Getting Ready for the 5th Annual Cowboy Festival and Symposium

It is that time of year again!

Join us as we celebrate the 5th Annual Southeastern Cowboy Festival and Symposium, October 25-28 at the Booth Western Art Museum!

Bring the whole family out for a weekend of Western fun with special guests Riders In The Sky, Eli Barsi, KG and the Ranger, Doc Stovall and the Tumbleweed Cowboy Band, and artist William Matthews.

Indulge your inner cowboy or cowgirl with Western music and poetry, re-enactments of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, living history encampments, traditional Indian dances, a Western marketplace, and much much more!

For more information on the Southeastern Cowboy Festival and Symposium, call the Booth Museum at 770-387-1300 or visit boothmuseum.org.

Schedule of Events

Thursday, Oct. 25

5:00 pm - 7:00 pm: Doc Stovall and the Tumbleweed Cowboy Band will perform in the Museum Atrium.

5:00 pm - 7:00 pm: Meet the Artist Reception in the Borderlands and Theatre Lobby Galleries. View the exhibits William Matthews: Watercolors of the West and First Light: Native American Paintings by Jack Morris Jones and meet the artists. Refreshments served adjacent to the Borderlands Gallery.

7:00 pm: Featured Artist Presentation: William Matthews, from Denver, Colo., will present a lecture on his artistic style and career
highlights in the Booth Theatre. Matthews will be available to sign copies of the official Festival & Symposium poster and his new book in the Museum Store following the lecture.

Friday, Oct. 26

9:00 am - 4:00 pm: Artist’s Workshop with William Matthews, featured artist for the Festival and Symposium. Cost is $100 for members and $150 for non-members, limited class size, call 770-607-3686 for reservations.

10:00 am - 4:00 pm: Art History Lectures in the Booth Theatre. Join top scholars as they present their research on a variety of Western art topics.

Throughout the day: School Programs, Western entertainers will present cowboy music and poetry at several local schools. Call 770-387-1265 for availability.

7:00 pm: Western Concert in the Grand Theatre: featuring Western entertainers from around the country, including the award winning Doc Stovall and the Tumbleweed Cowboy Band, Eli Barsi and KG and the Ranger. A CD signing will follow in the Encore Room adjacent to the Theatre.

Saturday, Oct. 27

9:00 am - 5:00 pm: Cowboy Festival and Western Marketplace on the grounds of the Museum. Sample the wares of vendors ranging from Western art to collectibles. Western music, poetry, and old fashioned medicine shows throughout the day on two stages, plus fast draw competitions, three performances of the Re-enactment of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and three demonstrations of traditional Indian dances by the Big Mountain Family. Plus, living history encampments with demonstrations of pioneer skills from bygone days.

2:00 and 7:00 pm: Riders In The Sky in the Grand Theatre. Riders In The Sky have performed more than 5,000 concerts around the world, provided music for Toy Story 2 and Monsters Inc., and are members of the Grand Ole Opry. Join them for a family matinee performance at 2:00 pm or the evening show at 7:00 pm

Sunday, October 29

11:00 am: Cowboy Church. A non-denominational service featuring cowboy prayers and Western spiritual music.

Noon to 5:00 pm: Cowboy Festival and Western Marketplace on the grounds of the Museum.

Booth Art Academy Fused Glass Class

A touch of class…with glass!

The Booth Museum’s Booth Art Academy is underway! Artists of every skill level have flocked “back to school” to learn about various art techniques ranging from pottery to drawing taught by many well-known and talented instructors.

Licha Nicholson will be instructing a fused glass class that will be held from October 16 through the 18. In this class, each member will learn the secrets behind creating beautiful pieces of fused glass and will have two completed pieces to take home.

About the Instructor:
Licha Nicholson has created glass art, first stained and later, fused glass since 1983. She is a graduate of the famous Pilchuck Glass School founded by glass artist Dale Chihuly and patrons in 1971. She is currently the owner of Sundance Glass in Marietta, Georgia where she creates her beautiful one of a kind works of art. In the Spring of 2007, an exhibit of her work was on display at the Booth Western Art Museum.

The class meets October 16-18 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The class fee is $80 for Museum members and $100 for non-members. This fee includes supplies and firing in the kiln. The class will be held at the Resource Center building at 1 North Gilmer Street.

