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Horizon Delhi Ladies Club enjoys raising funds for community/Page J18
San Antonio Light
Sunday
January 13, 1991
viva
Arts • Entertainment • Lifestyle
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Art
[[Image: Photograph of man standing next to piece of art]]
[[Caption]] Homegrown: Jim Edwards, museum of art contemporary art curator, stands by Mel Casas' "Humanscape #57."
[[Image: Piece of art]]
[[Caption]] Sized Up: Waco artist Kermit Oliver painted "A large Study for Small Cabinet Painting."
A Texas Accent
Museum pursues contemporary art of the state with vigor
By Steve Bennett
Arts editor
The San Antonio Museum of Art, long considered by the city's contemporary art community as a sort of neglectful stepmother, is showing some pretty serious signs of nurturing maternity. But there is still a long way to go before the museum becomes deal ol' Mom.
Somewhat ironically, the museum of art spurred a contemporary art renaissance in 1986 when curator Steve Bradley, then putting together a show of local artists' work - the first time San Antonio artists would be seriously spotlighted by the museum - was unceremoniously fired.
Local artists rallied around Bradley, and the exhibit found a home at a big warehouse on the edge of the King William district. The Blue Star Art Space was born. The museum of art was the bad guy.
Curator Jim Edwards was hired as contemporary curator about three years ago, and it has been uphill all the way. Where other collections have major backers (read: artistic "sugar daddies") - Western antiquities (Gilbert Denman), Oriental art (Walter and Lenore Brown), Latin American folk art (Nelson Rockefeller, Marshall and Patsy Steves, the Friends of Folk Art) - Edwards has had to go out and raise money for exhibits and projects himself, and acquisition funds have only trickled in. 
To local artists, it seemed business as usual: The San Antonio Museum Association board and administration didn't care about contemporary art.
Then last year, when the board pushed an exhibit of Fiesta coronation gowns into the museum, the arts community laughed so hard it cried.
"That's ancient history," Edwards says of the gown incident. "That's all over. The board has gotten a very strong message from the four of us (curators in the areas mentioned above). I'm very positive about the future."
Several things have happened lately that put Ed-
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