At 56 years old, I’m new—new to blogging, new to the not-for-profit world, and new to Wyoming. Loving the last two, but the jury is out on the first one. I’ll be sharing some of the interesting experiences, some Cody adventures, while making these transitions and maybe give you some ideas about what to do if you’re planning to travel to Cody or the Greater Yellowstone area. If anyone reading this has additional suggestions about things to do in this area, I’d love to hear/read them.
I came to the not-for-profit world and my position here as Chief Financial Officer from the world of business, specifically public accounting and taxes. There are many differences between the business and not-for-profit worlds, but there are similarities, too—just when you think you’ve got it figured out, something else changes and no matter how much you think you know, you always discover something else you didn’t.
One of the first surprises in coming to work here was when our registrar, Liz Holmes, called me and said “when do you want to come pick out your art?” Pick out art? For what? Turns out one of the perks of working here at the Center is that we are allowed to request art from the Whitney Western Art Museum’s collection for display in our offices (office areas are also temperature and humidity controlled). Looking through the racks in the storage vaults for undisplayed art was seriously cool. A couple of the paintings I requested and our curator approved for my office are on display through April 13 at the Today’s West! exhibition at the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia. I’m hoping to snag them when they return later in the spring if they don’t make it to the main gallery. I also had a 100-year-old hawk from the Draper Natural History Museum’s collection for awhile (he watched me like a hawk…), but I had to give him up when I moved offices recently.
By the way, I had the opportunity to see our Go West! exhibition at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta last weekend. It was terrific! If you’re in the Atlanta area next weekend, the final day of the exhibitions at the High and Booth are April 13.
As a lover of landscapes, I currently have paintings by Frederic Remington (yes, the Frederic Remington), Reid Christie, and several others. I also have some small bronzes. My favorite is an owl by Charlie Russell (yes, the Charlie Russell). …I keep hoping that having an owl nearby will make me wise. We’ll see!
Image credits:
Jim Wilcox, Canyon Frosting, William E. Weiss Purchase Award – 2001 Buffalo Bill Art Show. 12.01
Charles Fritz, Ranch Buildings Above Rock Creek, William E. Weiss Purchase Award – 1997 Buffalo Bill Art Show, 20.97
Frederic Remington, “Untitled (Green prairie and mountains with dark clouds)”, Gift of The Coe Foundation, 108.67
Reid Christie, “Lamar Valley–1988”, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Weiss, 12.98.1
