Page 14 - Amarillo Senior Link Magazine Summer 2020- Online Magazine

Creating

SPA CE

Ann Crouch

by Rachel Flores,
Executive Director of the Amarillo Art Institute and member of the Crouch Foundation Board

nn Crouch was born in Memphis, Tennessee in
1932 and moved to Texas as a child. She married
AC.W. Crouch in 1947 and gave birth to their son
Butch in 1948. Ann and C.W. built Texas Carpet, soon
to be followed by a plethora of commercial property
developments in Amarillo, Canyon and Hereford. Ann
was even a pilot for their business, Crouch Petroleum.

Crouch is most recognized in the city’s history as the
creator of an “art mecca” in central Amarillo. In 2005, she
renovated the Sunset Center shopping mall, Amarillo’s
first indoor mall, and welcomed in artists of all types.
Now called the Panhandle Art Center, Sunset became
home to a co-op of artists and includes an art school, a
sculpture garden, and over 50 galleries/studios for local
artists. These artists were painters, sculptors, weavers,
potters, woodturners, and more. The school, the Amarillo
Art Institute, was born from a vision Crouch had for a
space that would offer education at all levels of experience
to local artists. The school also became a place where
artists could take workshops from nationally- and
internationally-recognized instructors. Ann herself was
a prolific artist who was always wanting to learn and
improve, even taking workshops up until a few months
before her death in January 2017.

14 Amarillo Senior Link