To register, call central scheduling at 770-607-3686. Click HERE for more information about the classes available through the Booth Art Academy.

The Booth Museum will host “Art for Lunch” on October 3 at 12:15 p.m.

It’s all about the leather!

“Art for Lunch” is your chance to learn how the stunning leather and beadwork objects in the exhibition Beautiful Utility: Decorated Objects from Cowboy and Indian Culture are made. Master leather and bead artisans will join Director of Special Projects Jim Dunham as he facilitates an interactive session that will include examples of work and short demonstrations.

Among those scheduled to participate are saddle-maker Rod Kibler, Karla VanHorn of Purdy Leather, and Alan Soellner of Chisholm’s Trail Old West Leather.

So visit us each month for a special lunch hour with the Booth Museum! “Art for Lunch” takes place on the first Wednesday of each month. Lectures by artists and historians coincide with current exhibits in the museum. Everyone is invited to learn more about the exhibits featured in our museum. Admission is free for members and included with Museum admission for not-yet members.

Photograph (upper right):

© Heiser of Denver, CO, Carved,
and Silver Mounted Saddle with Tapadaros, ca.1920,
Formally Owned by Boxing Promoter Tex Rickard (1871-1929)
Winchester Woodfire Grill and Gallery, Canton, GA collection R.L. Glosson, owner

Trails Plowed Under

Last night concluded our summer third Thursday evening entertainment. The entertainment featured our very own Jim Dunham and Doc Stovall in a show called Trails Plowed Under. Jim and Doc have performed this show for a number of groups but this was one of the rare times they actually performed it at the museum for the general public.
The show combines cowboy poetry and music with first person narrative from famed Western artist Charlie Russell. Jim Dunham takes on the persona of Charlie Russell and, before the audiences eyes recreates one of Russell's works. Last night, Jim recreated Indian With His Wincehester, which is currently in the museum's Faces Gallery. Jim paints for awhile and then he puts down his brush to talk to the audience. As Charlie Russell, he relates tales from Russell's life as told in the book "Trails Plowed Under." Some of the tales were humorous and some were serious, but they were all entertaining and provided a little insight into the life and times of Charlie Russell. While Jim worked on his painting, Doc entertained the audience with songs and poems - some about Charlie Russell and some relating more to the tale just told by "Charlie Russell."
The whole show last just over an hour and at the end the painting created by Jim was raffled off to a lucky member of the audience. Overall, Trails Plowed Under was a hit with the audience. If you weren't able to make it last night, keep your eyes open for the next time Trails Plowed Under shows at the museum.

New Art and Western Adventures at the August Art for Lunch

Today's Art for Lunch featured Booth Western Art Museum executive director Seth Hopkins who spoke on the new art in the galleries and the 2 recent member trips out West.

Regular visitors to the museum may have noticed a change in the galleries in the last couple of weeks. Fourteen new art peices are now on exhibit throughout the museum. Many of these pieces are not actually new to the museum. Some have been in the museum's possession for while waiting for just the right time to make their appearance while others have only recently arrived. Here is a quick summary of the newest additions to the galleries:

• "At the Base of Elephant Head" by Barbara Hill
• "No-O-Mun-Nee, Walks in the Rain, a Warrior" and "Smoking the Shield" by George Catlin
• "Barak, Young Buckaroon" by Carrie Ballentyne
• "Holding the Line" by Jim Fawcett
• "Passing Times" by Veryl Goodnight
• "Rodeo Dance" by Allan Mardon
• "A Whole New World" by Jim Colbert
• "From Dusk to Dawn" by Billy Schenck
• "Princess, Cheyenne Crow, & Buffalo Robe Bead Strip" by Ed Morgan
• "Times Remembered" by Clyde Burnette
• "Battle of Little Big Horn" by Kim Wiggins
• "Cowgirls, We Were Always There" by Burl Washington
• "Rattlesnake" by Lindsay Holt

Guests lucky enough to attend the Art for Lunch learned interesting facts and insights about the each of the artists and their work as well as the significance of the piece in the collection. If you haven't yet had a chance to view these works, be sure to make time to see them. Some will only be here for short time. Just a warning though - Lindsay Holt's rattlesnake painting is very lifelike and very large.

