Brooke Barzun | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Brooke Lee Brown June 18, 1972 |
| Occupation(s) | Art curator and philanthropist |
| Spouse | Matthew Barzun |
Brooke Barzun (born Brooke Lee Brown; June 18, 1972) is an art curator [1] [2] and philanthropist [3] [4] based in Louisville, Kentucky with her husband, Matthew Barzun, the former United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
She is the daughter of Owsley Brown II and Christy Brown, and the granddaughter of Sally Brown. Her extended family has voting control of Brown-Forman Corporation, the parent company of Jack Daniel's whiskey and other brands.
Barzun grew up in Louisville, Kentucky and attended Westover School (Connecticut) and Lake Forest College (Illinois). She received her master's degree in marriage, family and child counseling at Notre Dame De Namur University (California) with an emphasis in art therapy.
In Sweden, where she lived from 2009 to 2011, Barzun led cultural diplomacy efforts. She led the curation of three contemporary art shows: a show of Swedish art at the American residence, a show entitled Transparency and Trans-formations in contemporary American Art [2] featuring American art in coordination with U.S. Department of State's Art in Embassies program and artwithoutwalls, and Underglow, [5] a public art installation by artist Chris Doyle. She was a common presence at cultural events in Stockholm. [6] [7]
In London, where her husband served as Ambassador 2013-2017, she continued her cultural diplomacy, joining the Royal Academy of Arts Development Trust. [8]
In the fall of 2011, after the death of her father, Owsley Brown II, a devoted patron of the arts in Louisville, Barzun joined the board of Louisville's Speed Art Museum and set about completing the capital campaign Brown had begun for a major expansion. [9] Barzun took over as co-chair and completed "phase 2" of fundraising for the project. She was then named co-chair for the third and final phase. In May 2013, it was announced that the fundraising goal had been met years ahead of schedule. The effort "[put] us five to 10 years ahead of where we thought we would be in completing the master plan," according to Speed board president Allan Latts, and reduced the project's original budget by $20 million because of cost savings captured from an accelerated construction timetable. [4]
The Speed Art Museum, originally known as the J.B. Speed Memorial Museum, now colloquially referred to as the Speed by locals, is the oldest and largest art museum in Kentucky. It was established in 1927 in Louisville, Kentucky on Third Street next to the University of Louisville Belknap campus and receives around 180,000 visits annually.
The Frazier History Museum, previously known as the Frazier Historical Arms Museum and the Frazier International History Museum, is a history museum located on Museum Row in the West Main District of downtown Louisville, Kentucky. An affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, the Frazier documents and reinterprets stories from history using artifacts, gallery talks, and live interpretations that are written and performed in costume by a staff of teaching artists.
Enid Yandell was an American sculptor from Louisville, Kentucky who studied with Auguste Rodin in Paris, Philip Martiny in New York City, and Frederick William MacMonnies.
Ursula von Rydingsvard is a sculptor who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She is best known for creating large-scale works influenced by nature, primarily using cedar and other forms of timber.
Owsley Brown Frazier was a philanthropist from Louisville, Kentucky United States who founded the Frazier History Museum. He retired from the board of directors of the Brown-Forman corporation, which his grandfather George Garvin Brown founded in 1870, and is one of the largest American-owned companies in the spirits and wine business. He was raised in Louisville.
Chitra Ganesh is a visual artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Ganesh's work across media includes: charcoal drawings, digital collages, films, web projects, photographs, and wall murals. Ganesh draws from mythology, literature, and popular culture to reveal feminist and queer narratives from the past and to imagine new visions of the future.
Nathalie Djurberg is a Swedish video artist who lives and works in Berlin.
\ Milliken Gallery is a Swedish art gallery specializing in emerging and mid-career artists with an international perspective. It was opened in February 2004 by American dealer, Aldy Milliken.
Matthew Winthrop Barzun is an American businessman, diplomat and political fundraiser who served as the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. He is a business executive who is known for his work with CNET Networks and for his fundraising work on Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. He served as United States Ambassador to Sweden from 2009 to 2011. He was selected by President Barack Obama as National Finance Chair for the president's 2012 re-election campaign. He is author of The Power of Giving Away Power from Optimism Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
21c Museum Hotels is a contemporary art museum and boutique hotel chain based in Louisville, Kentucky. The chain also has locations in Lexington, Kentucky; Cincinnati, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; Bentonville, Arkansas; Durham, North Carolina; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Kansas City, Missouri; and Nashville, Tennessee. Each of these nine properties comprises a boutique hotel, a contemporary art museum, and a restaurant. It was acquired by the French hotel group Accor in July 2018 for $51 million.
Linda MacNeil is an American abstract artist, sculptor, and jeweler. She works with glass and metal specializing in contemporary jewelry that combines metalwork with glass to create wearable sculpture. Her focus since 1975 has been sculptural objets d’art and jewelry, and she works in series. MacNeil’s jewelry is considered wearable sculpture and has been her main focus since 1996.
Polly E. Apfelbaum is an American contemporary visual artist, who is primarily known for her colorful drawings, sculptures, and fabric floor pieces, which she refers to as "fallen paintings". She currently lives and works in New York City, New York.
Ann Stewart Anderson was an artist from Louisville, Kentucky whose paintings have "focused on the rituals of being a woman." Anderson is known for her part in creating the collective work, the "Hot Flash Fan," a fabric art work about menopause funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. She was the executive director of the Kentucky Foundation for Women.
Mary Alice Hadley was an American artist from Terre Haute, Indiana, known for her earthenware pottery with hand-painted images of farm and coastal life which were sold by Hadley Pottery.
Alma Lesch was an American fiber artist known for her fiber portraits. She was "the undisputed grande dame of Kentucky textile arts." A historic marker notes her achievements in Shepherdsville, Kentucky where Lesch lived and had her studio. Lesch's quilt, Bathshebas Bedspread, was included in the Objects: USA exhibit in 1969, which was organized by S.C. Johnson and Son.
Minetta Good, also known as Minnetta Good (1895–1946), was an American painter and printmaker who was part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Her work often depicted farm scenes, family life, and/or transportation.
Kelly Lycan is an installation and photo-based visual artist who lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Dafna Kaffeman is an artist and a senior lecturer at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. She works with glass and various materials and techniques such as embroidery, print ,drawing, to produce what the David Owsley Museum of Art describes as "beautiful crafted surfaces and disturbing text about aggressors and victims". She lives and works in Israel. Her work has appeared in solo and group exhibitions, and she has won, or been nominated for, a number of international prizes and awards.
Brooke Forde is an American swimmer.