The AT&T Center is not only the home to the world famous
NBA Spurs basketball team, the San Antonio Livestock Show
and Rodeo, AHL’s Rampage, the WNBA’s Silver
Stars and many other cultural events; it is also now the home of
an exciting permanent art collection composed of works from
local and regional artists.
Early in the process of designing the AT&T Center, the owners
of the Spurs, the AT&T Center design team and the community
decided to view this new arena not only as a sports facility
but also as a cultural center. It was determined that this
venue could be a wonderful showcase for the tremendous talent
of many of the artists of San Antonio and the surrounding
area, as well as a collaboration with AT&T Communications
Inc., local galleries, art institutions and local businesses.
The process of building this art collection involved a team
of five people who creatively brainstormed to develop a vision
statement that expressed the goals of the collection: Alice
Carrington of Carrington Gallery, Ltd., Ted Flato of Lake
Flato Architects, Peter and Julianna Holt, on behalf of the
investors of Spurs Sports & Entertainment, and Henry
Muñoz of Kell Muñoz Architects. Their vision
was to create an art collection which encompassed these qualities "sense
of place", "civic pride", "multi-culturalism", "exuberance", "family",
and "history." A list of over 60 artists was assembled
from local galleries and art institutions, the Internet,
word of mouth and direct solicitations. The selection of
art was based on criteria aesthetic excellence, diversity,
subject matter and specific site needs.
In an effort to further involve the community in this project,
AT&T Communications Inc., which owns one of the most important
collections of contemporary American art in the country,
willingly agreed to loan some of its finest work to the arena.
The Witte Museum also added significantly to this endeavor
by loaning part of the Barney Halloran Collection as well
as the Donald and Louise Yena Collection of western art for
display. Furthermore, many local businesses have participated
in the project both directly and indirectly, such as Little’s
Boot Company which agreed to loan some of its most colorful
and whimsically designed western boots.
The AT&T Center Art Collection promotes arts education, awareness
and the concept of art as a viable career. To this end, we
have collaborated with local arts organizations such as Say
Si and ArtPace in adding works by artists involved in these
organizations to our collection.
We would like to thank all of the artists. Art, Inc., Finesilver
Gallery, The Hunt Gallery, Premier Artworks, Inc., Parchman
Stremmel Gallery, Alex De Leon, Tim Foerster, Tom Shelton
and Dolores Olivarez at the Institute of Texan Cultures,
AT&T, Say Si, CEC Art Advisory Services,
Little's Boot Company, the Witte Museum, the Wittliff Gallery
of Southwestern & Mexican Photography at Southwest Texas
State University, the King Ranch Archives, Jerry Gustafson,
Capital Manufacturing, Plastic Supply of San Antonio, the
Spurs, SALE, the Express-News, Seale Studio, Ridgway's, Alamo
Flag and Banner, and San Antonio Rodeo Western Art Auction,
for making this art project a pleasure and a success. |
