilene.  Many Hispanic families moved to California during the Dust Bowl … Spanish Legacy in Abilene

Selected paintings and works on paper from The Grace Museum’s permanent collection will be featured in the second floor galleries. The old adage, home is where the heart is, is evident in the rural scenes created by American Regionalists, Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood who created optimistic views of the American heartland during the Great Depression. In the 1970s, … Home Coming

Artists Roger Colombik & Jerolyn Bahm-Colombik, in collaboration with International Rescue Committee of Abilene, created an installation featuring photography, sculpture and oral history dialogues personalizing the experiences of people from around the globe who are currently making their home in Abilene, Texas. A site-specific visual environment created in the first floor gallery incorporates the personal narratives of recent emigres from … More Life in a Time without Boundaries

The art of photographing people in their own environment can be more difficult than a formal portrait. Available light, language barriers, discretion and suspicion are among the variables at work. More than a casual snap shot, the photographs selected for this exhibition reveal a narrative composed of a particular person, place and moment in time as well as the unseen … Home Work

Explore the history of Texas as a unique blend of Spanish, Mexican and Anglo-American traditions through Spanish Texas: Legend & Legacy exhibitions at The Grace Museum.  Trace Spanish exploration and colonization (1527-1690) of Texas through early maps, art and artifacts on loan from prestigious museums and collections from across the state.  Santos, retablos, art, vestments and artifacts from several of the state’s … Spanish Texas: Legend & Legacy

The Grace Museum celebrates its 25th Anniversary in this beautifully restored historic building that sits in the heart of Downtown Abilene. This exhibition highlights the renovation and restoration efforts through photographs, newspapers, and the actual model created in 1986. In 1985, members of the Abilene Preservation League sat with the Abilene Fine Arts Museum to discuss the fate of the … Downtown Revitalization Beginnings: The Grace 25 Years

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

February’s cultural heritage exhibition celebrates Black History Month. The exhibition will discuss various issues that Blacks have faced within the Abilene community such as segregation and desegregation, constant hardships, black leaders who have persevered, and the push for success within their own community.

The eternal theme of light and dark has always interested artists. It is given importance in philosophical, technical, and mystical intentions. A master of light and shadow, Susan kae Grant conveys much more than just a play of shadows and silhouettes in this exhibition through a site-specific installation of works on fabric, single works on paper, triptychs, a video projection, as well as a … Susan kae Grant: Shadowing Grace

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