Congratulations Winners of the 2008 Youth Cowboy Poetry Contest

The Booth Museum would like to congratulate the winners of the 2008 Youth Cowboy Poetry Contest. The contest, held in conjunction with the Booth Cowboy Gathering in April, was open for students in three age groups: grades five and six, grades seven and eight and grades nine through twelve.

Students selected from topics relative to the theme The Spirit of the American West and submitted their entries to a panel of judges. The top fifteen finalists in each age group competed at the Booth Western Art Museum on Saturday, March 8 as part of the Cowboy Gathering.

The finalists returned to the Booth to compete for cash prizes in the final competition on Saturday, April 19, 2008 in honor of National Cowboy Poetry Week. Congratulations to the winners:

Grades 5 – 6

1st Place: Joseph Nease
2nd Place: Lauren Seymour
3rd Place: Victoria Staley

Grades 7 – 8

1st Place: Maria Cabanas
2nd Place: Ben Vagase
3rd Place: Mallory Fleming

Grades 9 – 12

1st Place: Kayla Frazier
2nd Place: Rachel Potter

Booth named "Smartest Business in Town!"

The Booth Western Art Museum’s “Booth Banditos” were named “Smartest Business in Town” after their victory at the Cartersville Schools Foundation’s inaugural Brain Bowl competition in March. The “Booth Banditos” were the top team out of four that made it to the buzzer round of the trivia contest.

Team members included: Doc Stovall, Cathy Lee Eckert, Jason Woodside and Seth Hopkins.

Money raised by the event will go to the Cartersville Schools Foundation and will be used to support classroom grants and Teacher of the Year recognitions.
Due to the success of the inaugural event, the second-annual Brain Bowl is scheduled for Friday, March 13, 2009.

A True West Weekend: Artist Spotlight

A True West Weekend is almost here! We invite you to visit the Booth Museum as we celebrate Western art and literature. Join us Thursday, April 10 through Saturday, April 12 for a weekend of fun with authors and artists!

Artist Spotlight: Thom Ross

Thom Ross was born in San Francisco in 1952 and raised in Sausalito, California . A life-long fascination with both the historical and the mythical West has directed his career. The majority of Ross's work is inspired by those moments in history which are often transformed into events whose allegorical meanings seem to transcend their historical roots. Through his art, Ross strives to make tangible those aspects of these stories which have a mythic quality about them. Sometimes whimsical, sometimes violent, Ross's work is always based on historical facts, though the focus of the work is always much more concerned with the mythic elements then historical accuracy.

To learn more about Ross' work, visit his Web site at http://www.thomrossart.com/

For a complete schedule of A True West Weekend, click HERE.

Georgia Native to Speak at A True West Weekend

The Booth Western Art Museum will welcome renowned author Gary Roberts to A True West Weekend Saturday, April 12 at 1 p.m. Roberts, a native of Tifton, Ga. will discuss his book entitled Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend, which explores the life of Doc Holliday, another well-known Georgia native. The discussion will be a part of A True West Weekend that begins Thursday, April 10 and continues through Saturday.

Roberts’ most recent work Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend explores the life of one of the most famous gunfighters of the Old West, well known for his association with Wyatt Earp and the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Using more than 20 years of research, Roberts gives the reader a look into the life of Holliday beginning with his childhood, growing up in Griffin, Ga., to his death in 1887.

Roberts has published dozens of articles in magazines, journals, anthologies and specialized encyclopedias. His writing covers a wide span of subjects including the Western gunfighter, the historiography of the West's gunmen, the legend-making process, the Indian wars and frontier violence. In 1988 he co-edited Georgia Governors in an Age of Change with Harold P. Henderson and in 1990, authored Death Comes for the Chief Justice: The Slough-Rynerson Quarrel and Political Violence in New Mexico.