SHERMAN, TEXAS — A mural of Texas wild flowers and grasses of the four seasons, painted by Austin College alumna Julie Lobrecht Crownover, was installed at the Howard McCarley Pavilion at the Austin College Clinton and Edith Sneed Environmental Research Center, located near Hagerman Refuge, on April 11.

The artist prepared the mural off-site then installed the completed painting along the top of the pavilion wall.

“Not only is this a fantastic painting, it will have tremendous educational value for learning about the local ecosystem and its species,” said Peter Schulze, director of the Austin College Center for Environmental Studies and professor of biology and environmental science. “Most of the particular plant species are clearly identifiable on the mural.”  

Crownover, who graduated from Austin College in 1998 with a degree in biology and a double minor in art and environmental studies, lives in Garland, Texas, and has been painting in pastels for more than 20 years. She is an award winning pastelist and is a member of the Southwest Pastel Society.   

“In my own art, I use light and color to bring out beauty in everyday life, whether that is a trail I have hiked 100 times or my son hanging laundry on a line,” Crownover said. “In that way, I use my art as a reminder of where to find beauty all around us, and to slow down in our daily lives so that we may see it.” 

Austin College’s 100-acre Sneed Environmental Research Center, donated to the college by Clinton and Edith Sneed in the 1980s, serves as a site for biology and environmental studies courses and research, as well as a tall-grass prairie restoration project. Since 1996, course participants and student volunteers have worked with the members of the Environmental Studies Program and the Biology Department to restore native vegetation to the site. To date, hundreds of students have worked at the Sneed Research Area.   

Much of the work at the property has been done by participants in the January Term course “Hands-on Conservation: Restoration of a Native Prairie.” Since 2001, the Sneed Prairie project has received support from the Meadows Foundation, the Thomsen Foundation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Texas Parks and Wildlife. This support has facilitated the management work at the site and funded an environmental education program in which Austin College students lead field trips for more than 1,000 elementary schoolchildren each year at Sneed Prairie.  

A pavilion and an observation tower were built at Sneed Prairie in 2005 to support the field trips as well as faculty/student research and outdoor labs. The Howard McCarley Pavilion provides a covered area for open-air seating and tables and incorporates a hybrid solar power system as well as passive solar design. A rainwater catchment system supplies the building with water for drinking and restrooms. Much of the cost of this building was provided by the four Rotary Clubs in Grayson County, as well as The Magnolia Trust, The Meadows Foundation, The Robert and Ruby Priddy Charitable Trust, and other granting agencies.

The college is developing a landscape plan around the pavilion to enhance the educational value of the site. The pavilion honors the late Howard McCarley, Austin College professor emeritus of biology and a 1948 alumnus. He served Austin College for 30 years and was the first faculty member to use the Sneed Environmental Research Center for his courses and to work with students on restoring the native ecosystem to the site.

Austin College is a leading national independent liberal arts college located just north of Dallas in Sherman, Texas.  Founded in 1849, making it the oldest institution of higher education in Texas operating under original charter and name, the college is related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church (USA). Recognized nationally for academic excellence in the areas of international education, pre-professional training, and leadership studies, Austin College is one of 40 schools profiled in Loren Pope’s influential book Colleges that Change Lives.