Blue Star Contemporary Art Center

關於

Blue Star Contemporary, a non-profit, non-collectiong contemporary art institution that has utilized multiple names since its inception, changed its name to Contemporary at Blue Star in 2022. It is situated in a former warehouse that is part of a complex of former warehouses located in San Antonio, Texas, known as the Blue Star Art Complex. It is currently observing its 40th anniversary of staging exhibitions in the same building, which is divided into four galleries. The organization was established by a group of artists in 1986 after three local art galleries closed and the director of the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) fired its contemporary art curator and cancelled an exhibition of 25 local artists that was to be called “San Antonio Contemporary.” According to ArtNexus, Blue Star's establishment "arose from the need to provide a platform for the work and ideas of local contemporary artists."

Local artists worked with local businessmen to raise $40,000 to bring the art space to fruition.

The first Blue Star Exhibition featuring the work of 27 local contemporary artists in the former Blue Star Ice and Cold Storage warehouse. This first exhibition, which, according to the San Antonio Express-News, had "modest" expectations, drew over three thousand visitors. In 2019, Glasstire referred to Blue Star as "an incubator for contemporary art," noting that it hosted "more than 20 exhibitions annually."

The complex of warehouses was originally created as part of a rail transportation hub, owned by the San Antonio Belt and Terminal Railway Company. The relative survival of this warehouse complex was recognized by the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. Developers Hap Veltman and Bernard Lifshutz, who continue to own the property, bought the land with the warehouses in 1985.

Blue Star had been run by volunteers until 1988, when the first professional staff members were hired. The current Executive Director is Mary Heathcott, who assumed the position in 2014. The space closed for five months for renovations in 2016 in preparation for its 30th anniversary.

內容改寫自 Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。照片來自 Wikimedia Commons.