Those of us who grew up in Dallas remember the career of Frank X. Tolbert, who wrote the "Tolbert's Texas" column for The Dallas Morning News that lingered as a well-read staple from the 1950s until his death in 1984. Tolbert, highly regarded as a Texas historian, may have been equally well known for his chili credentials.He wrote a history of chili con carne titled A Bowl of Red and for years ran a chili restaurant in downtown Dallas. His daughter, Kathleen Tolbert Ryan, still operates a Tolbert's chili restaurant on Main Street in Grapevine. In 1967, her father co-founded, with Wick Fowler, the World Chili Championship held annually in the Big Bend-area town of Terlingua. The championship still endures and is now managed by Kathleen and her husband.Tolbert also sired an artist, Frank X. Tolbert 2, 71, whose new exhibition, "The Texas Bird Project," is about to open at William Campbell Contemporary Art in Fort Worth. Its opening reception will be from noon to 9 p.m. on March 25, when the artist himself promises to be present during the evening hours. The show itself will run through April 29.The younger Tolbert's art career spans more than five decades."My pieces have more of an element of emotional content rather than realism," says the man who likes to call himself Tolbert Squared. "It's somewhat about the subject matter and my surroundings, but it's an emotional experience," as is eating a bowl of red, you might say. Tolbert has painted birds throughout his career, but his focus on them accelerated in 2014, when he was commissioned to create a "suite" of eight etchings by Flatbed Press, an Austin-based collective whose artists include, among many others, John Alexander. Continue reading...
Frank X. Tolbert “Squared” Knows How to Brew Up a Bowl of Red and Paint Pretty Pictures of Texas Birds
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