Booth Western Art Museum
May 30, 2017
Seth Hopkins, Executive Director
Booth Western Art Museum
Seth Hopkins is the Executive Director of the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia, a position he has held since 2000.  Since 2003, he has also served as the Executive Director of Georgia Museums, Inc., which operates the Booth Museum, Bartow History Museum and Tellus – Northwest Georgia Science Museum.  Prior to entering the museum profession Hopkins worked in the fields of journalism, public relations, and telecommunications management. 
 
Under his guidance the Booth Museum grew from an initial vision of a 30,000 square regional art center, to a world class, 120,000 square foot Smithson Affiliated museum.  The Booth is now the largest permanent exhibition space for Western art in the country.  Similarly, Hopkins led the team that transformed the 10,000 square foot Weinman Mineral Museum into the 125,000 square foot Tellus Science Museum, also a Smithsonian Affiliate.  Southwest Art Magazine included Hopkins on its’ list of 10 prominent people who are “making noteworthy contributions to the art world.”
 
Hopkins holds an undergraduate degree in journalism from Syracuse University.  While in college he participated in the Army ROTC program and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant upon graduation.   Hopkins then attended the Infantry Officer Basic Course at Ft. Benning, Georgia and follow on special weapons courses. He has completed courses in art history at Kennesaw State University, Georgia State University and the University of Wyoming, as well as museum studies courses at West Georgia State University.  He received a Master’s degree in Museum Studies from the University of Oklahoma.  While at OU he completed his Master’s Thesis: Andy Warhol Played Cowboys and Indians, under the direction of faculty advisor Byron Price.  Among the nearly 100 exhibitions Hopkins has curated or co-curated are Ansel Adams: Before and After, Blazing the Trail: 50 Years of the Cowboy Artists of America, Selling the Sizzle: The Art of Movie Posters and American Spirit Remembered: The Art of Mort Kuntsler
 
Hopkins twice served as a juror for the annual Arts for the Parks exhibition in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and has also judged the annual Cowboy Artists of America Show and Sale in Phoenix, Arizona and the Coors Western Art Sale in Denver, Colorado.  He has had articles published in American Art Review, Western Art Collector, and Persimmon Hill.  In 2010 he was honored with the prestigious Flourish Award, given annually to a leader who has helped the arts flourish in Georgia.  He recently served a two year term as President of the Museums West Consortium, a group including the 15 largest and most important Western museums. 
 
Hopkins resides in Cartersville, Georgia with his wife Joyce and four children.

INTRODUCTION: Alan Elsas
INVOCATION:  Clay Prickett