TCU produces traveling historic Texas Map exhibit
TCU's Center for Texas Studies is partnering with the Museum of the Big Bend at Sul Ross State University in Alpine to produce “Going to Texas: Five Centuries of Texas Maps,” an exhibit consisting of 64 historic Texas maps from the Yana & Marty Davis Map Collection.
The exhibit, featuring maps dating from 1548 to 2006, will travel around the state for a period of two years, beginning on November 3 at the Old Red Museum in Dallas, and ending in January 2010 at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth. The exhibit will also travel to Panhandle Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, Museum of the Southwest in Midland, Mayborn Museum Complex in Waco, Museum of South Texas History in Edinburg, Museum of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Centennial Museum in El Paso, and the Old Jail Art Center in Albany. A catalog illustrating the maps will accompany the exhibit and was published by the TCU Press.
The Center for Texas Studies at TCU is an interdisciplinary center whose mission is “to celebrate all that makes Texas distinctive.” In 2006, the Center for Texas Studies completed its Texas Flags exhibit, which was viewed by more than 300,000 people. The Museum of the Big Bend at Sul Ross State University collects and interprets the history and cultures of the Big Bend of Texas and northern Mexico.
For more information, please visit www.texasstudies.org or call (817) 257-6295.
Monnig Meteorite Gallery acquires rare meteorite
TCU's Oscar Monnig Meteorite Gallery recently acquired a 45-pound iron meteorite from western Australia. At approximately three feet by two feet, it is the largest slice of iron meteorite in the United States.
The sample is a slice of an Australian meteorite called Mundrabilla. Meteorites are generally named after a geographic location close to the place where it was found. Mundrabilla is a small town in Western Australia. Several of the masses of the meteorite, which fell in pre-history, weigh a ton or more.
Very few meteor scientists are capable of cutting slices of such large masses. This Mundrabilla slice came to TCU as a trade with a meteorite dealer in Frankfurt, Germany - one of the few people able to slice large masses. Seven slices were cut from one of the large masses retrieved from the location. Two slices will remain at a museum in Australia. The other five slices will be offered to major museums. The only major collection in the United States with one of the slices is the Oscar Monnig Meteorite Collection at TCU. The others will remain in Europe.
For more information about the Monnig Meteorite Gallery, visit www.monnigmuseum.tcu.edu or call 817-257-6277.
Director of TCU’s Institute of Child Development receives child advocacy award
Dr. Karyn Purvis, director of TCU’s Institute of Child Development will receive the T. Berry Brazelton, M.D. 2008 Infant Mental Health Award at the Infant Mental Health Advocacy Conference in January.
Purvis’ work uses research-based methods and multidisciplinary intervention methods to educate and train professionals, parents, students and other caregivers to aid children who are at-risk for behavioral and relational disturbances due to early risk factors. The award will be given to Purvis for the work she has done as an advocate for healthy relationships between infants, toddlers and their parents, especially in circumstances that are not optimal. Her work has also impacted adoption, child welfare and family court systems.
The Infant Mental Health Advocacy Council was formed to establish the T. Berry Brazelton Infant Mental Health Advocacy Award to honor Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, a Texas native. Dr. Brazelton has returned to Texas throughout his career to share his expertise and knowledge with professionals in many disciplines who work with and care about young children. His advocacy efforts have been especially directed toward infants, toddlers, and their families. The first award was given to Dr. Brazelton at the first Biennial Infant Mental Health Advocacy Conference in January 1990.
For more information on the Institute of Child Development or Dr. Karyn Purvis, visit www.child.tcu.edu.
Kinesiology professor revolutionizes P.E. in DFW area
Over the past six years, Dr. Debbie Rhea, associate professor of kinesiology at TCU, has committed herself and her time to ensuring that K-12 students in Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD) have a multitude of options for physical activity in a P.E. setting.
In September, the Dallas Business Journal named Dr. Rhea a Healthcare Hero for 2007 for her commitment to combating obesity in Fort Worth schools.
With the help of Dr. Rhea, the FWISD has received and implemented five physical education program grants from the federal government to aid in revamping the district’s physical education program for K-12 students.
The grants have been used to obtain new equipment, train physical education instructors, and develop new activities to keep students stimulated.
Fitness centers, complete with stationary bikes, elliptical machines, weights, aerobic steps, physio balls and an audio system have also been placed in all of the district’s 13 high schools. The fitness centers were implemented with the help of three consecutive grants designated for the high school level, which have contributed just under $1 million over a three-year period to help high school students stay active.
According to Dr. Rhea, Fort Worth is one of only two independent school districts in the nation that has received three grants in a row, and with good reason.
Dr. Rhea’s research indicates that Fort Worth, the third largest school district in Texas, has some of the most overweight students in the nation.
In fact on average, 22 percent of elementary students in America are overweight, while 33 percent of African-American students, 24 percent of white students and 32 percent of Hispanic students in FWISD are overweight.
“The statistics are what got us the grants,” Dr. Rhea said. Also, many FWISD schools are lacking funds and are part of Title I, a program that aims to “improve the academic achievement of the disadvantaged,” according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Generally, lower socioeconomic status, according to Dr. Rhea, is a potential reason students are overweight, as many kids don’t have a place to be physically active outside of school.
“We’re making systematic change, and we will keep progressing,” Dr. Rhea said. The key, she said, is having a long-term impact on the physical education programs with the grants provided to FWISD.
Currently, Dr. Rhea is working on grant proposals that would bring more funding to FWISD, and she is assisting Belton ISD in obtaining grants for its middle and high school physical education programs.
New contemporary art gallery to be added to TCU Dept. of Art & Art History
TCU’s new space for contemporary art will open next month, according to Ronald Watson, chair of the Department of Art & Art History. Located at 2900 W. Berry Street at Greene Avenue, the 2,500-square-foot gallery will be known as Fort Worth Contemporary Arts. TCU’s existing university art gallery, The Moudy Gallery, located in the Moudy Bldg. North, will remain in place, as will its schedule of programming.
This exciting addition to the University and Fort Worth community will provide a location to view challenging work by local, national and international artists. The TCU Department of Art & Art History has ambitious plans to make Fort Worth Contemporary Arts a significant cultural resource that will not only allow students to gain knowledge of the practices and issues related to exhibition organization, but also invigorate North Texas with exposure to the cutting edge of contemporary art.
In late 2007, TCU recruited Scotsman Gavin Morrison as curator, to develop a dynamic series of exhibitions and events for Fort Worth Contemporary Arts. The gallery’s programming will include a breadth of art forms, including new media and experimental works, and will be accompanied by the publication of catalogues and books to further the research interests of Fort Worth Contemporary Arts.
The first show in “the Contemporary” will be Material Culture, an exhibition of sculpture by mid-career and emerging Texas artists.* Dates are Feb. 15 – April 5, with an opening reception set for 6 – 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15. On Tuesday, Feb. 19, TCU Art & Art History will host visitors attending the College Art Association of America conference being held that week in Dallas.
After Feb. 15, hours of operation for the new gallery will be 1-6 p.m. Thursdays – Sundays.
For more information about TCU Art Galleries, contact Ronald Watson at r.watson@tcu.edu. For more information about the Material Culture exhibition, contact Frances Colpitt at f.colpitt@tcu.edu.
* Artists include: Helen Altman, Richie Budd, Margarita Cabrera, Bill Davenport, Jonathan Durham, Jessica Halonen, Lily Hanson, Joseph Havel, Polly Lanning Sparrow, Katrina Moorhead, Chris Sauter and Brad Tucker.
