Weekend Opening of McNay Attracts Families, Fun

June 9, 2008 ·The McNay Art Museum opened to the public this weekend after many months of construction. The result is a world-class exhibition space and fun for the whole family.

Family-friendly music played on the lawns while kids of all ages picnicked on blankets. They celebrated the public opening of the McNay and its new Jane and Arthur Stieren Center for Exhibition by creating their own art.

"Those are gonna be like hands...ya, uh, the yellow..now I need this one," said James Lee, who attended the opening with his artist mother, Lieo.

She sees the importance of giving kids access to art at a young age.

"To show him that museums can actually be fun and it wasn't just all about shushing and not touching," she said.

Saturday's festivities included live musical performances on the lawn, finger painting and paper sculptures, and full access to the new Stieren Center. More families gathered in the center to look at the contemporary art as part of the “Art In A New Light Exhibit.” The exhibit showcases how the innovative four-layer ceiling made of fabric and glass filters allows natural light to shine through and illuminate the artwork.

Thomas Sanders, he brought his wife and three children to the exhibit, including nine-year-old Josh, who was really taken with the sculpture collection. 

"Oh it's beautiful, especially the architecture with all the metal work and glass work that they've done on the ceiling,” Josh said, “It's wonderful collection because I think it's amazing that these people can sculpt these."

As he moved throughout the Stieren Center with his younger sisters Abagail and Ella, they considered some of the pieces and talked with their parents about their conceptions about art.

"It's interesting to see what people call art and different versions of art," said Jill, mother of the three children.

Thomas countered with the fact that art is in the eye of the beholder.

It is those conversations that McNay trustee, Tom Frost, hopes more families have about art at the museum.

"It is a family place. It’s not just a place for a bunch of old stuffy people like me going around and looking at old art. This is an educational place where we try to teach the young and the old about what art means to them and to all of us in our lives," Frost explains.

While the McNay has been absent in the lives of art lovers while it underwent its transformation, the museum also created a lot of excitement and anticipation.

"I think it's kind of like when you haven't had strawberry shortcake in several months and you have you first piece, and it’s really even better again," Frost continued.

So much better, in fact, that Jay Leads came all the way from Houston to see the grand opening.

"I think it's an interesting collection – the history of Marion McNay. It certainly adds a lot just to the whole thing in the first place. It's just a spectacular thing for somebody like her to have done and given to the city of San Antonio."

The gift of art an education is a legacy Mrs. McNay would have wanted to continue, according to museum director Bill Chiego.

"She started collecting seriously when she built this house. Then of course she decided that it would become a museum, a public museum for the city of San Antonio – a private museum but open to the public – and I think this is a continuation of what it does. It really means that her legacy of her collection really has been fulfilled in a full sense."

As more and more people fill the Stieren Center, it's more proof that Marion McNay's legacy will continue through her home-turned museum.

Chiego continues, "She wanted to bring the world of modern art to S.A., and I think this makes it possible much more than ever before."