At the end of the year, we like to look back at what our readers were most interested in. As always, in 2024 we covered breaking art news across Texas, blockbuster exhibitions organized by local institutions, the changing Texas art ecosystem, and so much more.
Below is a list of our most-read stories from 2024.
Shahzia Sikander, “Witness.” Photo: University of Houston staff
One: University of Houston Police Department Releases Video of Public Art Vandalization
Glasstire’s most-read story of the year was a news item covering the release of surveillance footage of the beheading of Shahzia Sikander’s sculpture on the University of Houston campus.
Daguerreotype with the façade of the Alamo church, 1849. Photo: Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin. This is the only known photograph of the Alamo church before the Army Corps of Engineers added a roof and a Taco Bell-like hump to its façade in 1850.
In this scholarly piece, Ruben C. Cordova broke down some of the long-standing myths surrounding the Alamo and its place in Texas history.
Michael Tracy, “River Pierce Sacrifice,” 1990. Photo: David Crossley
Three: Michael Tracy, 1943 – 2024
In June, artist Michael Tracy died at his studio compound in San Ygnacio, Texas, at the age of 80. Author and educator Roberto Tejada penned this obituary outlining Tracy’s long career.
Shahzia Sikander, “Havah…to breathe, air, life.” Image courtesy of Madison Square Park Conservancy.
Coverage at the onset of the protests surrounding the Shahzia Sikander sculpture was the fourth most-read story of 2024. The sculpture was only recently installed when the Public Art University of Houston System canceled the reception and artist talk.
Shahzia Sikander, “Witness.” Photo: University of Houston staff
Five: Controversial Shahzia Sikander Sculpture Beheaded at the University of Houston
During Hurricane Beryl, an unknown person climbed atop Havah…to breathe, air, life and beheaded it. Although they were caught on video, our number five most-read story came out before the footage was released.
“Cowboy” at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, October 2024
Just weeks after its opening, Cowboy, was temporarily closed and the Amon Carter Museum canceled planned programming due to “mature content.”
Iva Kinnaird, “TV Guy,” 2024, acrylic on cockroach, aluminum hardware. Image courtesy LAURA © Graham W. Bell
Seven: Glasstire’s Best of 2024
For Glasstire’s Best of 2024, twenty five contributors and staff shared which Texas-based shows and events made their personal “best” lists for 2024.
Charisse Pearlina Weston, “un- (anterior ellipse[s] as mangled container; or where edges meet to wedge and [un]moor,” installation view in the 2024 Whitney Biennial. Photo: Ben Davis/Artnet News
Brandon Zech, Glasstire’s Publisher, wrote this op-ed asking why a state as large as Texas, with as many high-caliber cultural producers and institutions, had virtually no representation in the nation’s most visible biennial.
André Derain, “Fishing Boats, Collioure,” 1905, oil on canvas, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, gift of Raymonde Paul, in memory of her brother, C. Michael Paul, and purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1982 © 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Nine: Gateway to Modernism: Exploring Matisse and Derain’s Paintings of Collioure
Jacky Cortiaus’ review of an André Derain and Henri Matisse exhibition at the MFAH is number nine on the most-read stories. The exhibition brought together a body of work created by the two artists over the course of a single summer in France.
David Glasheen and Christy Martinez-Garcia at the July Lubbock City Council Meeting
Ten: Lubbock City Council Cuts $30,000 Funding for First Friday Art Trail Over LGBTQ Programming
In a disturbing trend that affected several Texas cities, funding for the arts was cut in 2024. The Lubbock City Council voted to cut $30,000 in funding for First Friday Art Trail (FFAT), over supposed LGBTQ programming.
Terri Thornton
Eleven: Terri Thornton, 1958 — 2024
Terri Thornton, an artist and the former Curator of Education at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, died on Tuesday, December 17, 2024. It is a testament to Ms. Thornton’s influence and character that her obituary made the most-read story list, having only been published four days prior.
