John Frair knows the role that luck plays in the career of a news photographer. In the summer of 1966, when Charles Whitman started shooting from behind the thick walls atop the Tower on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin, Frair was the only professional photographer on the scene.
Texas has provided good hunting for scientists looking for traces of the past. The Alibates Flint Quarries along the Canadian River in Moore and Potter Counties in the Panhandle represent some of the most important bodies of evidence as to the industry of ancient peoples. For ten thousand years, men mined the rainbow-colored flint in the dolomite outcropping of the Permian Age.
People are taking notice of Betty Nash’s art. Her works, done in oil, are graceful, subtle manipulations of light and shadows, of deep colors and reflections. She uses the chiaroscuro style (the play of light and shadow) embraced by masters such as Rembrandt and Raphael.
Not so long ago, Denison recognized the undiscovered treasure that was its art community. Accepting the economic efficacy of a thriving arts presence, the community decided to support the arts, back the arts, and promote the arts. Under the leadership of the Denison Arts Council’s Mike Williams and others, the downtown galleries now attract ever increasing numbers of art patrons to the city.
It may seem like a cultural anomaly, but it is not, not really. Few of the artists whose works reflect the legacy and heritage of the American West were born to the land they portrayed. Frederic Remington was from upstate New York, the son of an emigrant hardware merchant. Charles Schreyvogel was born in New York City and raised in Hoboken, New Jersey, and N.C. Wyeth was a Massachusetts boy.
When Robert Littlefield Schafer started art classes, Babe Ruth was still with the Boston Red Sox. It was 1917, and Schafer was five. “My mother saw my interest and enrolled me in a children’s class at a local college,” the ninety-five-year-old painter recalled. That was the beginning of a lifelong love affair.
Carole Stubsten of Lake Bonham spent the first part of her life doing things for other people. As a wife and mother, she ran a house and raised three children; as a volunteer, she devoted uncounted hours to others.A few years ago, she decided it was her turn, so she made a list of places to go and things to do and see. Making like Indiana Jones was not on the list.
For someone who failed fourth grade art because he flunked a sewing project, Michael Winegarden has come a long way. Honors for his accomplishments in art today are numerous. His fourth-grade art teacher might not believe it, but Winegarden now teaches drawing and art appreciation at Grayson County College.
Linda Schaar has called many places home, living here, there, and back again. When she moved to Sherman— for the second time— she discovered an artistic bent that she hadn’t recognized before. She explained why. “Sherman and Denison are full of art, so the opportunity is here. I might not have made the step, had I lived in another area.”
Just a reminder, with cold weather around the corner, stray and unwanted dogs and cats will be looking for shelter and food. Why not give one a home? In return, you get unconditional love and the possibility of a lifelong friend. Both of my dogs are rescues and each has become a loving companion that brings joy to my life— sans their run ins with skunks this summer.