 FALL INTO
THE MELTING POT
OF MEDIUMS IN
SAN ANTONIO’S
ART
AND
CULTURE SCENE
By SHANNON HUNTINGTON STANDLEY
From historical photographs, prints
and paintings to sculptures and
ceramics, from local artists to international
artists, the fall art scene in San
Antonio runs the gamut.
The iconic images from the American
frontier emerged from South Texas, and
thanks to the development of photography,
the true depiction of the frontier is not
surrendered to the mythic images of
Hollywood stage sets. Lens on South Texas:
Photographs from the Witte Museum
Collection provides a rare glimpse at more
than 70 never-before-seen photographs
spanning the years from the first daguerreotypes
in the early 1850s in San Antonio to
color images from the late 1950s.
Some photographs, including a c.1852
daguerreotype, are exhibited with actual
objects shown in the photographs. This
authentic look at South Texans in their daily
life and work is on view Sept. 29 through
August 2008 at the Witte Museum.
 Picking up where the Lens on South
Texas timeline ends, the San Antonio
Museum of Art presents Allen Ginsberg:
Beat Generation Photographer, on view
through Oct. 14. Ginsberg purchased a
Kodak Retina camera in 1953 and began
snapping shots of his friends, including Jack
Kerouac and William Burroughs, for the next
11 years. Ginsberg did not start taking pictures
again until 1984,when he borrowed a
Polaroid 195 from a good friend and wellknown
Beat photographer, Robert Frank. It
was during this time period when Ginsberg
began printing many of his earlier photographs.
This exhibition features 47 photographs
spanning the years of his work. Also
on view are books and documentation on
Ginsberg and his circle of friends.
 Keeping with the medium of photography,
Blue Star Contemporary Art Center
has brought together six artists for PHOTO
PLUS, an exhibition not focused on photographic
truth, but on the possible manipulation,
uncertainty and a wide variety of
interpretations of photography.Artists Isidro
Blasco, Gwenn Thomas,Vivien Bittencourt,
Vincent Katz, Sebastien Bremer and Oliver
Herring, along with curator Lilly Wei, explore
in new ways the options and limits of photography.
The exhibition is on view Sept. 6
through Oct. 21.
As part of a series paying homage to
living artists, the McNay Art Museum
salutes the well-known paintings, works
on paper and books by artist Jane
Hammond through ARTMATTERS 12.
Hammond’s created fictional worlds,
inspired by biology, mathematics, pop
culture and children’s stories, are on
view Sept. 12 through Jan. 6, 2008.
 Teaming up with the Philadelphia
Museum of Art, the McNay is also presenting
Mexico and Modern
Printmaking: A Revolution in the Graphic
Arts, 1920 to 1950, comprising 125 prints
and posters by 50 Mexican and foreignborn
artists. This examination of the vital
contributions made by Mexican artists,
with highlights of the rediscovery of printmaking
in the years following the
Mexican Revolution of 1910, is on view
Oct. 3 through Jan. 6, 2008.
The McNay is getting into the
Halloween spirit this fall with Shakespeare’s
Haunted Stage, an exhibition of more than
100 scene and costume designs of otherworldly
creatures and occurrences found
in the plots of Hamlet, Macbeth, The
Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s
Dream. Don’t miss this creepy experience
on view Sept. 19 through Jan. 6, 2008.
Today’s communication networks such
as radio frequencies, coded messages
and air traffic reports can flood the information
market. Artpace is hosting Dallasborn
artist Nathan Carter, who has constructed
complicated wall relief sculptures,
collages and mobiles to playfully critique
the world’s reliance on established power
structures. He examines the development
and possible demise of today’s all-necessary
communication networks. Take
Carter’s challenge to decode and reorder
the information market Oct. 25 through
Jan. 20, 2008.
A self-titled exhibition of unconventionally
installed sculptures with hand-built forms and ambitious scale, Marie Lorenz, is
on view through Oct.14 at Artpace. Lorenz
engages the viewer by using unexpected
places and settings such as boats and
water. In particular, she journeys the river in
a small, self-built paddleboat while chronicling
the journey with a series of woodblock
carvings, which are then translated
through rubbings on paper and combined
with rubbed text from historical markers
along the river — creating her own navigational
journal.
The Southwest School of Art and Craft
presents photography and ceramics.
Coming up on view Sept. 6 through Nov. 3
at the Ursuline Campus is Richard Kline:
Solo Exhibition. Kline, photography
department faculty, exhibits new works
that reveal hidden patterns and spaces
in nature. Multiplicity: Contemporary
Ceramic Sculpture, on display Sept. 6
through Nov. 4 at the Russell Hill Rogers
Gallery, features ceramic installations by
national artists Shawn Busse, Marek
Cecula, Bean Finneran, Kay Hwang,
Denise Pelletier, Jeanne Quinn, Gregory
Roberts and Juana Valdes.
 Conjunto is a Mexican-American musical
style with rich roots. UTSA’s Institute of
Texan Cultures examines this piece of culture
through Conjunto, a collection of paintings,
photographs and sculptures of musicians,
instruments and dancers. On view
through Oct. 3 and curated by Arturo
Almeida, it features San Antonio artists,
including Ricky Armendariz, Cris Escobar,
Jacinto Guevara, Luis Guerrero, Luis
Jimenez,Al Rendon,Ed Saavedra,Armando
Sanchez and Guillermina Zabala.
Another exhibition exemplifying the
importance of culture is Here Be
Dragons, on view through Nov. 4.
Dragons have played a role in every culture
around the world from Europe and
Asia to Central America and the Near
and Middle East. Explore the origin of
dragon myths and their influence on
modern culture and belief systems and
enter a world of imagination and myth to
learn how beliefs make an important
impact on culture.
Fall in San Antonio further establishes
the diversity of this community. The range
of art, culture and experiences offered is
a direct reflection of what makes the
Alamo City unique.
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