The 2007 ARLIS/NA Texas-Mexico Chapter Annual Meeting in Dallas got off to a great start with a leisurely ramble through the Raymond Nasher Sculpture Center. The “Nasher,” designed by architect Renzo Piano and landscape architect Peter Walker opened in 2003. The museum and garden consists entirely of modern and contemporary sculpture. Of particular note is the building’s roof, an engineering marvel designed by the London-based architectural consulting firm Arup. Their engineers plotted the sun's yearly path across the Dallas sky and then created a protective ‘sunscreen’ consisting of over a half-million aluminum ‘shells’ that deflect the sun’s damaging rays while flooding the galleries with natural sunlight.
Following dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s Café Nasher, the inimitable Gwen Dixie led us on a walking tour of the surrounding Arts District. We gathered to observe firsthand what is now called “the largest urban cultural district in the nation” consisting of Dallas’ best multi-cultural art, music, and dance venues situated on nearly 69 acres in the northeast section of downtown. According to Gwen, the Dallas Arts District was conceived and developed from 1977 to 1984 through a cooperative effort by the City of Dallas and private art foundations. The Dallas Museum of Art, the Dallas Theater Center, and the Trammell Crow Center all opened in 1984, forming the nucleus of an area already graced by historic structures such as the Cathedral Santuario de Guadalupe, St. Paul United Methodist Church, and the Belo Mansion.
The tour began in front of the Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art, which unfortunately we were not able to enter. Gwen stated that the treasures on display in the building are from the personal collection of Dallas real estate czar Trammel Crow and his wife Margaret. The art objects were acquired from Japan, China, India, and Southeast Asia dating from 3500 B.C. to the early 20th century.
Around the corner in the next block appeared the beautiful Neo-Gothic Cathedral Santuario de Guadalupe designed over 100 years ago by the legendary Texas architect Nicolas Clayton. The recent exterior renovation was based on drawings discovered in Galveston's Rosenberg Library. Two steeples have been added to complete Clayton’s original vision.
Just across the street from the Cathedral is the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center designed by I.M. Pei who worked with the famed acoustical engineer Russell Johnson. The Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Turtle Creek Chorale, the Dallas Wind Symphony and the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra all perform in this magnificent hall. Next to the Meyerson is the Annette Strauss Artist Square named after the former Dallas mayor who was a stalwart supporter of the arts. It serves as an outdoor venue for music, dance, theatre, festivals, and almost every other imaginable outdoor gathering.
In the middle of a giant fenced-off construction area Gwen pointed out a most interesting structure designed by Foster & Partners called the Winspear Opera House. This latest addition to the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts is scheduled for completion in 2009. The design is a horseshoe configuration like many of the old acoustically superior opera houses in Europe.
Looking behind us we could barely make out the sprawling campus of the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts. The school has the nickname “Grammy High” because of the number of graduates who have won Grammy Awards. We could only think of two—Norah Jones and Erykah Badu—among the many. Founded in 1892 in a different location, it was known as the “Dallas Colored High School” because it was the only high school in the city that allowed African American students. It has now become one of the preeminent schools in the country for the study of the performing arts.
And so to Gwen Dixie, a proud member of the Dallas Arts District Alliance, many thanks from the ARLIS strollers for your informative glimpse of what can be truly called an urban cultural miracle!
Edward Lukasek
Museum of Fine Arts Houston