Dream Come True
by Russ Cushman
It was certainly the biggest thing in my career. An artist's dream come true. A monster job, ultimately 140 feet of murals at the prestigious Star of the Republic Museum at Washington on the Brazos. And now slated for obliteration; strangely, another dream, now about to come true.
Several years ago I woke up with something like a night terror... once in a blue moon God puts a prophetic dream in my sub-conscious mind. I dreamed that they were painting over my murals at the museum... covering the walls with forest green. Off with the old, on with the thoughtless, artless dozer of progress. It was horrible.
“That was a BAD DREAM!” I thought to myself. But surely, they would never do THAT. Pardon me for saying, but my mural was not just large in the museum, it was large in my mind; my contribution to Texas History. Something to inspire the generations. Something which took three people and eight months to complete... and too wonderful and beautiful for any intelligent people to ever destroy.
But alas, that nightmare was also a “dream come true,” as future renovations are completed. If you loved it, you better go get one last look at it. The museum will go through a renovation, and the murals will be obliterated. What will go up to replace them? I do not know. But they will never find an artist to put on those walls what they have enjoyed for the past twenty years. If they did, it would cost the State of Texas over $100,000. And, it may not be as accurate or as comprehensive, or as well done. My guess is they plan some hi-tech digital screens to dazzle Texas school children, who do not have enough hi-tech screens already in their lives. I say, they do not have enough ART in their lives. Can you imagine the outcry when the Catholic Church does the same thing in the Sistine Chapel?
But that is the way of our culture these days... nothing is sacred; they are removing statues and markers left and right. The younger generations apparently want to interpret our history to their tastes and preferences. But I say it is symptomatic of a sick culture... one that has already witnessed so much destruction of our heritage... in the name of tolerance and inclusion! And one that has had to fight to save the ALAMO for God's sake. If Texas, and Texans no longer want the mural, well, it is their right. But I truly believe that whomever is making these decisions, like George P. Bush, will rue the day they messed with Texas, and took our heritage and our art so flippantly. And the loss will be on their short-sighted heads. But that's just me.
Whatever the case, I believe that it might take the destruction of these monuments to wake up the rest of us, to understand the intellectual and spiritual war we are in... and perhaps are in denial of. As the Huns move in and tear down much of what we love, and understand, and perhaps things we have taken for granted, until Texas is not Texas anymore.
Note: It cannot be removed. Painted directly on the gypsum walls... Removal of the pieces would be cost prohibitive, not to mention, who has a 10 x 100 ft. wall to offer to give it a home?
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