A Texas Sampler

This is a tribute to the remarkable people who settled Texas. See the past through the eyes of a German farmwife, a slave, a Comanche chief and others.

Donna Bearden designed and directed this bicentennial project of the Governor's Committee on Aging. It is the Bicentennial year and everyone is looking for history. The Governor's Committee on Aging has a hotline to the past. Many of the older citizens of Texas have fascinating stories to tell about growing up in TExas when she was half-wild. Some of the people are knowledgeable in old-time skills or handcrafts - bootmaking, beekeeping, moonshining. Others were involved in building Texas' industries - lumber, ranching, oil.

In Of Texas Rivers and Texas Art, Andrew Sansom, a leading Texas conservationist, and William E. Reaves, an influential Texas art collector and historian, have teamed up to showcase some of the finest contemporary river art detailing the gorgeous traits of Texas landscapes. The featured artwork comes from Randy Bacon, Mary Baxter, David Caton, Margie Crisp, Keith Davis, Fidencio Duran, Jon Flaming, Charles Ford, Pat Gabriel, Hunter George, Billy Hassell, Lee Jamison, Robb Kendrick, Laura Lewis, William Montgomery, Noe Perez, Jeri Salter, Erik Sprohge, Debbie Stevens, and William Young. Art in service of conservation is nothing new, as Sansom and Reaves note in their introductions. And rivers have figured prominently in the artistic imagination for all of recorded history and probably before that, as evidenced by flood stories and myths preserved in almost all the religious and folk traditions of the world. The collection of work included in this book is exemplary of the strong inspiration that rivers have provided for a vast current of literature, music, and art, in turn shaping their place in life and culture and bringing about a greater appreciation of the stunning beauty of our natural world. To learn more about The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, sponsors of this book's series, please click here.