McNay says welcome with $6.25 million landscaping makeover that brings the San Antonio art museum out of hiding

In 2005, board chairman Tom Frost hosted a series of focus groups, asking people from all over San Antonio what they thought of the museum. It was eye-opening for Frost, who served on the board from 1971 until his death in 2018.

“The feedback that resonated with him was that the museum was hidden behind the hedges, and that gave it a feel of exclusivity,” said Don Frost, Tom Frost’s son, who is the current board president. “And that wasn’t what Dad wanted.”

Tom Frost worked with museum staff, his fellow board members and the museum’s directors — first with Bill Chiego, who retired in 2016, and then with his successor, Rich Aste — to come up with a landscape master plan that would convey a sense of welcome.

It was designed to open up the grounds, making it clear that the McNay is open to one and all.

Spots long popular with shutterbugs seeking picturesque settings — such as the fountain designed by O’Neil Ford and the Asian-inspired garden nearby — were left untouched. There also are several new selfie-friendly outdoor artworks in place across the grounds.

Work on the renovation started in September 2019 and wrapped up in August. A ribbon-cutting Sunday will celebrate its completion, followed by the first in-person family day since the start of the pandemic.

“We want the McNay to be everybody’s backyard, so then there’s this sense of belonging, and I do believe that the landscape master plan does that,” said Don Frost, who led the fundraising campaign for the project. “It definitely enhances the McNay’s outdoor experience.”

It also aligns with the drive to make the museum’s exhibitions and collections more inclusive, he said.

“What the McNay is doing is being San Antonio’s place of belonging,” he said. “I’m so happy about Rich Aste’s ability to move fast on that, and he’s doing it beyond the landscape. He’s done it in our exhibits, he’s done it in our art acquisitions.”

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Back to the beginning

The McNay has a long history. It once was the home of Marion Koogler McNay, an artist and collector. She and her husband built the Spanish-Mediterranean-style villa in 1927 on what was then a goat farm. McNay, who died in 1950, left the house and the grounds to the city of San Antonio to establish a museum. Her desire was realized in 1954, when the McNay opened as the first modern art museum in the state.

“In a way, we’re going back to Mrs. McNay’s origins,” Aste said. “When she moved here, it was very open at the time. The hedges and the stone gates came in later as the city grew around us. But when she invested in this property with her third husband, we were in the country.

“In subsequent decades, they created the hedges and stone gates to foster a sense of oasis and peace, and that was very successful. In later years, from the outside, it wasn’t clear that we were an all-embracing, all-inclusive arts organization waiting for you on the inside.”

The wrought iron fencing is no more. It has been replaced by “invisible” fencing, vertical stainless steel posts embedded in a concrete beam all around the campus. Passers-by can see through the posts, getting a look at an inviting, 25-acre expanse laced with ADA-accessible pathways, native plants and works of art.

They also can see the museum from the street. It had been hidden behind hedges before, visible only gradually as visitors made their way through the grounds. That was intentional, said John Gutzler, principal with Ford Powell Carson, the architecture firm that worked on the project.

“Architecturally, back in the day, they wanted to create a sense of mystery,” he said. “So as you started out, you got a glimpse of the building. We’re a little more impatient today.”

The hedges are gone now, and the remaining greenery has gotten a 21st century upgrade. A total of 142 new trees and 7,892 shrubs were planted. The sustainable, drought-resistant plants include bald cypress trees, yucca, Mexican feather grass and sage, courtesy of Austin urban landscape architect dwg.

A beautification fund was established to make sure the plants are well-tended.

The winter storm in February did some damage. The grounds crew took every preventive measure they could in advance, including covering some plants. When everything thawed out, the death toll was about 10 percent, said Luis Barthel, head of operations for the museum.

It could have been much worse, he noted.

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“We did really well in surviving that and not having to start from scratch,” Barthel said. “That’s the thoughtfulness behind using native plants and making sure that everything we’re doing is sustainable.”

Art out in the open

The grounds are dotted with sculptures, some of which now are visible from the sidewalk and the street. That includes “Ascent,” a monumental abstract sculpture by Alexander Liberman. It has a prominent spot in the Mays Family Park, the newest section of the grounds.

The Liberman stands on a spot that once was a small tract of land located across a turning lane off of Austin Highway.

“By taking the big Liberman, a major, big sculpture, out on the corner, it becomes a fulcrum for that intersection,” Gutzler said. “So it does exactly what we want people to do at a museum — when you embrace a sculpture, you look at it from multiple angles. Instead of getting out of your car, you can actually stay in your car, different times of the day, at night, and see it from different angles.”

The museum purchased the parcel that became the Mays Family Park in 2004, and after that, the board began discussions about whether it should be left alone or incorporated into the campus. That led Tom Frost to start meeting with focus groups, laying the foundation for the makeover of the grounds.

“It took our campus from 23 acres to 25 acres,” Aste said. “And we could have stopped there, but at that point, the leadership said, ‘This is an opportunity to open up the McNay to everyone.’”

Both entrances to the museum have been widened and beautified, and the lighting and signage have been improved as well.

Safety concerns have been addressed, too.

“We wanted to separate the traffic, the vehicular traffic, from the pedestrians, because we never had that before,” Gutzler said. “We always had people walking on the little road, and it was always kind of dangerous. (With the renovations) it becomes crystal clear where the defining areas are for the cars, where they need to stop, where they need to continue.”

Thank-yous are embedded in both entries. The road leading from North New Braunfels has been named Tom Frost Way in honor of the former board chair. And the entrance off Austin Highway has been named the Russell Hill Rogers Sculpture Gateway, a nod to the Russell Hill Rogers Fund for the Arts. The longtime supporter has funded the purchase of 22 of the 29 outdoor sculptures in the McNay’s collection, Aste said.

“They single-handedly got us to become an outdoor art museum experience in 1997 when they began that relationship with us,” Aste said. “So we wanted to recognize their commitment to the McNay.”

Visitors who haven’t been to the museum in a while may notice some additions to the outdoor art collection. Four new acquisitions were installed while the grounds were being worked on: “The Sole Sitter” by Willie Cole, “Standing Tulip” by Tom Wesselmann, “Hashtag-Orange” by Alejandro Martín and “Deer” by Tony Tasset.

Two more sculptures will be added to the Mays Family Park in the next year or so, Aste said.

And the work on the grounds continues, too. The physical makeover is Phase I.

“The next chapter is activating those 17 acres on our campus that don’t have buildings on them, whether it’s more outdoor sculpture galleries or event spaces and rental opportunities, opportunities for the visual and performing arts, because we do both here at the McNay,” Aste said. “There is so much potential and opportunity. So stay tuned.”

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