McNay Art Museum opens new interactive studio

Studio debuts July 1 in museum AT&T lobby space.

SAN ANTONIO – The McNay Art Museum’s mission to share visual art with the community of San Antonio and drive innovation through today’s youth is seen through their new interactive studio which opened on Friday.

The studio design’s goal is to reflect the colorful gardens that run throughout the McNay’s 25-acre landscape in the newly opened space. The hope is that the McNay’s oasis-like environment carries inward from the outside of the museum.

McNay Art Museums' new space. (McNay Art Museum)

The DoSeum Design Studios conceived the project alongside McNay’s education, curatorial, and operations staff.

San Antonio-based artist Soomin Jung Remmler collaborated with Museum staff to create artistic elements that make up the imaginative learning space.

Remmler was born in Seoul, South Korea, and received her MFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Known for her colorfully vibrant landscape art pieces, Remmler brings nature and creative elements into the new studio space for visitors to appreciate and explore.

Remmler’s artistic elements that make up the new studio space responded to the prompt, “What does home mean to you?”

“I created the little village and a house in response to the fantastical foliage walls throughout the Studio because they remind me of the nature that exists within all of us,” said Remmler.

“The miniature houses, stars, moon, and origami airplanes symbolize home as the place where one’s heart is,” Remmler said.

The space is dedicated to fostering feelings of love, art, and nature through community engagement that drives artistic passions and goals.

McNay Art Museums' new studio space. (McNay Art Museum)

“We wanted everyone to see and feel our community-driven mission the moment they walked through the door,” said Richard Aste, McNay Director, and CEO.

San Antonio is known to be a welcoming, community-driven place, and the studio deepens the art museum’s commitment to serving the South Texas community through art and culture initiatives.

Through this new addition to the museum, visitors will have the opportunity to create alongside community members and engage in artistic endeavors in revolutionary ways.

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About the Author:

Emily Ramirez is a Digital Producer trainee for KSAT 12. She has written and photographed for several magazines and newspapers, including San Antonio Magazine, Austin Monthly and the San Antonio Current. A proud San Antonio native and graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, she is now completing her M.A. at UTSA.