Saturday, April 26, 2008

Of Bordellos and Boards

Amidst Catlins, Bierstadts and O'Keeffes, the leaders of AAM gathered to celebrate the hard work of the Denver host committee. The site was the Navarre, a late-nineteenth-century former bordello with underground tunnels to the Brown Palace Hotel so patrons would not be seen from the street. It has cleaned up its act considerably and now hosts a western, canon-driven private collection. Those in attendance tonight took in the stunning artworks as rapidly as they did the shrimp cocktail.

Expressing his gratitude for their "can-do spirit," AAM President Ford Bell called out a number of those who helped bring more than 5,000 museum professionals to Denver. Of the experience, George Sparks, president and CEO of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and general chair of the committee, said, "I feel like we're on top of a water slide. We're just going to enjoy the ride."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

A wonderful overview of all the goings on....thanks so much for all of us who can't be there.