Exhibits

Current Exhibit

Shermalee & Lou Mack: A Retrospective

The museum is celebrating the National Day of the American Cowboy with the opening of Capturing the Old West in Bronze, a retrospective exhibit on the sculptors, Shermalee & Lou Mack. Basically self-taught with some limited training, Shermalee created bronzes of Old West characters and vignettes that captured the dynamic history and movement of the Old West. Her husband Lou assisted with the casting of her bronzes and was soon creating his own sculptures.

Shemalee was the daughter of a pioneer aviator and grew up spending time with her father and other characters around airplane hangars and in saddle shops or stockyards near the cow and horse barns. Living in Texas, Colorado, and Arizona, she was captivated by the culture and art of the American Indians as well as stories of Old West outlaws. She met her husband, Lou, a native of South Dakota who is part Sioux Indian in Arizona. The images of her youth became the inspiration for the wax figures she carved at her kitchen table before casting them in bronze. Together, Shermalee and Lou created the Mack Cowboy collection of bronze sculptures that have been exhibited throughout Texas and the United States.

Moving to Bandera, the Macks opened the Skyline Ranch RV Park but continued to pursue their art and capturing their abiding love of the American West in the subject matter of their bronzes – the Plains Indian, the Mountaineer, the Cowboy, the Outlaw, and the Gambler. The exhibit will feature an exciting selection of their bronzes and will include rare examples of Shermalee’s early works in paper mache.

The museum would like to thank Shermalee and Lou’s children for generously lending their bronzes and for working with the museum to honor their late parents with this very special retrospective. The exhibit is open until November 4, 2024.

Curiosities

Museum founder, J. Marvin Hunter, Sr. often said that he did not collect items, they collected him. Museum guests are transported back in time when they walk through the galleries Mr. Hunter created with treasures from around the world. Explore cases that may contain Easter Eggs decorated in 1936 sitting next to a 2,000-year-old corn cob found in a West Texas rock shelter. Other treasures include a birthing chair from the Middle Ages used in an Italian palace, the first piano brought to Bandera from Paris, France by way of New Orleans, and a rather large and unexplained collection of jarred oil samples - Texas gold. Nature’s oddities abound as one finds the mascot of small Texas museums – the two-faced goat - next to the mummified remains of a squirrel found in an attic and lovingly placed in a glass box by the homeowner. The list goes on.

On your visit take a close look at the building itself, as the walls contain a collection of fossils, petrified wood, and arrowheads. One fireplace was set with a rifle and bullet mold and the other was set with the millstone from a nearby Mormon colony that settled along the Medina River in the 1850s.

Stalls of Fame:
Bandera’s Hometown Rodeo Stars

Buddy Groff

“The Roping Isn't Over Until Buddy Groff Has Roped” was a common saying among those who had the pleasure of watching – and competing – against Buddy Groff. Buddy Groff grew up near Quihi between Hondo and Bandera. In 1946 he began traveling with local rodeo great, Ray Wharton. His rodeo competitions soon led to two Reserve World Championships. Today he is a member of the Rodeo Hall of Fame.

Clay Billings

As a young man, Clay Billings participated in barrel racing, pole bending and breakaway calf roping. But his dream was to compete with the “men” in tie-down calf roping. Clay started with winning his first important title – the tie-down championship at the Medina Future Farmers of America Rodeo in 1975. A month later, he became the state high school calf-roping champion. Later that same year, he became the national champion of tie-down calf roping, joining a growing line of champions from Bandera County.

Clint Singleton

The newest rodeo champion on Bandera’s Cowboy Roll of Honor, Clint Singleton was merely at the tender age of 19 in 2000 when he was crowned Junior World Champion of Calf Roping. A star on the gridiron for Medina High School football team, Clint proves that athletic abilities serves one well both on the field and in the rodeo arena.

