Kent Ullberg's whales, part of the Keeler Collection
The Rockport city council voted on November 8th not to accept the Cora Keeler Art Collection after all, despite the efforts of the city’s Keeler Collection Acceptance Committee, which tried but failed to find the 71-piece art collection a permanent home in Rockport, as required by the terms of Keeler’s will. In August, the city was very seriously considering opening a museum for the collection in the renovated 1st National Bank Building downtown, but eventually concluded that they simply couldn’t afford it. The record of the discussion, as reported in the Rockport Pilot, is a fascinating look into the costs of running a small-town art museum. The artworks, some by local artists Al Barnes, John Cowan, Herb Booth and Kent Ullberg will now go to the pre-existing Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi.
