COME ONE,
COME ALL, LADIES AND GENTS, COWBOYS AND CITY SLICKERS, BOYS AND GIRLS OF ALL
AGES!

Ok,
you're not gonna want to miss this!

Just now
strung and hung and waiting for your eyeballs! No it’s not just one, but TWO,
exciting, rare, unheard of in the South, art exhibitions that are just a
gallop away!

The High
Museum of Art (you know, the big white Guggenheimy-looking building on
Peachtree Street) is hosting GO WEST!  ART OF THE AMERICAN FRONTIER FROM
THE BUFFALO BILL CENTER OF THE WEST, now through April 13, 2014.  Aw,
don't moan and groan...you DO love Western art, you just don't know it yet!

And this,
pard'ners, is the creme de la creme of Western art.  As some of you know,
Bob and I go to Cody each year to the "Buffalo Bill" (a swank, Smithsonian-affiliated
museum of five wings of some of the most beautiful art, artifacts,
sculpture, and more than you've ever seen!) for their annual soiree—a
black tie ball right there in the museum, no less!  This year the guest
of honor was Prince Albert of Monaco! You will want to bring
children, especially middle-schoolers and teens, who can SEE the
things they've only read about in school.  We are blessed that the
Center of the West is sharing.  

Now, I
know they can't bring every last Remington, Russell, N.C. Wyeth, and other
world-class art that they have, but they have shipped more than 120 pieces—none
of which you will want to miss.  We know the Southern culture like the
back of our blue-veined hands, but, hey, get up off your chaps and come, see, and
feel the authenticity, the sheer outrageous talent, the dust, the
"Dang-its!" and more in this exhibition.   

The
lovely Native American pieces are worth making a visit, and your kids will
love "Buffalo Bill" Cody, a master showman and world ambassador of
his day! Not to mention Annie Oakley, whom I believe said, "Well if you
want to be a legend, then just go on and be one."  My sentiments,
exactly!   

I know
where you live.  I'll know if you go!  I'll kick ya if you don't!

What?
 You've got five months!  You'll probably spy Bob and I wandering
around the exhibits, revisiting our friends from the walls of yesteryear.
 It will be magical.  Hey, and then, you can mosey on down to Ted's
Montana Grill and have some bison burgers and other cowboy grub.  Yeah, it's
ok to wear your jeans and boots—but it will be the Thomas Moran's...or
something...that will make you shed a tear.  

The
passion of the West and for the West is what you'll find, and you don't find
that in the South every day, do you?  Get your calendar; mark it; send me
an email how you liked it...loved it!

AND….ALSO
AT THE VERY SAME TIME, MIRACULOUSLY...

The Booth
Western Art Museum, just 45 minutes more or less, up the road also has – from
the Buffalo Bill Center of the West – CONTEMPORARY WESTERN ART!

Now,
we're talking!  This absolutely gorgeous 120,000 square foot museum in
Cartersville is another "must see/must do!"  Again, bring a
kid—they will love this more modern view of all things West, and so will
you!  For the little types, there's a Sagebrush Ranch on the lower level.
 The permanent exhibitions will make you swoon, so all this added extra
wild and wooly and even wacky and colorfully wonderful Western art will really
get your...your...your...well, I don't know, but don't be surprised if you run
out and buy some spurs or something!   This truly is our favorite local
museum, bar none; you will be stunned!  

There's
also a fabulous gallery of Presidential Letters and Portraits (again, be sure
and bring those Common Core kids...maybe they can get some extra credit!), and
a magnificent Civil War gallery.  I go and I drool, honestly.

If you
have a little more time, head to the quaint downtown of Cartersville, Georgia
and do some holiday shopping or scoot over to the nearby Tellus Science Museum.
 If you have not seen a contemporary science museum in awhile, well
get ready to get your mind blown!  

Truly, we
are fortunate to have such great art from such a distinguished source right
here down South. Go Sunday and have Sunday brunch at Table 1280.  Museum
stores are my fave places to buy Christmas gifts.

Now that
I've opened my big mouth, I guess I will have to rent a sleigh or a van to cart
all our grandkids to these worth exhibitions.

There is
NOTHING more thrilling (or worthwhile) than to see a kid go gape-mouthed over a
piece of art.  Sometimes, they just mutter, "I didn't know..." and you
know what they mean.  

Ok, I had
Papa proof this and now he insists we go out for chili and cornbread for lunch.

What did
I say?

Yehaaaaaaa!
 

Carole
Marsh

carole@gallopade.com

Remember
we have autographed copies of The Cowboy's Christmas Ball,

The
Crybaby Cowboy, and
more, for gift giving; visit gallopade.com to learn more.  

PS:
 One last comment, ladies:  Buffalo Bill didn't wear those tight
pants for nothing!

Go and see!