Born on the Island: The Galveston We Remember

Foreword

Galveston is my hometown. My family has lived here for six generations. The buildings, streets, alleys, sidewalks, and East End Victorian mansions and cottages shaped my childhood world as I explored my environment and grew in imperceptible ways to appreciate its richness. Little things like brick curbing, rain water rushing in gutters, cracked sidewalks , dark basements that we feared were haunted, looming turrets, massive columns, and houses with more rooms, windows, and porches than we could ever represent when we drew our house and tree in the first grade. These images and impressions remain in my psyche. Through his emotionally sensitive and introspective water colors and line drawings, my friend Eugene “Nippy” Aubry enables the viewer to experience through this groundbreaking book that primal relationship between ourselves and our immediate physical environment. Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past reminds us, “The past is hidden somewhere outside the realm, beyond the reach of intellect, in some material object (in the sensation which that material object will give us) which we do not suspect. And as for that object, it depends on chance whether we come upon it or not before we ourselves must die.” For Proust the taste of the crumb of a little madeleine soaked in tea evoked, fleetingly and joyfully, visual images long tucked away from his childhood: “the old grey house upon the street . . . and with the house the town, from morning to night and in all weathers, the Square where I was sent before luncheon, the streets along which I used to run errands , . . . so in that moment all the flowers in our garden . . . and the whole of Combray and of its surroundings, takForeword ing their proper shapes and growing solid, spring into being , town and garden alike, all from my cup of tea.” Eugene Aubry has presented the viewer a platter of madeleines delivered in images to which our eyes and mind respond . In doing so he has tapped into the internal springs of our longing and remembrance, perhaps to the aching point. Since we are either Galvestonian by birth, choice, remembrance , or longing, these images fill us with a sense of loss tempered by persistence and survival reflective of our history . They also illuminate our hopes and dreams. This collection of Aubry’s Galveston portrays buildings in the heart of the city, symbolic of where his heart and art find most meaningful expression. The houses and commercial buildings of my ancestors, indeed, my own home, are represented here. These buildings have weathered the storms of nature with us, protected us, and grown old with us, and if we don’t destroy them ourselves, they will last after us to shelter our children and their children. Both artist and architect, Eugene Aubry has given us the gift of sight and insight into the powerful role our built environment plays in shaping our perception of who we are. His work demonstrates the emotional attachment that makes us feel a part of and want to actively care about our city. Kudos to the Galveston Historical Foundation, made up of hundreds of citizens from Galveston and beyond, for holding fast to the dream of a better future for our historic city with its mystique so beautifully revealed in this book. Lyda Ann Quinn Thomas Former mayor of Galveston  ...