The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University celebrates its storied past and bright future in an exciting new exhibition called Wellspring: Celebrating the Icons of The Wittliff Collections. The collections have a long legacy as a source of inspiration, creativity and artistic excellence. The Wellspring exhibition highlights four decades of defining works from The Wittliff’s literary, photography and music pillars.
“We created this exhibition, Wellspring: Icons of The Wittliff, to showcase the greatest writers, photographers, musicians and filmmakers of Texas, the Southwest and Mexico,” said Marise McDermott, executive director of The Wittliff. “We hope that visitors will remember seeing these artists during the four decades of The Wittliff’s history.”
In 1986, Bill and Sally Wittliff created the Southwestern Writers Collection with a small donation of materials from the estate of J. Frank Dobie. With that act of foresight and generosity, they launched the mission of The Wittliff Collections: to collect, preserve and share the cultural and creative legacy of Texas, the Southwest and Mexico. Forty years later, The Wittliff has grown to become the world’s largest and most comprehensive archive of the region’s artists.
One of the exhibition’s high points is a hands-on display where visitors can interact with holdings from the Southwest’s most important literary figures, such as Sandra Cisneros, Rick Riordan and Cormac McCarthy. The display is comprised of specialized archival boxes with select items from the collections. This gives one a peek into the writer’s process while also illustrating the care and detail that The Wittliff’s archival team takes in preserving each item.
Throughout multiple galleries visitors will view career-defining works from dozens of renown photographers from the Southwest and Mexico, like Ansel Adams, Kate Breakey, Keith Carter and dozens more. There are galleries dedicated to new photography acquisitions, Mexican photography and a special installation featuring a custom app-based technology that will bring the photographs to life.
Music fans will see inspiring photos of Texas music legends like Willie Nelson, Marcia Ball, Flaco Jimenez and Waylon Jennings. In addition to this, there is an entire wall of original concert posters by Texas artists such as Jim Franklin and Michael Priest, who helped define the “cosmic cowboy” era in Texas, and a video presentation featuring a newly uncovered interview with Texas blues legend Mance Lipscomb as well as a rare clip of Jerry Jeff Walker’s first performance on television.
As The Wittliff Collections celebrates 40 years, it also looks boldly to a future where it will continue to serve as a creative wellspring for the region’s greatest artists.
About The Wittliff Collections
The Wittliff Collections are dedicated to collecting, preserving and sharing the cultural legacy of the Southwest’s literary, photographic and musical arts, and to fostering the region’s “Spirit of Place” in the wider world. The Wittliff hosts readings, artist talks, lectures and other events; presents major exhibitions year-round from its holdings; and makes its collections available to statewide, national and international researchers.
Visitors, tours and classes are welcome. Admission is free. For more information, visit thewittliffcollections.txst.edu/.