Just 30 minutes north of Atlanta on I-75, Cartersville offers cosmopolitan amenities with the charm of a small town. The downtown area has been beautifully restored and is filled with antiques, galleries, funky diners, boutiques, and two Smithsonian-affiliated museums. One is the Tellus Science Museum (Tellus if you want to know more about it).
The other is The Booth Western Art Museum. The Booth reopened in June after starting COVID precautions that they continue to carefully follow.
While the interactive children’s Sagebrush Ranch and the Orientation Theatre remain closed, but the rest of the museum admits guests who have purchased advance tickets.
The Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia
The Booth Western Art Museum is a 120,000 square foot indoor and outdoor museum complex that includes a sizable permanent collection.
By sizable, I mean all sizes, from outsized murals to miniatures. The museum gives a true sense of the old west not only with its authentic stagecoach but with the dynamic artwork and even the architectural space.
While outdoors, take in the large paintings and the larger than life displays in the Western-themed sculpture garden.
The Booth is the second largest museum in Georgia. The contributions in historic and contemporary Western art are significant.
Your 1-3 hour visit will be packed with cultural icons and dramatic landscapes, even the soaring sculpture atrium replicates the sweeping open sky of the westward plains.
Eight Galleries in The Booth Western Art Museum
The Booth is continually changing with temporary exhibits moving in and out with the seasons. Repeat visitors experience up to 15 new exhibits a year, a real treat for locals.
The temporary exhibits now available are:
American Dreams or Imagined Lands
This exhibit features contributions by artists Terri Loewenthal, Jack Spencer, Christa Blackwood, Mark Klett, and Byron Wolfe. It will continue until January 24, 2021.
Southwest Rising
This blockbuster exhibit subtitled Contemporary Art & the Legacy of Elaine Horwitch is new and will run until April 25, 2021.
The permanent exhibits at the Booth Western Art Museum include the following:
American West
This gallery features a collection of landscapes and wildlife
Colliding Cultures
This gallery is all about the native peoples and the settler cultures and the diversity of both the art and the artists shatter stereotypes, making the exhibit all the more illuminating.
Native Hands
This is a look at the exquisite artifacts and artisan pieces.
Cowboy Gallery
This gallery portrays the life of cowboys and cowgirls, including depictions of work and play.
Location and Hours for Tours and Exhibits
The Booth Western Art Museum has ample free parking.
Located at 501 Museum Drive in Cartersville Georgia, The Booth Western Art Museum opens at 10:00 am every day except when it is closed on Monday. Closing hours are 5:00 pm Tuesday through Sunday and 8:00 pm on Sunday.
There is also an outdoor tour of the sculpture garden from 11:15 to 12:00.
General admission is $12.
Visit Booth Museum.org or call 770-382-1300 for additional pricing info.
Virtual Opportunities and Post COVID Changes
The Booth now offers more than 12 3D walkthrough exhibitions online.
Many of those include narrated gallery walks. The website also hosts hours of lectures and artist visits to the museum.
You can find them under the virtual visit tab on the home page.
The Booth also offers virtual field trips, virtual kids programs, online classes, and limited size group courses in painting and sculpting, and a distance learning program for seniors.
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