San Antonio Museum of Art has announced its receipt of a $20,000 grant from the Art Bridges Foundation, which “supports the creation of collection-based exhibitions of American art at museums of all sizes.” SAMA will use the funds to develop an exhibition, mini-residency, and community mural project over this spring and summer.
Visitors can already see three paintings on loan from Art Bridges, currently displayed in SAMA’s Contemporary gallery: Interior with Music by American cubist Max Weber; Untitled (Black and White Variation on “Pochade”) by the deeply jazz-influenced early American modernist Stuart Davis; and Bronzeville at Night by Archibald Motley, a key contributor to the Harlem Renaissance.
Stuart Davis, Untitled (Black and White Variation on “Pochade”), 1956–1958.
Additionally, SAMA has put out two open calls for spring and summer 2021 community projects that will be supported by the Art Bridges grant. The museum will partner with San Anto Cultural Arts, a nonprofit that has promoted community murals on San Antonio’s West Side for decades, as well as the San Antonio African American Community Archive & Museum, to commission three murals this summer. One of the murals will be located on SAMA’s campus, with the other two locations to be determined by community committees at a later date.
San Antonio-based artists interested in this program can apply here by Friday, April 23.
SAMA has also announced a “three-session mini-residency” entitled Jazz in Action. To echo the synesthetic energy of the Jazz Age paintings on loan, the residency will take place as three separate events in May featuring a local artist live-painting to jazz. Interested artists can apply here by Friday, April 16.
“We are excited to introduce these three important American artists to San Antonio through collaborative and innovative programs for audiences of all ages,” states Bella Merriam, Director of Education, Diversity, and Inclusion for the San Antonio Museum of Art. “It’s an opportunity to expand the museum experience into the community in new ways, and we look forward to developing new partnerships as part of this grant.”
