Georgia Day Trip

From our new home in Cumming, GA to Cartersville, GA via highway 20 was a beautiful drive. We had read about the Booth Western Art Museum in an article in the Atlanta paper. It is a wonderful small museum in a fabulous facility that is even now adding additional space for collections they have stored in the basement. They focus on contemporary western art although they have some nice work of historic painters as well. There is a good collection of monumental and life sized sculpture in the grounds surrounding the museum. Several artists who we showed in our old gallery or who have exhibited at our Celebration of Fine Art event were displayed. It was a pleasure to see the work of Bob Vann and Larry Pirnie. It was like visiting old friends. In fact one of the employees is truly a blast from the past. Jim Dunham who is their director of special projects and provides education and entertainment, I have known since my days in Estes Park, CO. Imagine my surprise when he was narrating the introduction movie. They also have a collection of paintings depicting the civil war and a room of letters from every US president. A fun place to go.



Then we drove to the Etowa Indian Mounds. These Indians inhabited this area between 900 and 1550ad. They are part of the Mississipian culture that predates the Creeks and Cherokee. Hernando DeSoto and his explorers brought European disease and hostility that wiped them out. They built mounds to live on and the higher your mound the higher your authority and respect in the community. The 54 acre site has several remaining mounds with the biggest 63 feet. The designs on the artifacts found are very similar to the Aztec designs. We are always amazed at the design elements that repeat themselves in the art of all cultures around the world. I will have to go back to record the image of the Indian mounds and in the distance through the trees you can see modern farm irrigation equipment and beyond that in the far distance the smoke stacks of the nuclear power plant. An amazing picture.