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For decades after 1968’s Hemisfair the Institute of Texan Cultures was in the huge Texas Pavillion building. But that building has been razed to make room for a new Spurs arena.
The ITC’s temporary home opened Wednesday in the Frost Tower. Bianca Alvarez is ITC’s main curator and designed the first exhibits.
“We knew that we had to get creative, right? And we had to be intentional about every story, every image and artifact that would be presented.”
She encourages visitors to come with some regularity to catch it all.
“This is our semi-permanent gallery, the one that's titled 'Common Threads,' she said. “This framework will stay, but the objects and stories and visuals will change. We're looking to have at least two exhibits a year.”
When the Institute of Texan Cultures was first displaced, its owner, UT-San Antonio, committed to finding a home downtown where more tourists could access it.
Monica Perales serves as the executive director of the ITC. She credits past iterations of the ITC for the quality of the work they’ve done. Perales is hoping to build on that tradition.
“We see our role right now as carrying the torch forward, right?” she said. “The ITC— the Institute —has had such an important part in telling the story of Texas for so long. You know, we build on a strong foundation.”
Perales credits past iterations of the ITC for the work they’ve done.
While the ITC has been closed for quite some time, it’s now open on the bottom floor of the Frost Bank Tower.
“Every artifact that was selected, how it was cared for, how it's displayed, the stories, the research that went behind telling those stories. All of that was a great testament to the tradition of the ITC.”
This 8,000 square-foot plus space has been nicely assembled to work as a temporary museum space.
San Antonio has a voracious appetite for arts and culture, so a husband-and-wife team designed and painted a huge mural of fabrics and plants that are native here.
A pair of artists painted that 15-by-22-foot-long mural that warmly greets those coming in. Artist Malaki McKinney says sometimes he’s wondering ‘til the last minute if a given project is going to work.
“There are moments where you have doubts. Pretty much with any piece, it's never 100% like this is gonna be awesome until … until it is!” McKinney said. “But then when you see it actual size in, in the location that's when it really makes sense.”
McKinney’s wife Sandra Gonzalez collaborated with him on the mural.
“It's a combination of different textiles. So the textiles are depicting all the different cultures in Texas, and we try our best to incorporate all these different cultures.”
And those mural colors do bounce right off the walls. You can find the temporary ITC at the bottom of the Frost Bank Tower on Houston Street at Camaron Street, near the San Pedro Creek Culture Park.
