San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts says that beginning January 2, admission will be free to all gallery visitors.
SAMFA’s new Executive Director, Seth Hopkins, says he is pleased the board has taken this action, noting, “SAMFA’s tagline is ‘Art is for everyone.’ I think being free and open to the public is an important way to live up to that motto.”
The San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts will continue to offer a membership program that will allow visitors an enhanced museum-going experience. Membership benefits include invitations to panel discussions, discounts on Clay Studio classes and workshops, and discounts on tickets to Chamber Music Series concerts.
All visitors are encouraged to take full advantage of free museum admission to enjoy world-class rotating art exhibits, as well as attend other free events at SAMFA such as a monthly Family Day.
SAMFA Hosts First Sculpture of the Concho Legacy Trail
The first sculpted piece of local history to be included in the Concho River Legacy Trail arrived in town earlier this December.
‘Back from the Brink’ is a slightly larger-than-life-size bronze sculpture depicting Mary Ann Goodnight bottle-feeding orphan buffalo calves. This beautiful work of art will be on view at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts for the next month. This sculpture is the first of many that will eventually make up the Legacy Trail collection in Santa Fe Park in downtown San Angelo.
Mrs. Goodnight was the wife of famed rancher Charles Goodnight, namesake of the Goodnight Loving Trail. She is one of a small number of people responsible for preventing the extinction of the southern buffalo bison herd. The sculpture is owned by the Concho River Legacy Trail, but is on loan to SAMFA through January 21, 2026, when it will move to McNease Convention Center for a gala unveiling on January 22, 2026.
Tim Newton, Curator of the Trail, said it is very exciting to now have the first piece of the puzzle here in San Angelo. “We were delighted to be able to acquire this piece of historic art as the beginning of the Trail collection. The superb quality of this sculpture sets the tone and demonstrates high degree of artistic expression that will permeate the Trail Collection. The majority of the sculpture destined to be on the Trail will be commissioned specifically for the trial, but we were lucky to find this first piece already in existence and secure it as an anchor piece for the collection.”
-From San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts Communications
