Stark Museum of Art to preview bass art for Bassmaster Series

Published 12:04 am Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Stark Museum of Art installed a new acquisition just in time for the influx of professional anglers and fishing fans to the area for the Bassmaster Elite Tournament on the Sabine River, the highest level of professional bass fishing tournament.

The fun is planned June 1-4 at Orange Boat Ramp and includes a free concert weekend.

The fun includes food booths, daily weigh-ins, kid zone and kids fish tank.

Artist Tom Windham’s painting, “Trophy Room,” is a depiction of a largemouth bass, with a twist.

Windham transposed the concept of a “trophy room.” In this painting, the largemouth bass is not a taxidermied mount. This wily fish has avoided the hooks of countless anglers. It collected a wide array of colorful lures and now exhibits them as trophies in its underwater home.

“We at the Stark Museum of Art are delighted to add this work of art to the collection,” said SMA Curator Sarah Boehme. “The subject will have relevance to many anglers and hunters in our audience who have pursued elusive quarry, and the painting brings a little humor into our galleries. We invite those attending the Bassmaster Elite Series, as well as the public, to come enjoy our air conditioning and view “Trophy Room.”

Windham, a native of Orange, studied art at Lamar University and Stephen F. Austin University and then worked as a staff artist at “American Angler” magazine.

Later he devoted himself to his fine art career.

The painting was a gift to the Museum from the artist’s family. It is on view in Gallery 3, which features other works by 20th and 21st century American Western artists.

The Stark Museum of Art is located at 712 Green Avenue in Orange and is open to the public Wednesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. For more information about the museum or “I Am Texas,” visit starkmuseum.org or call 409-886-2787.