The Brinton Museum launched an art lecture and showcase that occurs every Thursday at 6 p.m. in October, and November, the first event on Oct. 3. This showcase, called “Fall into Art,” features pieces of art including oil paintings, watercolors, and pastels. 

   Some of the oil paintings that were showcased on Oct. 3 were created by Jessica Garrett, a woman who has had a passion for art since she was at a very young age. Garrett was awarded a merit scholarship from Scottsdale Artists’ School and in 2018, received a Governor’s Choice Award at the Cowboy Up exhibition of the Desert Caballeros Western Museum in Wickenburg, Ariz. Another featured artist was Jacob Aguiar. Aguiar has had a passion for art and the outdoors and decided to merge his love for both together, creating beautiful pastel paintings of the mountains.

   Halfway through the event, the audience is seated in a room across from the bistro where the curator gives a lecture. The main topic of that night was discussing who Hans Kleiber was and his climb to becoming a famous artist.  The Brinton Museum’s curator and chief director Ken Schuster had a lot of background information about Kleiber, and one of the audience members had even known Kleiber personally. Schuster spoke about how Kleiber was born in Germany in 1887 and that he was drawn to Wyoming because of the U.S. Forest Service. He lived in Dayton his whole life. His father had died when Kleiber was 14, which forced Kleiber to quit school and go to work, where he really got into printmaking and etching. According to Schuster, the Brinton Museum owns about 200 of Kleiber’s etched plates and about 550 pieces of art total. He used zinc and copper for his etchings and Schuster mentioned that he even had some of his art in the Smithsonian Museum. 

   Schuster has been the curator of the Brinton Museum since January 1, 1990 and has expressed his love for art and history through his job. He went to college at Western New Mexico University and got a degree in art and history and also attended grad school and got a degree in American history.

   Overall, the Brinton Museum’s “Fall into Art” showcases are definitely something interesting to visit with family or even friends. The paintings are created by artists from Montana and New York and collected throughout the years by Bradford Brinton and his sister Helen. There are even some paintings from Picasso. This is a free event and all are welcome. Schuster especially welcomes a younger audience to discover a deep love for art and talent that the Brinton gives to the public. “That’s really what we’re shooting for. We’re trying to gain a new audience so that people know that we’re friendly and accessible.”