Patsy Pittman Light, a South Texas author who spent her life shining a light on others’ work, died last week at age 92. She spent much of the last nine decades in and around San Antonio exploring and sharing with others her love for art and history.
Light died just four days before her 93rd birthday. Kay Hindes, an archeologist who worked with Light on a number of history projects, said that Light was “a wonderful person. She loved history, she loved preservation. She was a wonderful artist. ... Patsy’s ranch was down in Goliad, and so we did some archeological investigations. I headed that up, because she had part of the lot of historic sites over at her ranch.”
Maria Pfeiffer worked and traveled with Light for decades on various historical efforts.
“Oh, Patsy and I, we go way back!" she explained. "She did historical markers for some of the sites in Goliad and was involved early on in the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.”
Light wrote 11 historical markers and served on the San Antonio Missions Board.
She also wrote a book re-introducing South Texas to one of its most interesting artists: Dionicio Rodriguez.
In Faux Bois: Real Artistry Behind Fake Wood, she said about the artist: “We’re not sure where he learned the technique that we call 'El Trabajo Rústico.' The French call it 'Faux Bois.'”
Trabajo Rústico translates to "rustic work" and faux bois means "fake wood." Fake here can mean something closer to "imitation." The technique involves various media made to look like wood. For example, it employs cement, rebar and dyes to make structures built from them to look like wood or stone.
Her book Capturing Nature: The Cement Sculpture of Dionicio Rodriguez detailed the Monterrey native’s 1924 move to San Antonio, and then it followed his career as he built one piece after the next. While Rodriguez labored in relative obscurity through the next 30 years in the United States, he amassed a varied series of pieces, most of which were photographed for Light’s Capturing Nature book. The coffee table style book brought attention to the Trabajo Rústico practice and made heroes of a sort of Dionicio Rodriguez, Máximo Cortés and his son Carlos Cortés, who continues the art to this day.
“She always was very supportive. She was always there to give me advice, too,” Cortés said. He was also featured in Light’s book, as he kept his father’s and his great uncle’s work alive, and growing. In his 60s now, Cortés has been prolific through the years, and his work was included in Light’s book.
One other achievement of Capturing Nature is that her text and the images of faux bois throughout helped elevate the three artists' work from being a craft to being works of art.
Light's work and insight may have accomplished what their work could not: It gave them and their work a status reflected in both historic registrations and in the art world.
In 2023, the Conservation Society of San Antonio honored Light for her book Artisans of Trabajo Rústico, on which she worked with photographer Kent Rush.
Its citation explained that Light was from Corpus Christi, and she held a bachelor's degree in art from Southern Methodist University and a master's degree in art from Goddard College. She was also a public-school teacher and college lecturer.
Light is survived by a husband and three children. Funeral services are set for next Tuesday.
