While in Cartersville, Georgia, recently for the lovely mineral collection at the Tellus Museum I happened to stop by the Booth Western Art Museum an hour before closing. I wasn’t expecting much but in an effort to avoid the rush hour traffic back to Atlanta I thought it was worth the $10 admission on the off chance I saw one or two things worth the visit.
I should note I’m naturally predisposed to dislike a lot of western art – I’m not entirely sure why but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that I was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and raised in and around the Arkansas/Oklahoma border where western art is all the rage. I don’t know. Regardless, I was pleasantly surprised when I began to walk through the American West Gallery, part of the museum’s permanent collection.
The exhibitions were not only well organized and displayed with lovely gallery walls that added to the warmth and feeling of the paintings but there was a great deal of information provided with the works that helped to understand the contextual importance of the pieces. There were a lot of inspiring works.
The Modern West Gallery was my personal favorite with artwork spanning the last 50 years. The collection was almost too over-packed though and felt a little overwhelming at times – though that could have been because of the brief amount of time I gave myself to enjoy the exhibition. I plan to return soon to Cartersville soon with students. I will be spending significantly more time at the Booth Western Art Museum than I did previously – it is totally worth the time and cost.
Cry The Bird 