Andrew Walker has overseen many changes since becoming director at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in 2010. The museum underwent a year-long renovation in 2019 and boasts a far different look and feel today than it did when I first set foot in that magnificent building many years ago as an elementary school student on a field trip. Cowboys and Indians enthralled me back then, and “The Amon” was my favorite museum. I didn’t care that the facility’s focus was limited or that out-of-state artists like Frederic Remington and Charles Russell rendered its signature works. Over the years, though, I grew to appreciate other styles, particularly abstract and regionalism, and began collecting works by early Fort Worth artists. The Amon, too, expanded its vision and included more of these types of paintings, sculptures, and photos. The evolution continues to this day under Andrew’s guidance. Three years prior to her death, Ruth Carter Stevenson –– Amon Carter’s daughter –– handpicked Andrew to lead her museum into the future. He’s done a bang-up job. A good example of his stewardship is the recent exhibit featuring the works of Scott and Stuart Gentling. The Gentling brothers were two of Fort Worth’s most interesting and successful artists but had little to do with Western art and wouldn’t have been included at The Amon years ago. The twins focused on nature and the occasional commissioned portraits and might be best known their over-sized portfolio Of Birds and Texas (1986), their ceiling mural at Bass Hall, and their commissioned portraits, including former Texas Governor George W. Bush and naturalist Jane Goodall. Our little cowboy museum is all grown up! To personify its expanded vision, I combine my gaudiest abstract shirt with my most traditional Western hat to create a look described by one of my co-workers as “Disco Cowboy Porn Chic.” That isn’t the fashion statement I was shooting for, but I guess I’ll own it. For our jam, Walker chooses a song based on Ecclesiastes, my favorite book of the Bible. (If you haven’t read Ecclesiastes, check it out. Your existential angst might just melt away.) Thanks for taking care of our museum and being such a good sport and fun guest, Andrew!
