San Antonio

Our vacations are always to a meeting or a class for Bob (and now we have grandchildren scattered around the country we have added destinations).  But this time was for Bob’s class  in San Antonio, Texas.  (He has to get those CME’s!)

San Antonio has a great history!  We stayed right on the Riverwalk.  The San Antonio River Walk is a verdant oasis of cypress-lined paved paths, arched stone bridges and lush landscapes. It gently winds through the city center, providing  easy access to the city’s cultural hot spots, historic sites and other attractions.

One of the first stops we made was to the Alamo!

(The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Missionnear San Antonio de Béxar (modern-day San Antonio, Texas, United States), killing all of the Texian defenders. Santa Anna’s cruelty during the battle inspired many Texians—both Texas settlers and adventurers from the United States—to join the Texian Army. Buoyed by a desire for revenge, the Texians defeated the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836, ending the revolution.)

THEN:

The Alamo NOW:

The Alamo Cenotaph, also known as the Spirit of Sacrifice, is a monument in San Antonio, Texas, United States, commemorating the Battle of the Alamo, which was fought at the adjacent Alamo Mission. The monument was erected in celebration of the centenary of the battle, and bears the names of those known to have fought there on the Texas side.

Inside the Alamo

Cowboy hat shop near the Alamo…the most cowboy hats I had ever seen in one place:

La Antorcha de la Amistad

La Antorcha de la Amistad (Spanish for “The Torch of Friendship”) is a monumental abstract sculpture that stands in Downtown San Antonio, Texas, United States of America. The artist of the sculpture is world-renowned Mexican sculptor, Sebastián, and was commissioned by the Asociación de Empresarios Mexicanos AEM (Mexican Entrepreneur Association). The sculpture was presented as a gift from the Mexican government to the City of San Antonio in 2002. It was unveiled on June 28, 2002, by the artist, Mayor Edward D. Garza, and then–Secretary of Foreign Affairs for Mexico and political analyst Jorge Castañeda Gutman.^[1]

SAN ANTONIO MUSEUM OF ART

I visited the San Antonio Museum of Art and spent most my time in an exhibition called “Corita Kent and the Language of Pop”…a great visit!

Corita Kent and the Language of Pop

Artist. Educator. Roman-Catholic Nun. Corita Kent’s (American, 1918–1986) groundbreaking work as a pop artist combined faith, activism, and teaching with messages of acceptance and hope. “I am not brave enough to not pay my income tax and risk going to jail. But I can say rather freely what I want to say with my art,” said Kent of her cry for peace during the Vietnam Era.

While Kent’s work was exhibited frequently and acclaimed, it did not receive the attention awarded her contemporaries. Kent was overlooked because women were often discounted as pop artists and because she lived and worked as a nun. In this exhibition, her art finally receives the attention it deserves: more than 60 of Kent’s prints will be on view alongside works by her prominent contemporaries including Robert Indiana, Jim Dine, Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol, and Roy Lichtenstein.

Organized by the Harvard Art Museums, the exhibition frames Kent’s work—screenprints, films, installations, Happenings, and her 1971 mural painted on the Boston Gas tank—within the pop art movement while considering other prevailing artistic, social, and religious movements of the time.