After running through the new additions to the galleries, the entire theatre took a little trip out west through photographs taken on the member trips this summer. The summer of 2007 gave members of the Booth Western Art Museum 2 opportunities to travel. One trip took a group of about 12 people to New Mexico where members had the opportunity to visit with a number of artists and visit artists' homes and studios. The other trip went to Oklahoma where approximately 20 members toured Woolarock, the Gilrease, and Philbrook. They also went to the Prix de West art sale at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. The pictures were great. Everyone on the trips looked like they were having a good time and the scenery was just beautiful. It was enough to make anyone who wasn't able to go jealous. :)

Sounds of Appalachia

We are so excited to have the Sounds of Appalachia String Band coming back to perform at the Museum on July 19. They first performed here back in March at our 4th Annual Southeast Cowboy Gathering during the Dutch oven cooking contest and they were wonderful. Despite the usually hot March weather, they played all afternoon under a canopy at the back of a chuck wagon and the seats in front of them had people in them all day long. The band has a great energy and enthusiasm that seems to spread to their audience. You can tell they genuinely have fun with what they do.

Belive it or not, the Sounds of Appalachia String Band is not a formal band. One member, Dr. Danny Byrd, describes them as a "get together" band. That is, they "get together" and play about once a week. Of the nine members in the group, only about 5 - 7 of them acutally "get together" at any given time. Their conflicting schedules seem to keep them from all getting together at the same time. Afterall, this is just a hobby for them.

That's right - this is a hobby band. The members come from all walks of life and have been playing thier respective musical instruments for varying lengths of time. What brought them together is a love of music and chance meetings that began about three years ago. Perhaps this is what gives them that fresh feel and explains why they appear to thoroughly enjoy what they do in front of a crowd.

March marked their first public performance as a band, and this month will be their second public performance. Of course, they all appear to be seasoned professionals. You'd never would have guessed back in March that this group had never performed in front of an audience before.

With a names like the Sounds of Appalachia, you can probably guess what type of music they play - bluegrass of course! Dr. Byrd describes it as more of a pre-bluegrass. In an interview, Dr. Byrd said that this music is made for dancing and typically has "more rhythm and than tune." The songs and music played by the Sounds of Appalachia come from the mountain areas of Virgina and North Carolina. You may find that many of the songs are familiar but have a slightly different sound that you are accustomed to hearing and there's actually a reason why. This style of music originated in England, Ireland and Scotland and made its way to the United States when people immigrated here. They songs and music were never written down, but were instead passed down orally through the generations. As the immigrants spread across the county and passed songs down through their familes, the songs began to take on different sounds in different areas of the country.

If you find yourself in the Cartersville, GA area on July 19, don't miss this show. It's sure to be a good time for all who attend.

Inventing America - A look at the Founding Fathers

Quick quiz - Who is Thomas Jefferson and what role did he play in American history?

Give up? Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States. He served from 1801 - 1809. Prior to his presidency, Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, which officially declared the thirteen colonies free (independent) from England. And it is this declaration of freedom which we celebrate on July 4 every year.

To help children better understand the significance of the July 4 holiday, July's Children's Saturday program will focus on Thomas Jefferson and other men who helped to create and shape our nation. Children will gather in the Carolyn & James Millar Presidential Gallery on the upper level of the Museum near the bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson (which happens to show him penning the famous document). There they will learn about Jefferson and a few of his many achievements (there are so many to choose from).

Childre will also hear the story "President Adam's Alligator and other White House Pets" by Peter Barnes, Betty Shepard, and Lisa Pinnell and illustrated by Cheryl Shaw Barnes. (That's right, John Quincy Adams kept an alligator in the White House.) Children can then vote on their favorite White House pet.

And no Children's Saturday would be complete without an art activity. This time children will complete a sketching activity withe Jefferson bronze as their model.

This is definitely a Children's Saturday not to be missed. Who knew there we so many interesting things to know about our Presidents!

*Children's Saturday programs are generally geared towards children 12 years old and younger. The only cost to participate is a $1 materials fee for the art activity. Adults are charged standard Museum admission, which is $8 (free for Museum members). Children's Saturday runs from 10:00 am - Noon. No reservations required.