The Longview Museum of Fine Arts was begun by the Junior Service League of Longview in 1958, and held its first yearly Invitational Exhibit in 1959. Jerry Bywaters, Director of the Dallas Museum of Art, acted as consultant to the League and juror for that event. The staff of Nicholson Memorial Library sustained the Museum. In 1970, a Museum charter was issued by the State of Texas and the League's collection was place on permanent loan. The Museum has been located in five different locations since 1958. The present location on Tyler Street was renovated in 1997. The inaugural exhibit was held on January 17, 1998, with an opening and workshop by world renowned photographers, Ruth Bernhard & Michael Kenna. In 2005, Ann Lowman donated property at the corner of Tyler and Fredonia Streets to begin a Sculpture Garden, with a piece donated by Steel & Pipe Co., Inc. Charlotte & John Wrather also donated their property toward this space.
Today the Museum displays its permanent collection in the Wrather Gallery, the main gallery inside the front doors. The Premier I and II Galleries adjoining host traveling exhibits six times per year, with private members' receptions the weekend before opening to the public. The Judge J.T. Smith Sculpture Garden rotates exhibits annually.
LMFA has a permanent collection of over 300 paintings, etchings, woodcuts, photographs, works on paper, lithographs, serigraphs, collages and pieces of sculpture that are rotated from the vault on a regular basis. It is our privilege, and honor, to share these works with the community, making Longview a better place to live and visit.
Website: http://www.lmfa.org
Phone:903-753-8103
The town of Edom--in Van Zandt County just a few miles west of the city Tyler--is miniscule. Though Edom was founded in 1849, its population has never topped 300. But size isn’t everything. Beginning in the 1960s, artisans attracted to the hamlet’s comfortably rustic ways and laid-back atmosphere began settling here. Now, Edom’s main drag--a stretch of FM 279--is loaded with shops purveying one-of-a-kind wares by local potters, jewelry makers, glassmakers, and more. Why, there’s even a gourmet food shop. And every October, Edom welcomes scores of artists and craftspeople from all over Texas and beyond to the Edom Festival of the Arts.
As someone once observed, “The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.” That’s certainly true of the Texas State Railroad--a shortline service that, established in 1881 and fully restored in 1976, is still shuttling passengers between Palestine, in Anderson County, and Rusk, in Cherokee County. Even before boarding the vintage steam-engine trains that ply the route, visitors are transported back to the 19th century by the Victorian-style depots at either end of the line. The stations are surrounded by beautifully landscaped parks that provide camping facilities, among other amenities. The 50-mile round trip takes four and a half hours.
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Email: pineywoods@conservationfund.org
