In the Circle
The outpouring of community support for the artists and artworks in the Intimate Modernism: Fort Worth Circle Artists in the 1940s has been truly amazing. I will be sad to see the exhibition close on May 11.
I recently received this response to our In the Circle project. I hope you enjoy this story and the stories that came before it.
I knew Dickson Reeder very well (1952 to 1965). His Flora Blanc I saw only now and again and always with Dickson. I saw their home and it was amazing.
In 1952, I got to see one of the first of four or five studios/ateliers/hide-outs. This was the log cabin in the garden of Sousa Bailey’s great home on White Settlement Road. I was then in the 11th grade at Northside High School. Mrs. Bailey was a grande dame in the very best sense. It was in her backyard that the Reeders put on their first production. Gardens, books, art were put together in every case. Because of Mrs. Bailey, I became aware of the role of patronesses—how they were supportive of the local artists. Later I met Miss Margaret MacLean and Sam Cantey.
Dink Starns
Fort Worth, Texas
Thank you so much to Charlene Baker, Jo Ann Fanning Durham, Jesse Garcia, Stanley Shepelwich, Naomi Stroud Simmons, Dink Starns, Jeanne Summers, and Violet Wickes for participating in this project. Your stories have helped to bring the works of art to life!
I am looking so forward to seeing the Fort Worth Circle exhibit this weekend. In particular, I am excited about seeing the portrait of my father Joe Harris by Dick Reeder.
I understand that it is one that hung in my grandparent’s home on Rogers Ave. in Fort Worth. It seems I may have seen it at Flora’s during the 70’s while visiting her on the Westside. I am thinking I remember what it looked like but as I said, I’m thrilled to be able to see it again…and my aging memory will be refreshed…
Reading about the Fort Worth Circle and their influence on Cowtown’s culture, reminds me of those late nights as a child at our house on Lubbock St. in Fort Worth. I would wake up to laughter, voices, and incredible music being made…and quietly I would crawl into the party room and hide under our grand piano. From there, I witnessed my parents Katherine and Joe singing and playing and having the time of their life. I remember Aunt Georgie and Uncle Dick Harris and others like Flora and Dick Reeder being there at times. They all seemed like such a lively and wonderful group of enlightened souls.
I remember being under that piano in the night more than once or twice- and I truly appreciate the opportunity to have seen a part of those beautiful lives from the eyes of a child under a piano.
Thanks to all who made this exhibit happen.
Kate Harris Morris
— Katherine Harris Morris, May 2, 2008, 5:58 a.m.