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Recent Acquisitions Releases Press Release Archive |
Guest Curator to Speak at TMA Lecture Tyler, TX—As part of Tyler Museum of Art's fall lecture series and to commemorate the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month, Stephen Vollmer, guest art curator from Dallas, will present a free public lecture Saturday, September 15 at 2 p.m. Reservations are requested by calling 903-595-1001. Vollmer organized and is curator for the current TMA exhibition, Past/Present/Future: Folk Art of Mexico. The exhibition, open through January 6, 2008 in the TMA's North Gallery, includes selected works from the Laura & Dan Boeckman Collection of Mexican and Latin American folk art. Vollmer has worked with the Boeckmans, a Dallas couple, since the 1980s, advising them as they amassed what is considered to be one of the premier private collections of Mexican and Latin American folk art in the United States. "This exhibition is a wonderful preview to the remarkable expression of Mexican artists whose traditions are the synthesis of time and place," Vollmer said. "And it is to the credit of Laura and Dan Boeckman to have focused their energies upon collecting the works of these artists who act as the bridge that connects the past of their parents to the future of their children and the world beyond." National Hispanic Heritage Month was begun officially by Congress in 1968, first as a week-long celebration of the contributions made to American culture by Hispanic citizens, and was expanded to a month, from September 15 through October 16 in 1988. September 15 (1821) is the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries–Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition Mexico declared its independence from Spain on September 16 (1810), Chile celebrates its independence day on September 18 (1810), and Belize celebrates the same on September 21 (1981). Several other commemorative days are celebrated in Hispanic communities through the month of October. According to various government websites, the term Hispanic as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, refers to Spanish-speaking people in the United States of any race. More than 35 million people in the United States identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino on the 2000 Census. The public is also invited to a brief reception following Vollmer's lecture and to tour both the Boeckman collection, and the TMA's other current exhibition, Curator's Choice: Selections from the Permanent Collection in the Bell Gallery. Tyler Museum of Art is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. Educational gallery guides and informational art labels are printed in both English and Spanish for the Boeckman collection exhibition. |