paying tribute
The South Austin Popular Culture Center honors Austin artists with a memorialwall
Dec 3, 2011 | 12:15 pm
The South Austin Popular Culture Center's tribute to artists and musicians thathave passed away.Photo by Chandler Wieberg
Stevie Ray VahnPhoto by Chandler Wieberg
Alex NapierPhoto by Chandler Wieberg
Photo by Chandler Wieberg
Bill Narum
Austin is known for being a mecca for musicians, artists, writers and other creatives. Our very soul and culture tends to nurture them. So it's no wonder that we have such a rich variety of creative people, in one form or another, who have contributed so much to our city.
The South Austin Popular Culture Center (SAMPOC) is paying tribute to those artists who have passed away, and honor their contributions. At the center, which documents and exhibits Austin art and culture from the past 50 years, there is now a fascinating In Memory wall, open to the public.
The wall is filled with photographs that span the entire length of the property, showcasing the artists, writers and performers, philanthropists and others who have been important to Austin’s culture. Their influence is felt every day and this event serves to acknowledge and pay tribute to them. It's a long, colorful wall filled with dried flowers, jars, rocks and other odds and ends, in a found-objects hodgepodge that is true South Austin style. There is no charge, but altar offerings are welcome.
A couple of the artists honored are:
Bill Narum
An Austin native, Narum was at the forefront of nearly every advancement in the arts since he was born in the Texas state capital to two UT students who became professional artists. He began his professional career with sleek pen-and-inks of Houston’s sixties counterculture, where his album covers, poster art, T-shirts and political cartooning became synonymous with it’s counter culture movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Narum's most recognizable work might be the artwork he created for musicians such as Stevie Ray Vaughan and ZZ Top. Narum returned to Austin in the 70s and created art for various music venues including Armadillo World Headquarters. Hank Alrich of the Armadillo said of Narum, "Besides sharing a deep appreciation of art, in the business world of graphics, he was ally. I could go to Bill and explain what I needed, might be vague or specific. In either case, he’d come back with something graceful and effective."
In the mid-80s Narum began working with computer graphics, multimedia and then Internet related projects. He was a president of SAMPOC, and director Leea Mechling said, "Bill Narum’s work is an excellent example of groundbreaking counterculture artwork from the Sixties to present day. He’s a major contributor to the cultural dynamics of not only Austin, but Texas, the United States, and the world."
Bill Narum died on November 18, 2009.
Alex Napier
Napier was the bassist for the Cobras with Stevie Ray Vaughan, and played in the bands of both Charlie and Will Sexton. Originally from Dallas, Napier made his way to Austin where he helped establish the capitol city as a blues town in the Cosmic Cowboy era, along with both Vaughan brothers, Paul Ray and Doyle Bramhall. Napier opened a club in Westlake that eventually became the Soap Creek Saloon and was a founding member of the Leroi Brothers.
He had so much to do with putting Austin on the blues map, that the floral display at his funeral simply read, "Alex - Mr. Blue."
“He had more stories than any book will every be able to write about the early Texas blues days in the 60’s- 2000’s,” said Steve Dean, who often booked Napier’s bands at the old AusTex Lounge.
Alex Napier died February 3, 2011 after a bout with liver cancer.
SAMPOC programs trace the evolution and the social context of Austin’s cultural production from the early 1960s through the present and interpret the local, state and national impact of the artists, art forms and recurrent themes that have profoundly shaped the city’s self-conception over the past 50 years.
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The South Austin Popular Culture Center is open Thursdays through Sundays from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and, as the website states, "by appointment or chance."
