by Shelly Kneupper Tucker on February 9, 2010
The tiny town of Tioga, Texas squats on Highway 377 in Grayson County one town north of Pilot Point, where I showed you the bare nekkid ladies on the mural. Tioga was established back in 1881 and was famed for its mineral water. Today, it seems like it is holding its breath and waiting for better days.
Gene Autry
The claim to fame for the town is that it is the birthplace of Gene Autry, who was born here on September 29, 1907. Do you remember him? He was touted as “America’s Favorite Singing Cowboy.” According to his
official website, “he is the only entertainer to have five stars on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, one each for radio, records, film, television and live theatrical performance (including rodeo).” I suppose
that’s true, but Tioga’s claim as his birthplace probably
isn’t. When the good folks of Tioga thought to capitalize on their fame and re-name the town Autry Springs, the doctor who delivered him claimed that Gene Autry was not born there, but six miles away (in a different county).
Details, details!
For several years, Tioga tried to host The Gene Autry Music Festival. It never really caught fire. Bless their hearts, the Tioga Museum and Heritage Association couldn’t afford to keep it up. If you drive through the town, you will see why. The recession seems to have hit this town hard, and almost everything is for sale.
Waiting for an owner
An entire strip of shops is for sale, so if you ever wanted to buy a whole doggone town this might be your chance.
It might need some renovation.
I didn't say it was beautiful.
I’d love to show you some interesting pictures of the town, but on a rainy drizzly day it didn’t seem worth the effort to look for anything else of interest. I’m sure the people who live in Tioga love it, but I figure it has one saving grace: it’s about 70 miles from Dallas.
You can look at that either way, can’t you? If you like small towns, you can heave a sigh of relief that you are that far from Dallas, and if you need the night life, you can rest assured that it’s not far away.
Do you want to buy a town? What in Thunder would you do with it?
by Shelly Kneupper Tucker on February 8, 2010
Pilot Point is a tiny town in Grayson County, Texas on Highway 377, which is my neck of the woods. In 2003, a local business commissioned a mural for the side of his business that caused a pretty big stink across the country.
Neigh. Not this one.
Not that one, of course. Nobody in this town would object to a picture of a horsie. This place is smack dab in the middle of an area dubbed “Horse Country,” and the highways and county roads are lined with miniature ranches. Horses are big business here.
A horse is an OK subject for art for the people in this town, but a “bare, nekkid lady” is not OK. This, y’all, is the Bible Belt.
There is an art gallery in the old Farmer’s and Merchant’s Bank that has been owned by a man named Wes Miller for the last 35 years. I’ve always enjoyed stopping there to shop, for he has that old bank building filled with the most marvelous antiques as well as artworks by local artists. It’s always a treat to visit.
Banking on art
Miller commissioned local artist Justine Wollaston to paint this picture (click the photo for a larger view).
Eve, but obviously Pilot Point is NOT Eden
The work features an enormous hand pointing at an apple, and a classic female nude on the other side eying the same apple. Ms. Wollaston claimed the mural depicted her interpretation of “the Biblical narrative of Eve at the moment she made the choice to partake of the forbidden fruit.”
Boy Howdy! That created quite a stir. Didn’t anybody read the Bible? Eve didn’t have clothes — did she? Oh wait, I remember. Eve had a fig leaf or two. Quicker than a duck jumps on a June Bug the local police served Miller with notice that this mural violated a Texas law that makes it a criminal act to display “harmful material” to minors. Under that law, “harmful material” is
“material whose dominant theme taken as a whole
(A) appeals to the prurient interest of a minor, in sex, nudity, or excretion;
(B) is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable for minors; and
(C) is utterly without redeeming social value for minors.”
Miller was faced with taking down the mural or going to jail. He compromised by putting crime scene tape over the offending nipples. When my husband and I went to see it back then, the crime scene tape had been replaced by plastic flowers. The city sued Miller, Miller sued back, The ACLU got involved — it was small town drama at its best and it made national news.
I never heard the outcome of it all, but Eve presides in all her glory now. In fact, Miller commissioned another nude painting by the same artist for a building under it in 2005. It depicts Lady Liberty lying naked on an American flag, with a banner partially draped across her chest. It was clearly an act of defiance, but it made a muddled mess out of the artwork (again, click for a larger view).
Show me one, or show me the other, but don't jumble it.
I like both of them, but I think it’s a crime crying shame that they are on same side of the building. What do you think? Is this artwork criminal?
