Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum
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Blue Star Contemporary is a non-profit contemporary art institution located in
San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...
, Texas. It was established by a group of artists in 1986 after the success of the ''Blue Star Exhibition'', a show featuring the work of local contemporary artists in the former Blue Star Ice and Cold Storage warehouse. Blue Star Contemporary is the longest-running non-profit
contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...
space in the city. Blue Star Contemporary, also known as BSC, is run by Executive Director Mary Heathcott. Open calls for artists from Texas, the United States, and abroad are held on an annual basis.


Background

Blue Star Contemporary is housed in a renovated warehouse in the Blue Star Arts Complex, a mixed-use development containing lofts, apartments, galleries, artist studios, retail stores, and restaurants. The Blue Star Arts Complex is a stop on the
VIA Metropolitan Transit VIA Metropolitan Transit (or VIA) is the mass transit agency serving San Antonio, Texas, United States, and its surrounding municipalities. It began operation in 1978 as a successor to the San Antonio Transit System. In , the system had a riders ...
VIVA Culture bus route. BSC is a part of the King Williams Cultural Arts District in the Southtown neighborhood and is located along the
San Antonio River Walk The San Antonio River Walk is a city park and special-case pedestrian street in San Antonio, Texas, one level down from the automobile street. The River Walk winds and loops under bridges as two parallel sidewalks lined with restaurants and shop ...
. Blue Star Contemporary is at the center of San Antonio's First Friday Art Walk, an event that takes place on the first Friday of each month and is intended to provide "a free showcase of the art community in San Antonio." Blue Star Contemporary is credited as being a revitalizing force for the arts district and surrounding neighborhoods. Contemporary Art Month (CAM), San Antonio's month-long celebration of local contemporary art in July, started at the museum.


Current programs

Current BSC programs include Creative Classrooms, a free six-week program that brings artists to school classrooms for weekly lessons, the MOSAIC Student Artist Program, a free after-school program for students interested in learning about the arts, and the Berlin Residency Program, a three-month residency at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien granted to four artists from
Bexar County Bexar County ( or ; es, Béxar ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in South Texas and its county seat is San Antonio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,009,324. Bexar County is included in the San Antonio–New Bra ...
annually. Blue Star Contemporary partnered with BiblioTech, Bexar County's digital library, to open a reading room in the museum's Arts Education Lab in 2016.


Off-site art exhibitions

Art in the Garden is an ongoing partnership between Blue Star Contemporary and the
San Antonio Botanical Garden The San Antonio Botanical Garden is a , non-profit botanical garden in San Antonio, Texas, United States, and the city's official botanical garden. History The garden was first conceived in the 1940s by Mrs. R. R. Witt and Mrs. Joseph Murphy, ...
. Each year, an artist is selected and commissioned to create a site-specific work in the garden. Blue Star Contemporary has also partnered with the
City of San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...
's Department of Arts and Culture's Public Art San Antonio division (PASA) to commission ''Plexus c18'' at the
San Antonio International Airport San Antonio International Airport is an international airport in San Antonio, Texas. It is in Uptown Central San Antonio, about north of Downtown. It has three runways and covers . Its elevation is above sea level. SAT averages 260 daily dep ...
. The work is described on the BSC website as "a site-specific public art installation by Dallas-based artist Gabriel Dawe. The installation, a weaving of approximately 90 miles of colored thread hooked from wall to ceiling that emulates the dynamic shape of an airplane, will suspend from the vaulted ceiling of the Terminal A ticketing Area. ''Plexus c18'' is composed of more than 19 colors--creating a prism-like effect that represents the full spectrum of visible light. The art installation will be on view for three years beginning October 2016." In addition to these off-site exhibitions and partnerships, BSC's MOSAIC student artists, under the direction of Artist-in-Residence Alex Rubio, have completed nine public works projects throughout the city, including murals and mosaics of handmade and hand-painted ceramic tiles.


References


External links


Blue Star Contemporary
* https://web.archive.org/web/20070821000709/http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/north-america/united-states/texas/san-antonio/attraction-detail.html?vid=1154654608603 * http://www.museumsusa.org/museums/info/1167675 * http://www.frommers.com/destinations/sanantonio/A7663.html * http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2008/05/05/story10.html * http://www.americantowns.com/tx/sanantonio/organization/blue_star_contemporary_art_center * http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/klblr * http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_/ai_54432739 {{authority control Contemporary art galleries in the United States Museums in San Antonio 1985 establishments in Texas Art museums established in 1985 Art museums and galleries in Texas