Ansel Adams Arrives!

After much anticipation and excitement, Ansel Adams: A Legacy officially opened at the Booth Museum on Saturday, September 25. Occupying two galleries, this is the largest temporary exhibition ever held at the Museum, as well as the largest Ansel Adams collection ever displayed in Georgia.
The works in A Legacy, originally printed by the artist himself in his California darkroom, were given to his organization, The Friends of Photography, and initially displayed as an exhibition in China. The Booth Museum exhibition showcases these works in the intimate scale Adams intended, and also includes educational components unique to the Museum including a 20th Century darkroom replica, a walk-in camera structure with footage of Adams, and a baby grand player piano representing Adams' early career as a concert pianist.

To kick-off the exciting five months of Ansel Adams, award winning photographer John Mariana presented a lecture on Thursday, September 16. Speaking in the words of Adams, Mariana shared how Adams' childhood influenced the man he became, how he became interested in photography, and the process he went through in creating his photographs.

On the Opening Day, September 25, photo-historian and curator Susan Todd-Raque presented two lectures on the life and career of Ansel Adams.

Additional speakers will also share insights into the world of Ansel Adams throughout the run of the exhibition, including Shannon Perich, Associate Curator of Photography at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Perich will present Ansel Adams: Building the Legacy, during the Booth Museum's annual Cowboy Festival & Symposium on Friday, October 22, at 11:30 am.

Ansel Adams: A Legacy will be on display at the Booth Museum from now through February 20, 2011.

**Thanks to Howard Pousner at the Atlanta Journal Constitution for the great article he wrote about Ansel Adams: A Legacy**

Hopkins Receives Flourish Award

Booth Museum Executive Director Seth Hopkins recently received the Flourish Award as Arts Leader of the Year. Kennesaw State University College of the Arts presented Hopkins with his award at the Third Annual Flourish Luncheon at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

Executive Director Seth Hopkins receives the Flourish Award as Arts Leader of the Year from Joseph Meeks, dean of the College of Arts at Kennesaw State University

The Flourish Awards honor those who have helped the arts flourish in Georgia, and Hopkins received Arts Leader of the Year for his many accomplishments over the past 10 years. When he assumed his position in 2000, he was hiring and training staff, developing operating procedures, consulting with the design team on building plans and construction, and directing the organization of the galleries and initial art installation. Hopkins then shifted his attention to fundraising, programs and exhibitions. In the past seven years, the Museum has mounted nearly 100 temporary art exhibitions, many of which were curated or co-curated by him. He has also served as an arts lecturer, writer, scholar and juror. His writings have appeared in several national art magazines.

Said Hopkins on receiving the award, "Winning this award was a great honor. While it is an individual award, I view it as recognition for all that the entire staff at the Booth Museum has accomplished over the past 10 years. It is like winning the Heisman trophy; you can’t win it unless you are on a great team with outstanding players at the other positions. It was also doubly nice to be recognized by the University where I first began studying art."

Congratulations to Seth Hopkins and this wonderful recognition!

What's the Story?

The Booth Western Art Museum offers an array of educational field trips for groups of all ages. Most recently, the education department, along with five contracted teachers, developed and implemented What's the Story? Connecting Art and Literacy. This program uses the artwork in the Museum's collection to help students in Kindergarten through 4th grade enhance their literacy skills.

The idea behind What's the Story was initiated based on statistics that an alarming number of Georgia students lack the basic literacy skills they need to succeed in life. The Workforce Investment Act defines literacy as "an individual's ability to read, write, and speak English, compute, and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job, in the family, and in society." The Booth Museum believes there is a natural correlation between language arts, literacy skills, and the Museum's collection of narrative works. Thus, formulation of What's the Story was developed with those beliefs in mind. Five classroom teachers were contracted to assist in writing the program and represented Cobb, Bartow and Cartersville City schools. These teachers, along with the Booth Museum's education department, met three times per month from April to July to create programs matched to the Georgia Performance Standards for each grade level.

If you are looking for a fun way to connect art and literacy, call today to book What's the Story? Connecting Art & Literacy at 770-387-3849.

A Special Painting and Its Inspiration

The inspiration to create art can come in a variety of ways. For James Ayers, the inspiration to create Prayers of the Shaman came when he learned his mother had cancer. The painting, which was an 8 year process, depicts a Lakota healer tending to a patient.

For over 10 years, James has researched Native American lifeways, including healing ceremonies. He has personally viewed both Hopi and Arapaho healing rites and has researched Lakota shaman traditions. All of these factors, including his own emotions, came into his development of Prayers of the Shaman. "One thing I noticed about healing ceremonies is the importance of family members in the process," says James. "Often, it would be the family member that takes the sick to the healer and they stay there to offer support. This struck me so profoundly, because we still do much of this in the modern day."

He began sketching ideas for the painting when he first learned the news of his mother's illness as a way to work through the flood of emotions he felt. He wanted to capture the intensity of his feelings and also touch on the concepts of healing, hope, and family ties that he learned from studying the Native American way of living. James put the sketch away for a few years until he learned that his mother's cancer had returned, when he felt compelled to take the work from sketch to finished painting.

"You know how when someone gets ill, you say 'You are in my thoughts and prayers'?" James says. "For me, this painting was the ultimate expression of that sentiment. With every brushstroke, I thought about and prayed for my mother."

James' mother has now been in remission for several years.


The Booth Museum is honored to have Prayers of the Shaman on permanent display. Being such a personal piece, it was important to James that the painting have a special display.

Said James, "The Booth Western Art Museum was the perfect choice for this painting. The Museum has a remarkable collection of fine art by prominent and emerging artists and the staff is so knowledgeable, that I felt proud having Prayers of the Shaman in the Booth's permanent collection."



(James Ayers with his painting, Prayers of the Shaman, 24" x 30", oil on canvas)

For more information about James Ayers and his Western artwork, please click here.