Friday, March 6, 2009

The Bath House Cultural Center provides local artists and the public a creative environment with a multi-cultural flair

By Laura Seewoester

Photo by Laura Seewoester

The Bath House Cultural Center on White Rock Lake in Dallas.

The Bath House Cultural Center is a gallery and performing arts venue with a rich history and a thoughtful mission. With its Art Deco architecture and sitting right on Dallas' beloved White Rock Lake, the Bath House Cultural Center carries a lot of character and even a little local folklore (enter Lady of the Lake) that make the venue a true local treasure.

The bath house opened in the 1930's as (surprisingly) an actual bath house and community center. Families could come to the Bath House to picnic or swim in the lake, and the building provided showers and locker rooms for the patrons. The bath house was closed in the mid-50's when they discovered that a possible cause for the polio epidemic was large bodies of water. The building remained empty until the early 1970's when a group of neighborhood art advocates began pushing to turn the building into a cultural center. At the time, Dallas did not have any public art facilities but after years of convincing and finally renovation, the Bath House Cultural Center opened in 1981 as the first public art facility in Dallas. After opening, the Bath House Cultural Center quickly built their reputation as a fine art and high quality performance venue.

Each manager that has run the Bath House Cultural Center has brought their own vision to the venue that has made the center what it is today. In the 1980's, Teri Aguilar helped incorporate Latino roots and traditions to the center with annual events such as the El Corazon and Day of the Dead shows (which still run every year). As the center helped establish unrecognized Latino artists, the public became more interested in and began to embrace Latino traditions. People have embraced these traditions so much that in the 2008 Day of the Dead exhibit, at least 80% of the participating artists were not Latino.

Today, the Bath House Cultural Center puts their focus on the quality of work when choosing their yearly calendar.

“Quality is our top priority,” says Enrique Fernandez Cervantes, Visual Arts Coordinator and Curator for the Bath House Cultural Center. “We are very careful and make it our goal also to work with local artists.”

Photo by Laura Seewoester

The main gallery space. The center also has a smaller gallery and hangs work in the hallway leading to the smaller room.

In the past, an artist from Dallas had a hard time finding a venue to display their work (luckily this has changed quite a bit, no doubt at least in part due to the efforts of the Bath House Cultural Center). The center has made it their mission to work with local artists at different phases in their career while maintaining a high standard in the quality of the work they display.

“It's not that we are being forced to work with local artists,” says Fernandez. “It's our genuine desire to work with them because we see their work and we see the need for the public to look at the art that is worth being hung in a museum but many times is being overlooked.”

While 90% of the artists they work with are from DFW, once in a while the center does bring in artists from outside of the state and the country.

“That way people get to see what people in other countries are producing and it gives them a more global perspective in what's going on in the arts beyond Dallas,” Fernandez says.

As an organization funded by taxpayers, the benefit has also proven to be a challenge for the center. With the current state of the economy, while many private galleries are having to shut their doors the Bath House Cultural Center still has the Office of Cultural Affairs and the city resources to continue providing them with support and assistance. On the flip side, when the city has to go through and make budget cuts the arts usually take a hit first.

Photo by Laura Seewoester

The basement of the Bath House Cultural Center still bears a reminder of the building's past.

“The people who best understand the cultural center are in our department,” Fernandez said. “The problem with getting most of our funding from the municipality is that in the majority of cases if there is a financial situation that requires budget cuts our budget is usually the first one to be reduced. That's not always the case but that seems to be a tendency not only in Dallas but throughout the nation. I think it's always a challenge to make the rest of the city aware of what we do and why we do it and what the benefit to the citizens is to have arts and culture featured in a venue like ours.”

Despite any budget cuts, the Bath House Cultural Center is still looking forward to future improvements. They are considering renovating the basement of the building into a gallery, which would double the gallery space. The Bath House Cultural Center gets over 80 proposals from artists a year and they are only able to run eight to ten exhibits annually. The basement is not, however, in any shape at the moment to immediately hang an exhibit. There are flooding and structural issues that need to be resolved (and paid for) before the walls are ready for fine art. The Bath House Cultural Center is also brainstorming ways to better connect their facility with the natural landscape on which it sits. Some of the things they are considering are creating an outdoor performance area and/or a sculpture park.

The Bath House Cultural Center's annual exhibit El Corazon is running through the end of the weekend. Three exhibits, Art of the Everyday, Natura Fragilis and Through Her Lens will be opening March 14 and running through mid-April.

See more stories in:

• Arts > Fine Arts > Art and Sculpture
• Local History

Comments

Russ Vandeveerdonk Verified

I have old home movies of my family and I, at the White Rock Bath House from 1964. Time sure does fly, great informative article. I also have old home movies from another "bath house", but we won't go there! ;)

8 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Chris Kidd Verified

I love the building, plain and simple. Its an excellent example of art deco and has true timeless beauty..

Russ, Id keep those other "Bath House Movie" out of the spotlight, the vice squad may pay you a visit....;)

8 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Russ Vandeveerdonk Verified

Chrisdanger, I agree!!

8 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Travis Bush Verified

Great place and they always have the local crafts sale during XMAS time.

8 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )