PASSION W


UNIQUE MUSEUMS inspired by By Elaine Warner


hat inspires people to collect things? The answers are as varied as the


individuals. Some of Oklahoma’s most unique museums are based on personal passions—a child’s hobby grown-up, a de- sire to preserve history or a celebration of art, beauty and utility.


Banjos came to America from Africa. Photos by Elaine Warner


Passion for Picking Brady Hunt caught the banjo bug in


high school. His mentor George “Doc” Newman, who played the banjo at Shakey’s Pizza Parlor in Del City, Oklahoma, told him, “Brad, someday we won’t be around anymore. Someone has to learn this music and pass it on.” In 1992 Hunt founded the Guthrie Jazz Banjo Festival in Guthrie, Oklahoma. The idea of a banjo museum began percolating but


together. Jack Canine of Crawfordsville, Indiana, collected banjos—lots of banjos. Virtuoso musician Johnny Baier played matchmak- er between Canine, Hunt and other inter- ested Guthrie parties and the National Four-String Banjo Hall of Fame Museum was born. Originally in Guthrie, the mu- seum, renamed the American Banjo Museum, is now a star attraction in Oklahoma City’s Bricktown district.


Visitors get an eight-minute, whirlwind


Porcelain artist Kathie Southerland painted and outfitted “Elise,” a reproduction of a mid-1800s German doll.


32 WWW.OKL.COOP


look at 370 years of banjo history, then the opportunity to learn more details ranging through African and American slave roots, college banjo clubs of the 1880s, the Jazz Age, hillbillies and hootenannies. More than 300 instruments are on ex- hibit. Many of them display intricate inlay and design work. In addition to the


permanent collection a new exhibition features Roy Clark: America’s Super Picker.


Passion for Porcelain The late Pauline Salyer of Oklahoma


City took up china painting in the 1940s. It became Salyer’s mission to promote the pastime.


In 1962 she founded a magazine, “The


China Painter,” which is still being pub- lished. Five years later she founded the World Organization of China Painters which now has clubs in all 50 states and nine foreign countries. The organization’s headquarters in


Oklahoma City houses a museum with hundreds of examples of painted porce- lain pieces—from traditional tea sets to tiles, jewelry, wall décor and utilitarian items.


time and finances didn’t come


In addition to all the examples of art- work, graphics give guests information about the history of porcelain, the types of porcelain and the difference between porcelain, earthenware and stoneware. One display case features a collection of Hummel figures along with the biography of Berta Hummel and why her figures were banned by Der Fuehrer Hitler during World War II. Classes and materials are also available


on site. “You don’t have to know anything to


start,” says Oklahoma Electric Cooperative member Adrienne Walls Mauch, a class participant. “I started near retirement and I’ve been painting for 16 years. My house is full of things I’ve painted.”


Passion for Playing The marvelous Toy and Action Figure


Museum in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, was the brainchild of Renaissance man Kevin


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