This first chapter enhances the McNay’s outdoor experience with new sculpture, reimagined fencing, sustainable landscaping, and increased accessibility.
Dense hedges along the edge of the property have been replaced with see-through fencing and native drought-resistant plantings, creating a more open and welcoming view of the Museum and grounds from the street. One hundred forty-two new trees and 7,892 shrubs, ornamental grasses, and perennials across 40 species of native and adapted plant material were planted throughout the grounds. A Beautification Fund chaired by McNay Trustee Amy Stieren was generously raised to ensure all plantings are maintained for the next five years.
Two acres of greenspace that previously existed at the intersection of Austin Highway and North New Braunfels have joined the existing grounds, extending the Museum’s footprint to 25 acres. Known as the Mays Family Park in honor of the generous $2 million lead gift from the Mays Family Foundation, this additional area now offers a dynamic, 360-degree viewing experience of the monumental sculpture, Ascent, by Alexander Liberman.
The McNay added four new outdoor sculptures to the grounds over the last 18 months: The Sole Sitter by Willie Cole, Standing Tulip by Tom Wesselmann, Hashtag-Orange by Alejandro Martín, and Deer by Tony Tassett.
Both campus entrances were reimagined with new entry and exit gates, enhanced signage, improved lighting, and wider roads that create safer two-way traffic flow. The Austin Highway entrance is now the Russell Hill Rogers Sculpture Gateway, and visitors entering the campus from North New Braunfels now drive in on Tom Frost Way in honor of the McNay’s late Board Chairman.
The McNay is grateful for additional major funding of $1 million from the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation; $500,000 from the Frost Family and Frost Bank; and $500,000 from the Semmes Foundation, Inc. for this important project.
The Museum would also like to thank landscape architects Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc. for their initial vision for this master plan as well as our Texas partners: San Antonio architects Ford, Powell & Carson; Austin urban landscape architect dwg.; and San Antonio construction firm G.W. Mitchell for their help in making this moment possible.
The McNay added four new outdoor sculptures to the grounds over the last 18 months: The Sole Sitter by Willie Cole, Standing Tulip by Tom Wesselmann, Hashtag-Orange by Alejandro Martín, and Deer by Tony Tassett.
Both campus entrances were reimagined with new entry and exit gates, enhanced signage, improved lighting, and wider roads that create safer two-way traffic flow. The Austin Highway entrance is now the Russell Hill Rogers Sculpture Gateway, and visitors entering the campus from North New Braunfels now drive in on Tom Frost Way in honor of the McNay’s late Board Chairman.
The McNay is grateful for additional major funding of $1 million from the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation; $500,000 from the Frost Family and Frost Bank; and $500,000 from the Semmes Foundation, Inc. for this important project.
The Museum would also like to thank landscape architects Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc. for their initial vision for this master plan as well as our Texas partners: San Antonio architects Ford, Powell & Carson; Austin urban landscape architect dwg.; and San Antonio construction firm G.W. Mitchell for their help in making this moment possible.
The Sole Sitter by Willie Cole is inspired by the traditional masks of the Luba people, a large Bantu-speaking group from Central Africa, indigenous to the southern-central Democratic Republic of the Congo. In line with Cole’s body of eclectic postmodernist works, the sculpture combines the forms of several large high-heeled shoes to create a sitting figure reminiscent of a traditional Luba mask. This is the McNay’s first acquisition of an outdoor sculpture by an African American artist. Cole’s work has been the subject of several one-person museum exhibitions at, among others, the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, Montclair Art Museum, Pérez Art Museum Miami (formerly Miami Art Museum), Bronx Museum of the Arts, and The Museum of Modern Art. The acquisition of The Sole Sitter is made possible by a gift from the Russell Hill Rogers Funds for the Arts.
Hashtag-Orange by Alejandro Martín is a vibrant orange painted metal sculpture reflecting the hashtag symbol, which will welcome visitors as they enter the McNay campus via North New Braunfels Avenue. Born in 2000, Martín is an emerging artist based in Mexico City. He began sculpting in 2017 after being exposed to the art form in high school, and his sculptures are informed by digital symbols of his generation. Bold, larger-than-life hashtags feature prominently in his artworks alongside asterisks and block figures that seem to emerge from a Minecraft© game. Martín’s first solo exhibition was on display at the San Antonio Botanical Garden from January 2019 through January 2020. The acquisition of Hashtag-Orange is made possible by a gift from Carolyn and Allan Paterson.
Standing Tulip is the first work of art in any medium by Pop artist Tom Wesselmann to be included in the McNay Collection. Standing 13–feet tall, the aluminum sculpture greets visitors with a bright pop of color as they enter the Museum’s main entrance. Wesselmann was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1931 and died in 2004. He received a BA in psychology from University of Cincinnati in 1956 and a BFA from Cooper Union, New York in 1959. The artist embraced the large scale of Abstract Expressionism, but applied it to objects from pop culture and everyday life. A laser cutting application allowed him to translate his drawings into cut-out metal. Wesselmann made only one other outdoor sculpture, the 3-ton Seattle Tulip, now standing outside the Wells Fargo Building in downtown Seattle. The acquisition of Standing Tulip is made possible by a gift from Marie Halff and the G.A.C. Halff Foundation.
Nestled in the McNay sculpture gardens, Deer is a 12-foot tall sculpture by Cincinnati-born artist Tony Tasset, made of fiberglass, epoxy, and paint. Tasset has focused many of his recent public art endeavors on American vernacular visual culture. For Deer, Tasset has taken the common white-tailed deer and made it larger than life. The surreal juxtaposition of the supersized deer and the viewer dramatizes our relationship to nature and what it means to be human. This clever work explores how we collectively dwell in landscape but also celebrates the unique environment created when art frames nature.
This artist rendering of the McNay grounds shows where our new roads and sculptures are located. Take a copy home as a fun coloring page!
