I attended an opening last week of an exhibit of Carmen Willey's work at the Fort Bend Museum. I really enjoyed it. I had never been to the Museum and had never seen Mrs. Willey's work. As you can see from the info in the first image below, she's 92 years old and a long-time resident of the Richmond-Rosenberg area. She still draws and paints. Her work is terrific IMHO - especially her watercolors. In fact, she gave me the two drawings you see below. The first is a pencil sketch of Sugar Land sometime in the 1970s (I think). The second item is a pen-and-ink drawing made from the pencil sketch. I will frame them and hang them in my office. Many thanks to Mrs. Willey for the gifts.
I've provided a link to the Museum's Web site. If you're close to Richmond and want to soak up some local history, visit the Museum which is very near the Court House.
Mrs. Willey has had an interest in local history for many years. In 1964 she was part of a three-person team that filmed local historical sites within Fort Bend County. The film's title is "The Old 300 Trail." It's a little over 16 minutes long and has a narration. Here's a newspaper article covering Mrs. Willey's life & involvement in the film.
The Museum is selling copies for $5.00. If you're interested and want more info, call the "Exhibits & Programs" phone number: (281) 342-6478. I hope the Museum won't mind, but I've posted a very short clip to pique your interest. I chose a short segment showing the Nibbs-Fields home on the Schumann property west of Sugar Land. Some of you may recall the old red-brick building. Like many things, it's now just a memory.
Link to Fort Bend Museum
