The Fabulous Fifties: Exhibit Reception and Houston Art Forum

Details

Join us for The Fabulous Fifties: Houston Art at the Dawn of the Space Age, 1945-1961 exhibit reception and pick up a FREE copy of the accompanying 80-page art catalogue, hot off the press! Learn about Houston artist Jack Boynton (1928-2010) and hear from artists Pat Colville and Leila McConnell about their experiences creating and working in Houston’s art scene in the 1950s and beyond.

Schedule of events:

10:00 - 10:45 AM

Reception and exhibition catalogue release in the Meldrum Room (1st Floor) and self-guided tour of the exhibition, The Fabulous Fifties: Houston Art at the Dawn of the Space Age, 1945-1961.

10:45 – 11:30 AM

Reframing Jack Boynton: A Visionary in Texas Modern and Beyond

Guest speaker: James F. Boynton, MD, Boynton Plastic Surgery.

Dr. Boynton talks about his father, artist James Wesley “Jack” Boynton (1928-2010), whose modernist, largely abstract paintings attracted national attention in the 1950s and 1960s. Born in Fort Worth, Jack Boynton moved to Houston to teach at the University of Houston in 1955 and was instrumental in the creation of the studio arts program at the University of St. Thomas, where he taught from 1969-1985. Boynton’s artwork can be found in the collections of Amon Carter Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Dallas Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum, Los Angeles Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Whitney Museum of American Art, and Witte Museum, amongst many others.

11:45 AM - 12:45 PM

Panel Discussion with Artists Pat Colville and Leila McConnell, Moderated by Rainey Knudson

About the Artists and Moderator

Pat Colville currently lives and works in Houston and previously lived in New York City for 35 years. Colville received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Houston (1952) and studied under Houston artists Preston Frazier and Ruth Laird in the 1950s-1960s. She taught at St. Thomas University and the Museum School at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (now Glassell School) from 1969-1976 before earning her Master of Fine Arts from University of Oklahoma (1977). Her work can be found in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, and the Dallas Museum of Art.

Leila McConnell is a Houston-based artist who earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Rice University and continued her art studies at the Museum School at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. In the summer of 1949, she attended the California School of Fine Arts, where she studied under guest teacher Mark Rothko. Under Rothko’s influence, McConnell’s realistic still-lifes and portraits transformed into the misty, abstract paintings she is known for today. McConnell’s work has been exhibited at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, Dallas Museum of Art, and other institutions, and can be found in many public art collections.

Rainey Knudson is a writer based in Houston. Rainey is the founder of Glasstire, the online journal of visual art in Texas and the oldest online-only art magazine in the country. In 2019, she stepped down as publisher of Glasstire after 18 years at the helm. Her upcoming book The MFAH 100 is coming out in November 2025.

This event is free and open to the public. Parking in the garage under Central Library is free on Saturdays. Registration is encouraged but not required.