Cisco Tucker Kolkmeier – Shines the Spotlight on Rosenberg’s Thriving Art Scene

Cisco Tucker Kolkmeier with her acrylic on canvas paintings The Judge and Eli.

Cisco Tucker Kolkmeier with her acrylic on canvas paintings The Judge and Eli.

COVER STORY | By Sarah Bearden –

Tucked away in the heart of Fort Bend County, Rosenberg is quickly becoming a center of arts activities for the county and beyond. In 2013, the Texas Commission on the Arts named Historic Downtown Rosenberg a Texas State Cultural Arts District.

Then on October 20, 2015, First Lady of Texas Cecilia Abbott visited Rosenberg for the Texas Historical Commission Texas Main Street Program’s 2015 First Lady’s Tour to officially designate Rosenberg as a Texas Main Street City by the Texas Historical Commission. The event was held in Third Street Park, which features a mural on the park wall by Rosenberg resident and artist Cisco Tucker Kolkmeier.

Artist Marquita Priest showed her painting Texas Pride at the Spring Arts Festival.

Artist Marquita Priest showed her painting Texas Pride at the Spring Arts Festival.

As part of the Cultural Arts District initiative, several venues in the area – including BR Vino, Vogelsang Heritage Hall and Third Street Antique Emporium – have offered designated gallery spaces for artist exhibits. Rosenberg Main Street Program’s Spring Arts Festival took place May 14th and 15th in Historic Downtown Rosenberg and featured three receptions in The Vogelsang Building, a photo exhibit at Another Time Soda Fountain, a live concert by the Rosenberg Symphonic Band and more.

The Main Street Program’s involvement is more of a “helping role,” explained Rosenberg Main Street Manager Dan Kelleher. “When there’s an art reception, Main Street provides live music, as well as funding for advertising and promoting the event. The real thing that makes the Rosenberg area a bona fide arts district are the artists.” According to Kelleher, the Main Street Program has also assisted by providing funds for hanging fixtures for some of the galleries.

In addition to promoting events and providing venues for artists to display their work, an essential piece of the puzzle is attracting visitors, but that is not easy. Kicking off the process takes an artist of high caliber – someone like Kolkmeier.

An Artist Through and Through

Kolkmeier grew up on a ranch in Beasley, Texas, where she rode Appaloosa horses, raised calves and took care of goats, geese, chickens and roosters. From a young age, she was interested in art. “I knew in the first grade that I wanted to be an artist,” said Kolkmeier. “I remember someone telling me that I was very good at art. I heard that, and I never forgot it.”

Kolkmeier’s ceramic goblets feature an array of colors and unique designs.

Kolkmeier’s ceramic goblets feature an array of colors and unique designs.

Kolkmeier’s art almost always centers on one theme to which everyone can relate: humanity. “I love being a human and painting about it. It makes me always be thinking and watching people daily.” Just as Kolkmeier is a thinker, she wants her art to provoke thought among viewers. “If someone can ignore my art, I absolutely did not do my job. If someone stops and has to look twice at it and go, ‘Hmm,’ then I absolutely did my job.”

Kolkmeier’s series are extensive and have been shown – and sold – in Houston, New York and Miami. She has been creating art in a gallery capacity since 1995 and has a permanent display at the Koelsch Haus in Houston, formerly known as the Koelsch Gallery, as well as pottery at Cattails, a store and art gallery in Matagorda, Texas.

Like many artists, Kolkmeier’s creativity manifests itself in many forms. She has a purple barn with dark purple trim “just because. I have the intention of painting designs on it, but I haven’t found the time to be able to do that yet.” She drives an art car that also happens to be purple and has participated in Houston’s famous Art Car Parade twice. “When I back out of the driveway, people stare.”

Diverse Expressions

Kolkmeier’s vast variety of art includes Kelly and La Shaniqua acrylic on canvas paintings from her Butterfly Girls series and beautiful ceramic platters.

Kolkmeier’s vast variety of art includes Kelly and La Shaniqua acrylic on canvas paintings from her Butterfly Girls series and beautiful ceramic platters.

Kolkmeier’s art forms range from traditional media such as paintings and drawings to ceramic bowls, platters, mugs, goblets and even paper and sculptures. Woven through all of them, however, is the theme of humanity.

