For years Elizabeth and Harold Lawrence’s passion for collecting and preserving the art of indigenous peoples of the Americas sent them traveling all over North, Central and South American. Ten years ago, they opened the Museum of the Americas in Weatherford, Texas.
In celebration of this decade of effort to expose and educate visitors to the diverse range, vitality, and artistic merits of material culture and folk art produced by indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Museum invites the public to the opening of Best of the Collection: Ten Year Anniversary Celebration of the Museum of the Americas, March 3, 2012.
The evening will begin with a panel discussion, A Collector’s Passions, Paradigms, and Problems, 7:00 p.m., Twentieth Century Club, 321 S. Main, followed by the opening reception at the Museum of the Americas, 216 Fort Worth Hwy, Weatherford, Texas. Best of the Collection is on display March 3—July 31, 2012.
The panel features: Helmut Horchler, retired Alcon executive, whose 30 year collection of Native American art includes sculptures (bronze and stone), pottery, Kachinas, drums, storytellers, and pottery; his wife Hilde whose passions are Native American jewelry, nativities from around the world, and Mexican folkart; Morris Matson who focuses primarily on early Texas art and, more specifically, art produced in Fort Worth at least 40 years ago—oils, watercolors, and prints; Douglas Harman, former Fort Worth city manager and President of the Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau for 17 years, whose range of collecting includes WWI aviation, Fort Worth memorabilia, cowboy gear, Charro items, Civil War swords, and more; and Harold Lawrence, whose 50 year quest to assemble the collection of Native American crafts and artifacts culminated in the opening of the Museum of the Americas. They draw on personal experience to discuss their particular pursuits, methods, responsibilities to their collections, advice to beginning collectors, and legal, personal and practical matters regarding disposition. The discussion will be moderated by Katie Sherrod, author, free lance writer, producer, and commentator based in Fort Worth, Texas.
The exhibit, Best of the Collection, is, by nature, a subjective effort to identify the best, or most important individual pieces from the museum’s ethnographic collection of native peoples on display. Though the purpose of the museum is to provide visual context through a broad array of crafts, divided by tribal groups, and comprehensive by region, there are objects that represent extraordinary artistic beauty, historic merit, and rarity. Museum of the Americas is open 10am—5pm, Tues.-Fri. and 11am—4pm on Sat.
Comment