Patricia Simonite has a passion for buildings of a bygone era – from funky motels that used to straddle San Antonio’s Austin Highway to movie theaters that were once part of downtown. For Simonite, who is originally from Norfolk, England, vintage structures represent something particularly American.

 “I have always had this interest in places that had a feeling of the past,” said Simonite, associate professor of art and art history and a photographer for more than 35 years.

Now photographs that display her fondness for an earlier time are on display at a local museum.

The solo exhibit, titled “Alameda Ayer (Alameda Yesterday),” will run until Jan. 6, 2008, at the McNay Art Museum, located at 6000 N. New Braunfels Ave. 

“Alameda Ayer” presents more than two dozen black and white photographs of the Alameda Theater, one of the last great Art Deco movie houses built in the United States.  Simonite captured the images in 1980, in the waning days of the Alameda’s life as a movie theater.  The images were taken using a 4”x5” view camera. 

Of the many things that make “Alameda Ayer” such an intriguing exhibit is how Simonite juxtaposed the elegant architectural and decorative details of the theater with lobby signs, movie posters, and concession snacks.

By the time Simonite photographed the theater, the Alameda was showing mostly Grade B Mexican movies.  Simonite recalled that some of the coming attraction posters had little signs saying “solo para adultos” covering up the anatomy of topless women.  “One of the movies was titled Tarjeta Verde, which means green card,” said Simonite, laughing.  “That was amusing because I had a green card.  I’m an immigrant, too.”

Concessions by Trish Simonite	Tarjeta Verde by Trish Simonite

Simonite will share more about her photograph exhibition during an artist talk scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 15, at the McNay Art Museum.

Recent Exhibitions

• "Re-Bloom:  Dialogues in Exhuberance," a group exhibition curated by Allison Hays Lane at Victoria Price Contemporary in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which ran from March 24 through May 4, 2007.  
• "Visual Directions:  Texas," a group exhibition at Craighead-Green Gallery, Dallas, Texas, July 27 through September 1, 2007.
• "Last Great Places in Texas:  Photographs from the Nature Conservancy’s Texas Preserves," a traveling group exhibition at Wililam Campbell Contemporary, Fort Worth, Texas, May 12 through  June 23, 2007.  The exhibition has also been shown at the Blue Star Contemporary Art Space here in San Antonio and at the South Texas College Library Art Gallery in McAllen, Texas.  

© 2007 Trinity University