Texas: Lone Star Pride

Traveling the state as a Houston Chronicle photographer, E. Joseph Deering was amazed by the way images of the Texas flag just popped up in the most unlikely places-the sides of barns, mailboxes, airplanes, porch swings, front doors, water towers, pickup trucks, cowboy boots, even running shorts. He had never seen so many displays of state pride and state love as there are in Texas. Intrigued by this phenomenon, E. Joe, a native of Michigan and graduate of Brooks Institute of Photography, set out to capture it on film.

Deering found a flag built into the side of a hill beside U.S. 59. A Southwest airlines plane shows its state pride with a mural of the flag painted on the side. In the west Texas town of Adrian, Deering discovered the Antique Ranch BBQ Barn, which has a wall painted as the Lone Star flag. At the New Terminal Warehouse near the Houston Ship Channel, the silos are decorated with the flag. A popular finding was boots adorned with Texas pride.

The resulting photographs are funny, poignant, and intimate. Some are downright daring. The bond is strong. Texans are proud of their flag. E. Joe has a thirty-year love affair going with the state of Texas and it shows. He is a talented, intuitive observer of Texas culture. You can't resist these one hundred remarkable photographs.

Texas: Lone Star Pride will be on exhibit in the Fidelity Gallery from July 2 to October 6, 2005. The Museum at the George Bush Presidential Library hours are Monday - Saturday, 9:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. and Sundays from 12:00 until 5:00 p.m. Museum admission is $7.00 for adults, $5.00 for senior citizens 62+ and active retired military with ID, as well as groups of 20 or more with advance reservations. Children 6 and older are $2.00; TAMU and Blinn College students as well as children under 6 are free.