Arts Alive San Antonio

By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor

Back in June 2020, when Paula Owen called her colleague Taylor Eighmy, she just wanted to confer with him about potential partnerships that they could develop over time. Their respective organizations had already benefitted from mutual collaborations in the past, so it seemed like the natural thing to do. Owen is the long-time president of the Southwest School of Art, and Eihmy is the president of UTSA, the University of Texas at San Antonio.

“It was right after we were all shut down because of the pandemic, so what I was doing was exploring what our future might look like,” explained Owen. “We were all concerned at that time about our future and asking ourselves how do we build something positive out of the situation.”

As it turned out, that was a fateful conversation, that started an important chain of events. Now, more than a year later, the two institutions have just announced that they are merging their art programs into a new and expanded art school to be located on the SSA downtown campus and run by the university. It will be part of UTSA’s College of Liberal and Fine Arts.

Though SSA started life as the Southwest Craft Center in 1965, (which moved to the present location in 1971), it has been transformed under Owen’s leadership into a comprehensive art school, which today has up-to-date art studios for different art disciplines, an outstanding exhibition program, community classes for all ages and, since 2014, a college degree program as well. The latter was accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. There are 42 students currently enrolled, said Owen, and they will continue their studies through the end of the 2021-22 academic year. Thirty-six people have already graduated with BFA degrees. Younger students, who will not graduate in the spring of 2022, will need to formally transfer to UTSA. The school also employs eight faculty members and a number of other employees.

For many San Antonians, SSA has been the place to take art classes for personal development, everything from painting and printmaking to ceramics, photography, book arts, fiber art, jewelry making, and more. Those community classes will continue under the umbrella of the new school, says the press material, as will the popular Fiesta Art Fair, which has been the best Fiesta event in town for many art-loving citizens.

“The Southwest School has been good for downtown San Antonio for many years,” said Owen. “It’s catalyzed development in our area and it has brought people downtown from all parts of the city. It has also brought people from out-of-town by providing cultural experiences here, and hopefully, the new school will expand upon that, so what’s already been good will become better.”

All officials involved in the restructuring point out that the merger is indeed likely to benefit San Antonio by spurring both economic and cultural growth downtown, increasing community engagement and generating cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural interaction, as well as new UTSA construction in the area. And degree-pursuing students will benefit from access to a broader range of facilities and disciplines, including digital capabilities and offerings. In addition, it is hoped that the downtown location will attract new and diverse students.

The ultimate goal is “to become recognized as one of the best schools focused on arts writ large with a deep local impact and broad global reach.”

During the upcoming year, a national search will be conducted to find a leader for the new school, which will retain the SSA name but with” possible additions,” explained Owen. As for her, it must be a bitter-sweet time. After the transition is completed, she will no longer be part of the school that has been part of her life for a quarter century.

“I think it will be a good time for me to retire,” said Owen, who is an accomplished artist herself. “In the creation of a new school, you want to have fresh ideas, and sometimes people who have been in decision-making positions for a long time, may become impediments to those new approaches.”

Will she miss it all? We asked.

“Oh, yes!”