Ed Mansfield

W.E. (Uncle Ed) Mansfield donated the land from his ranch for Bandera’s Mansfield Park, which was the site of the first advertised rodeo in this area in 1924 Mansfield Park became the training ground for seven world, national, and state roping champions - Toots Mansfield, Ray Wharton, Buddy Groff, Scooter Fries, Clay Billings, Todd Whitewood and Jimmy Adams. It is still used today for rodeo events including the National Day of the American Cowboy Ranch Rodeo held every July. Probably no other single arena has been the training ground for as many national and world roping champions.

Ray Wharton

Known as the “Mighty Mite,” Ray Wharton became the 1956 World Calf Roping Champion. He began roping as a toddler, when he slung a loop over anything that moved on his family’s ranch. A bad fall later resulted in a crippling bone disease in his arm, but through determination, he regained the use of his arm and went on to become a roping champion.

Scooter Fries

It was the governor of Texas, Coke Stevenson, who bestowed the 1948 State High School Rodeo Championship upon Scooter Fries, a child prodigy roper. In 1950, he won another state championship, this time in steer wrestling, and he went on to win the national title. The Bandera kid won his third state championship in 1951, taking First Place in tie-down roping once again, before going on to win the National Reserve Championship.

Todd Whitewood

Todd Whitewood began his rodeo career early. It was at the age of 8 years and on a Shetland Pony called Charbodie that he began appearing at junior rodeos in and around Bandera County, and he was to be a regular competitor for many years. In 1980, he became the National Collegiate Calf-roping Champion out of Sam Houston State University. Determination and a fierce will to win contributed to his winning the title.

Toots Mansfield

Toots Mansfield was the World Champion Calf Roper, not once but seven times winning the title between 1939 and 1950. His traditional “loop of victory” encircled more buckles, saddles, trophies and personal awards and honors than did that of any other professional tie-down calf roper of our time. The culmination of a lifetime of honor came for Toots in 1981 when he was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, the highest honor that can come to a rodeo cowboy.

Stalls of Fame:
Bandera’s Hometown Rodeo Stars

Doane Western Art Gallery

The Doane Western Art Gallery houses a selection of the museum’s western art collection. The vast majority of the paintings were done by former museum owner, F. B. Doane. A passionate collector of western art and artifacts, Mr. Doane also expressed his love for the Old West through his art. The paintings of Mr. Doane are displayed along with the more contemporary artwork of his daughter, San Antonio artist, Peggy Calvert. The museum's collection also includes works by Texas artist, Warren Hunter, son of J. Marvin Hunter Sr. The paintings are hung against the museum’s natural rock wall which provides a unique gallery setting that reflects the landscape of the Texas Hill Country.

Bandera Cowboys, Oil on Canvas, ca. 1930s, by Warren Hunter

Medina Lake

100 Years

To help celebrate the centennial anniversary of Medina Lake, the museum has created a traveling exhibit that explores the lake’s colorful history. Beginning with Life Before the Lake, the exhibit explores the region of Medina River that provided sustenance and shelter for the early American Indians that camped along the river and the importance of the river to the cattle drives that brought cattle from South Texas to cattle trails leading to north. With the construction of the Medina Dam to create a lake for irrigation purposes, the newly formed lake displaced ranchers who had to adapt to the loss of their land. Many ranching families opened new lakeside businesses that catered to the tourists who flocked to the lake. The exhibit also explores how the lake impacted the farms to the south and the creation of new farming communities in the Medina River Valley.

This exhibit is composed of seven stand-up banners (3’ x 7’) and is available for loan. Please call 830-796-3864 for more information.

Exhibits

Current Exhibit

Curiosities

Stalls of Fame:Bandera’s Hometown Rodeo Stars

Stalls of Fame:Bandera’s Hometown Rodeo Stars

Doane Western Art Gallery

Medina Lake

100 Years

Stalls of Fame:
Bandera’s Hometown Rodeo Stars

Stalls of Fame:
Bandera’s Hometown Rodeo Stars