Visit This Exhibit
March 10, 2021 - April 11, 2021
Open Wednesday – Sunday
11 AM – 4 PM CST
Accessibility
This exhibit is located on the first floor, and is wheelchair accessible.
Hope for Spring: The Flower of Texas
A juried exhibition of local artists’ interpretations of the bluebonnet
March 10 - April 11, 2021
Opening Reception, Saturday, March 13th. Doors at 5:30, Awards at 6:30 PM. Open to the public.
Like any Texan, we here at the Neill-Cochran House Museum love bluebonnets. As spring approaches and we shake off the cold, one thing we can all count on are the beautiful fields of blue that will pepper the Texas landscape. To celebrate the beauty of the Texas State Flower, the Neill-Cochran House Museum is displaying a collection of local art inspired by the bluebonnet. Our jury selected three winners and four honorable mentions, listed below.
Many of the installations on view are available for purchase, so this is one place in Texas where you really CAN pick a bluebonnet without fear of reprisal! We look forward to seeing you at the show!
Take a Virtual Tour of the Exhibition
This Virtual Tour is made possible thanks to Producer and Sponsor, Art84.
Congratulations to all the winners!
First Place: Maria Apelzoller, Bluebonnets 3
Second Place: Carol Haymen, Bluebonnet
Third Place: Ted Lee Eubanks, Bonnet Blues
Honorable Mention: Daryl Howard, The Color Blue Blankets My Heart
Trish Kummer, Even when they're not there...they're there
Linda Miles, Blue Bonnets
Julia Webber, Bluebonnet Geometry
NCHM and Bluebonnets
The Neill-Cochran House Museum has a long and interesting history associated with the Texas bluebonnet. The NCHM is owned by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Texas (NSCDA-TX or Texas Dames). Founded in 1898, one of the Dames’ first successes was to ensure that the bluebonnet became the Texas state flower. In 1901, the question of naming a state flower was a hot topic. Interests in East Texas vied for the cotton boll and from West Texas, the prickly pear cactus. Texas Dames followed the debate and thought the choice was clear – it had to be the bluebonnet! They asked Austin artist Mode Walker if she had a painting of bluebonnets to borrow. She loaned them Bluebonnets and Evening Primrose (image above left) and the rest is history. The Dames carried the painting onto the floor of the Texas legislature and placed bluebonnet bouquets on each politician’s desk, helping to secure the vote. Today, Walker’s painting hangs in the front hall of the NCHM, and thanks in part to her work and to the Dames, the bluebonnet has come to represent Texas spring in a way no other flower can quite express.
