.Comments  List of Exhibitors / Traveling Exhibit Schedule / Past Presidents   Message from the TWS President Lee Ricks Welcome all ... to the 59th annual Texas Watercolor Society national exhibition. We are proud to present a first class display of some of the best examples of water media being created in the nation today. Our juror Jeanne Dobie had the challenging task of selecting 60 paintings from over 450 entries from 33 different states, narrowing her selection to 30 for the travel show. We are grateful to her for the terrific job she did in choosing an outstanding show from the 200 plus talented artists who entered. We enjoy a long and rich history of promoting quality water media thanks to jurors such as Jeanne. A special thank you goes to the International Museum of Arts and Sciences in McAllen for hosting the opening of our 59th exhibit. We are indeed fortunate to have such a spectacular venue for the opening.  Much work goes into a show such as this and we are fortunate to have a great group of volunteers who are willing and able to get things done. I invite your attention to the list of officers in the catalog, along with samples of their work.  Exhibit chairman, Gordon West, deserves our special thanks for his hours of work receiving and cataloging entries and being willing and able  to initiate digital entries, in addition to slides ... a first for our society.  We can't overlook our very generous awards donors. Without them the show would not attract the entries or interest that it does. And lastly thanks to all who entered the show and congratulations to the exhibitors and award winners. Being selected is an accomplishment to be proud of. As president of TWS I want to personally thank all who gave of their time and talents to make this a successful exhibition.

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Dr. Amy Freeman Lee, our founder, left us last year after nurturing and leading the Texas Watercolor Society into the twenty first century. She will be missed. Her leadership set our members to strive for the most creativity in the watercolor medium that we could find within ourselves.

This year’s show, our 56th annual exhibition, is an outstanding collection of creative endeavors by our many members and other participating artists. I would like to thank Carole Barnes, our juror, for a thoroughly enjoyable and educational experience. She chose a diverse show that will thrill all viewers.
 
This past year the very dedicated and hard working board of directors chose to initiate the practice of a gold, silver, or bronze pendant of our TWS logo that accompanies the first three awards. The board also initiated the best of show award winner appearing on the cover of our now all color catalog. In short, we have strived to live up to the professional society that was envisioned by Dr. Lee some 56 years ago. We continue to seek the best in ourselves as she knew we could.

My special thanks go to all the ?artists who submitted their slides. We appreciate your hard work and invite you to join us again next year as we continue to work toward Dr. Lee’s dream for us...creating the visual poetry that fills our spirit.

Thank you, all artists, for sharing that special moment in time that only you can put down on paper so the public can ponder and wonder at your insight and interpretation of the world that we live in.
 

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TWS honors founder & president, Dr. Amy Freeman Lee by Dona LeCrone Walston

Our founder passed away ?this year at the age of 89. Dr. Amy Freeman Lee remained connected to Texas Watercolor Society throughout its history; her influence cannot be overestimated. She set a very high standard for ‘fine art’ and constantly defined it for us in lectures and in her 55 years of forewords for the TWS catalogs. Equally high were the professional standards she held us to in the conduct of the society. She inspired us to expand our minds and our paintings; simply, she called us to be our BEST. As a volunteer with TWS, she praised me generously when she approved and reproached me forcefully (by telephone) when appropriate. Dr. Lee was an exceptional person and I am thankful for her influence both personally and in TWS. Dr. Lee had 1250 exhibitions of her work: 188 solo. She was an artist, lecturer, an art critic and a writer with four books published. She was a member of the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame and was a ‘Distinguished Fellow’ Charter Member, Texas Art Education Association. She was awarded the Joseph Wood Krutch Medal by the Humane Society of the United States, its highest award. She gave 2700 lectures in her life: in part at San Antonio Art Institute, Incarnate Word College, Our Lady of the Lake University and Trinity University. Amy Freeman Lee was Charter-Emeritus, Purple Sagebrush Founder-President of Texas Watercolor Society. She was a signature member of the National Watercolor Society and the Southwest Watercolor Society. I never missed a chance to hear her speak or read her thoughts. They have always inspired me. I would like to honor Amy with her 56th foreword: excerpts from the forewords of the TWS catalogs. 40th Annual Exhibit: Where Angels Do Not Fear To Tread, 1989  The true artist masters the aesthetic trick of seeming to have captured eternal verities and of holding them in his hand long enough to provide subjects for meditations. At the very least, the ideal artist offers antidotes for the ugliness that surrounds us, and at best, he moves us beyond ourselves. Thomas Moore wrote in The Care of the Soul that “it is the habit of angels to visit in moments of silent reading.” We hope this is also true in moments of silent painting. Texas Watercolor Society Fifty Years of Excellence, 1999 When you paint and actually become the painting you lose track of the time, and the years fly by almost unnoticed. In the case of painting, it is visual poetry. 41st Annual Exhibition, 1990 At best, the aesthetic game demands that the artist walk a tightrope between two erupting volcanoes. At one end, the lava is catapulting from repetition and at the other end from pointless experimentation. 45th Annual Exhibition, 1985 Unlike life as we humans know it; art need not die and so does not have to be concerned about age. It is one of the most available modes to immortality. Whatever the media, and ours is water, the desire to enchant through pictorial images and thus to lift the veil of the spirit will remain. We dare to call this act a ‘given.’ Poem by Dr. Amy Freeman Lee

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About Our San Antonio Host -- The Bright Shawl

The Junior League of San Antonio restored the 1873 Texas landmark Giles home. They built an adjoining facility and use The Bright Shawl as their headquarters. The facility is operated as a banquet and meeting facility available for rent and is open for lunch services weekdays, except for Wednesdays, when it hosts the downtown Rotary. The Junior League of San Antonio, Inc. was founded in 1924. The purpose of the 294 leagues internationally is exclusively educational and charitable. “The Junior League of San Antonio, Inc. is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.” With 1400 members, the League supports over 35 other non-profit agencies annually by offering volunteers and funding. Their long list of successful community projects includes the Sunshine Cottage School for Deaf Children, The Non-profit Resource Center of Texas, the Docent Program at the San Antonio Zoo, the Friedrich Wilderness Park, and the Nature Camp at the Botanical Society. Today, the JLSA is a driving force behind the Walk San Antonio Program, an effort to promote physical activity to San Antonio residents to fight disease and promote healthy lifestyles. Over the years, Junior League of San Antonio members have contributed thousands of hours of volunteer service to the community every year. Members truly make a difference in San Antonio. For more information about the Bright Shawl call (210) 225-6366. Their hours are Monday thru Friday, 8:30am to 3:30pm. BACK TO TOP

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