Artwork, beer and historical past collide this summer time in the course of the San Antonio Museum of Artwork’s newest exhibit, Nonetheless Brewing Artwork.
On show June 30 via September 3, the particular exhibition options large-scale brewery posters on mortgage from the Gambrinus Co. plus pre-Prohibition period Lone Star Brewery objects and pictures that present the evolution of the SAMA campus from brewery to world-class artwork establishment.
“We determined to lean into our historical past,” says Kelso director Emily Ballew Neff, Ph.D. “It brings collectively the historical past of Texas, the historical past of preservation, of beer and, in fact, advantageous artwork.”
Contained in the gallery, guests are greeted by a neon “Nonetheless Brewing Artwork” signal that the museum commissioned from a neighborhood maker in addition to a photograph of brewing tools that when lived in what’s now the galleries. There’s additionally a “then and now” wall that depicts the ability and its workers within the Eighteen Eighties, when it was a brewery, and as we speak.
Within the subsequent part, a timeline has been constructed that exhibits the property’s historical past from the 1700s via current day. In 1883, the services that now make up the majority of SAMA opened as Lone Star Brewery. They fell into disrepair following prohibition in 1920 and had been used as a cotton mill and as a warehouse for surplus navy gear, amongst different issues, earlier than neighborhood leaders tapped the property for an artwork museum.
Tatiana Herrera-Schneider, chief engagement officer and one of many curators for the exhibition, says on the time, adaptive reuse was comparatively new and the $17.2 million transformation that took the property from dilapidated brewery to museum was one which gained consideration nationwide. “When the museum opened, it was on the entrance web page of the New York Occasions,” she says. “It was as a result of this was a primary in adaptive reuse.”
The museum’s previous life is one which fortuitously a number of neighborhood members have catalogued via their very own collections of things and artifacts, says Regina Palm, Ph.D., and the Marie and Hugh Halff Jr. curatorial fellow for American Artwork, who additionally curated the exhibit. Whereas a couple of gadgets within the exhibit are part of SAMA’s assortment, most had been loaned.
“These people have primarily been safeguarding SAMA’s historical past,” Palm says. “It’s actually due to these people that we had been in a position to put this collectively.”
A wood bottle crate and two metallic bottle crates which can be on show, for instance, showcase the historical past and artistry of the brewery. Every crate is kind of uncommon and solely certainly one of a handful that also exist. “They’re utilitarian however so stunning,” she says.
The Gambrinus Co., the San Antonio-based firm that owns Shiner Beers and different manufacturers, loaned a number of large-scale commercials from many years previous. Palm says the posters present a few of the themes used to promote beer within the final century nonetheless persist as we speak, whether or not placemaking or the idealization of ladies.
The exhibit additionally highlights the significance of ladies in San Antonio beer, together with Emma Koehler, of Pearl Brewery and Mary Menger, of the Menger Resort and Western Brewery, who each saved their household’s breweries working after their husband’s deaths.
Lindsey O’Connor, director of training and the third curator of the exhibit, says additionally they wish to hear from locals about their recollections of the property. To that finish, a desk and chairs are arrange in a single nook so visitors can write down and share their tales, in addition to their hopes for the museum’s future.
Towards the shut of the exhibit, there’s additionally a wall detailing the town’s current brewing historical past, with companies like Weathered Souls Brewing Co. and its Black is Stunning marketing campaign and Blue Star Brewing Co. highlighted.
Palm says they hope the exhibit will draw artwork aficionados in addition to historical past and craft beer lovers who may not think about themselves SAMA regulars. “Our intention is for this to be a enjoyable present,” she says.
Go to
Nonetheless Brewing Artwork
June 30-Sept. 3
200 W. Jones Ave.
4 Occasions to Attend
Artwork Museums 101: July 11, 6-7 p.m.
Playdates: Root Beer Float Celebration, July 12, 10-11:15 a.m.
SAMA Bier Garten, July 14, 6-8 p.m.
Brewing Historical past is American Historical past—and San Antonio Historical past, Too, July 28, 6-7 p.m.
