The Lost Colony exhibit at Alpine's Museum of the Big Bend

Davis Mountains, Watercolor, 1922, 19 X 19, Mabel Vandiver
Fort Hays State University Collection, Hays Kansas

Mabel Vandiver

Mabel Vandiver, 1886-1991, taught at Sul Ross from 1922 to 1925. After leaving, she joined the staff at Fort Hays State College in Hays, Kansas, in 1933. She became head of the Art Department in 1941 through 1951, and retired from the school in 1954. A consummate artist, she worked in all media, including at the age of ninety-nine experimenting with oil crayon.

Museum of the Big Bend is hosting a major retrospective of early Texas artists and their students who were at Sul Ross State University. The Lost Colony: Texas Regionalist Paintings surveys the first 30 years of the Art Department and the establishment of an Art Colony at the school. This Art Colony was active from 1932 to 1950.

 

The Art Colony began in 1932 when San Antonio native, Julius Woeltz was hired to head the Art Department. He immediately started an Art Colony and chose his former art instructor, Xavier Gonzalez, as the instructor. That first Art Colony was based out of Kokernot Lodge in Alpine, Texas.

 

The Museum of the Big Bend is located on the campus of Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas.  Operating hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 9am to 5pm and Sunday, 1 to 5pm.  Admission is free. Donations are gratefully accepted. Free parking.