Though she uses a variety of media, Kolkmeier’s favorite is drawing. “My drawings are intricately done, and they are bizarre and very Ciscoesque. I will do figurative work in my drawings, like my bald-headed, non-genital people and my hairy underarm people. All of my styles come forth in my drawings. I think that’s why I like them best, because I utilize every one of my styles in my drawings.”

Her series include her One-Eyed Weirdoes, Butterfly Girls, Painted Horses and 80s One-Hit Wonders, a collection of visual riddles leading the viewer to guess the titles of popular 1980s songs. On another, Kolkmeier said, “There is a whole series of me in a pink dress judging myself. I didn’t feel it was right to poke the finger at someone else, so I pointed it at myself.”

Kolkmeier and her husband, Stephen, have a Queensland Red Healer, Emmett Sprout, who is also a source of inspiration for her paintings. “My dog is the center of my life, because I don’t have children. I watch my dog and see him interact with humanity, and I study that aspect of life and paint about it. He’s very brilliant, and basically all of Downtown Rosenberg knows my dog before they know me. He goes everywhere with me.”

Giving Back

In addition to her work as an artist, Kolkmeier volunteers at Lamar High School with the Butterfly Project, a non-profit mentoring program for teenage girls. “The program enables girls to come into their own and learn about being the best women they can be,” Kolkmeier said. Her Butterfly Girls series features images of girls who emulate those she mentors through the Butterfly Project.   

A member of St. John’s United Church of Christ, Kolkmeier directs a church camp each summer in New Braunfels and has been doing this with her church for 24 years. Before camp each year, she creates approximately 120 ceramic necklaces to hand out to the children and staff. It all started when she was taking a ceramic class at the Glassell School. “While I was in there, my brother was leaving to go to the first Gulf War. I made some crosses and scratched in with my tools, ‘Bring Budzy home, Lord.’” Now, the necklaces she hands out have phrases on the back such as “forgiveness,” “without judgment” and “joy” as a message to the receiver to be the best person one can be. “If I have a favorite thing in life, it’s random acts of kindness.”

Rosenberg’s Artistic Direction

Charlie and Kristin Weiss with Patti and Tim Kaminski at Charlie’s exhibit at the Vogelsang Heritage Hall.

Charlie and Kristin Weiss with Patti and Tim Kaminski at Charlie’s exhibit at the Vogelsang Heritage Hall.

Currently, Kolkmeier is the art hanger at BR Vino, Historic Downtown Rosenberg’s wine room housed in The Vogelsang Building. Her retrospective exhibit at BR Vino kicked off in April and plans are for the exhibit to hang until mid summer. Bob Vogelsang, owner of The Vogelsang Building, said, “Cisco’s art is extremely unusual, and each piece has a meaning. She did quite well at our reception. I think it’s the perfect thing for BR Vino and this community to experience something different. It’s all coming together. I feel really good about it.”

As the art hanger, Kolkmeier will hang a new show this summer, exposing the community to another local artist. Each quarter will feature a new artist at BR Vino. The October through December slot will feature Richmond artist Charlie Weiss.

Kolkmeier’s retrospective exhibit at BR Vino featured paintings of some members of the community including Patti Parish-Kaminski and Bob Vogelsang.

Kolkmeier’s retrospective exhibit at BR Vino featured paintings of some members of the community including Patti Parish-Kaminski and Bob Vogelsang.

“I’ve always had a dream for Rosenberg to have real art and real artists. I’m hanging in Downtown Rosenberg, but it’s going to take some getting used to. It’s just not something that people do on a Friday night,” Kolkmeier said. “Many haven’t been exposed to art that much, but the way technology is moving, people have more access to everything.”

For an artist who has mastered so much, what could be next? “My next series is a combination of painting and drawing. I’ve never really mixed my painting and drawing. When my gallery owner saw my painting of Patti at BR Vino, she requested me to paint Patti on paper and draw the background.”

According to Kolkmeier, the future of Rosenberg arts is bright. “When I moved here, there was nothing. I always dreamed of there being a downtown that I could ride my bike to or walk to. Now, I have a showing in Downtown Rosenberg, and I am so happy it has happened. It’s a starting point. The gun has already been fired, the runners are already running, and we’re just going to keep on making laps.”

Visit www.ciscotheartist.com for more information about Kolkmeier.

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