Out & About: Westmoreland Museum toasts tenure of curator Barbara Jones
Share this post:
Friends, relatives, colleagues, artists and admirers gathered Saturday at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art to celebrate the career of Chief Curator Barbara Jones.
More than 250 strong, they raised a Cosmopolitan — Jones’s favorite libation — or other glass to toast her 26-year career at the Greensburg museum, which will conclude with retirement on April 1.
Jones said she only expected to be at The Westmoreland for a few years, but it turned into “more than a few.” And though there were many challenges along the way, she said she wouldn’t change a thing.
“It’s been my privilege,” she said. “I love my job, I‘ve always loved my job.”
Jones was hired as the museum’s first curator in 1995 and was promoted to chief curator in 2009. As a member of the senior management team, she had overall responsibility for the museum’s permanent collection and temporary exhibitions.
[gps-image name=”4841908_web1_gtr-oa-barbarasparty11-031422.jpg”]
During her tenure, she curated and wrote publications for many exhibitions. She and her team completed the re-installation of the permanent collection galleries after the museum’s 2000 interior renovation and the redesign and re-installation of the renovated and expanded galleries following the 2015 major expansion.
Jones also lectures and juries regional and national art exhibitions.
As a surprise for the guest of honor, music for the party was provided by The NewLanders — a local roots music group that recorded a CD and traveled in conjunction with The Westmoreland’s 2006 exhibition, “Born of Fire,” which included “The Valley of Work,” more than 140 works from the museum’s collection documenting Pittsburgh’s steel heritage.
[gps-image name=”4841908_web1_gtr-oa-barbarasparty10-031422.jpg”]
“I have so many fond memories of my NewLanders,” Jones said, including several trips to Germany’s industrial regions to research the exhibition.
Some guests at the event traveled far through wintry conditions, including Jones’ nephew and his wife, Jordan and Cortney Long, and longtime friends Dana Jones, Mary Fitzgerald and Jeff DeBell and Marlene Hamann-Whitmore and Tom Whitmore.
Also seen: The Westmoreland’s Richard M. Scaife Director/CEO Anne Kraybill, Helene Conway-Long and Tom Long, Al and Sally Anne Novak, Kevin and Judy O’Toole, Kirsten Janowicz, Jim and Suzy Broadhurst, Elizabeth Barker, Christopher Robertshaw, Richard and Sande Hendricks, Jim and Alie Starr, Dr. George and Linda Austin, Chuck and Nancy Anderson, George and Ginny Leiner and Dallas and Susan Sommers.
[gps-image name=”4841908_web1_gtr-oa-barbarasparty6-031422.jpg”]
Also, Ron Donoughe, Bud and Patti Gibbons, Tina Williams Brewer, Sheila Cuellar-Shaffer, Barbara Ferrier, Carol Brode, Pati Beachley, JR and Judy Ross, Justin and Charlene Bidula, Linda Blum, Gene and Janet James, Barbara Flock, Michaelene McWhinney, James Kuhns and Sarah Hunter, Gene and Barbara Kravits, Joanna Moyar and Brian McCall, Josh and Kary Milan, Richard and Eileen Stoner, John and Maureen Zang, Molly Zindash and Kenneth Nicholson.
And, museum staffers Doug Evans, Claire Ertl and Randall Oaks, along with Jane Noel, Lisa Cannon, Linda Vucelich and Linda Caravaggio, who attend a tai chi class in Greensburg with Jones.