The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

The Stark Museum of Art has 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. Artist Tom Windham’s painting, “Trophy Room,” is a beautiful 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, TX, 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.

Along with the new acquisition, visitors to the museum can also see the Guinness World Record Largest Published Book in the World “I Am Texas,” “A Noble Pastime: Hunting Pictures from the Collection of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation,” “Steuben Glass: Stories Engraved in Crystal,” selections of American Western art from the SMA collection and the new “Welcome to Color: Stark Cultural Venues Coloring Book,” as well as pick up coloring sheets to work on at home.

The Stark Museum of Art is located at 712 Green Avenue in Orange, Texas 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.