By Hope Monroe
Student Reporter
The Amarillo Museum of Art (AMoA) will host its annual Ladd Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 16 at 7 pm on the Washington Street Campus of Amarillo College. Her lecture, titled “Andrew Wyeth: I Paint My Life,” will feature speaker Victoria Browning Wyeth, granddaughter of American realist painter Andrew Wyeth.
AMoA curator Alex Gregory said Wyeth’s lecture will explore the artist’s most recognized works through personal and historical context. “Andrew Wyeth was one of the more important American artists of the 20th century,” he said. “And so to have that direct relationship with him and the stories that she’ll have to share and that personal background is what she’s bringing to us.”
The Ladd Lecture series began in 2009 and is supported by Peggy Ladd and her late husband, Frank A. Ladd. According to Gregory, “The Ladd Lecture is named for the family that gave us the monetary gift that we can use to bring and pay for visiting scholars to come to Amarillo, to the museum specifically, and talk about their area of expertise. And so the Ladd family, Frank and Peggy Ladd, gave us the money and an endowment that we can use every year to bring somebody to Amarillo that otherwise we wouldn’t be able to do.”
Gregory said, “We want to bring somebody that really knows what they’re talking about or has direct experience with it that is unique.” He said, “It just expands on your knowledge in diverse ways and hopefully brings new people.” He said, “We’ve had somebody speak about Monet, we’ve had somebody speak about aspects of the museum that they were affiliated with.”
According to Gregory, Victoria Wyeth, a lecturer and writer, had conducted extensive interviews with her grandfather and his models. Gregory said, “When you bring somebody in that knows them personally and has stories to tell and, you know, has pictures and things that provide perspectives about their life that you wouldn’t otherwise have, it might humanize them to a degree that it makes other people feel like they could do something similar, be motivated to do something like that.”
He said, “The lecture itself is free and always has been, but there’s a sponsorship going toward this pre-lecture reception. And so if you want to sponsor the event, you can donate some money and you get to come to that event. You get to be in a little bit of close contact with the speaker of that year, as well as other museum people that have similar interests, hang out with them, get really good hors d’oeuvres, and then walk over and hear the lecture.”
AMoA is located on the Amarillo College campus and offers exhibitions, educational programs and community events. Director of Development, Amanda Jarnagin, said, “The Ladd Lecture is an annual lecture with a focus toward a greater understanding and enjoyment of the visual arts.”
Gregory said, “It doesn’t take much time. It’s maybe an hour of your time on a Thursday night. The opportunity to hear from somebody that you wouldn’t otherwise ever meet or ever get to hear from or learn something that you didn’t know before, like that, isn’t all that often that you get that opportunity. And so I wish that people would take advantage of it and just come over and sit for a while and learn something.”
Leave a Reply