Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art is an active member of the Mountain-Plains Museum Association. Established in 1953, MPMA is a regional museum association that provides services to museum professionals in ten states: Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming.
MPMA President Joe Schenk will announce the awards which will be presented during the association’s annual conference in Corpus Christi, Texas, Oct. 1-5. Eight museums and two individuals are being recognized this year.
Bone Creek received two first place awards, for institutions with operating budgets under $250,000.
In the books and exhibition catalogues category, the museum received the top honor for Robert Lougheed: Before Cowboys, Fields of the Heart. The publication was designed by the museum’s curator, Amanda Mobley Guenther, and written by Guenther and Claire Thayer. Last year, Bone Creek took home this same honor for Dale Nichols: Transcending Regionalism.
“The support of groups like MPMA has been amazing,” Guenther said.
In the magazines, newsletters, quarterly or biannual publications category, the museum received the award for Agrarian Art Newsletter. The newsletter was produced by Amanda Mobley Guenther and designed by Ashley Beydler Cameron. A graduate of Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Mo., Cameron, is a graphic and web designer and front-end developer. She is an entrepreneur of a design, interactive, website and marketing business and works part-time at a Lincoln advertising agency, the minnow PROJECT. Cameron is married to David City native and Bone Creek board member Ryan Cameron.
The museum continues to be a strong asset for the Butler County community. Frequently visitors from out of town and out of state journey to see the artwork at the museum. Recent visitors from Pacific Grove, Calif. and Scottsdale, Ariz., recognized the triple-feature stop of coming to Bone Creek; an art museum, a historically preserved facility, and the Veterans Museum.
“We are impressed with the tin ceilings in the art museum, the wooden floors in both spaces, and the antique dumbwaiter,” said the patrons from California.
“All the volunteers would tell you how surprised and enthusiastic visitors have been. Visitors say they will spread the word about Bone Creek,” volunteer coordinator Mark Mohler said.