Brazos Forum  2012 October 17 & 18

Karen L Stokes is Senior Project Manager with the Getty Research Institute, a program of the J. Paul Getty Trust. Ms. Stokes began her affiliation with the Getty in 1992 where her work has centered on developing and/or producing local, national, and international lectures, seminars, conferences, workshops, and symposia on topics related to art history, humanities, and the visual arts. Recently, she coordinated a research lab held at the Getty Research Institute that convened twenty international scholars over two days to examine and discuss the Malvina Hoffman collection held by the Getty Research Library.

Prior to Stokes’ Getty affiliation, her work concentrated on funding development, funds distribution, and program planning through various  positions with local and national nonprofit organizations. These included associate director of planning and community issues in the corporate planning division of United Way Los Angeles, and head of planning services for the Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC), a community development corporation.

Ms. Stokes holds a degree in Business Administration and
Management from the University of Redlands. In 2007 she was honored
as a recipient of the Women in Business award from the California State
Legislature, recognizing her professional work in the arts and service to
her community.

Artist, Entertainer, and Educator are just a few of Dave Tanner’s
titles. He has appeared in eight films including the Oscar-winning “The Trip To Bountiful.” He has also worked in over 300 radio and TV commercials. Tanner was a researcher for “Paul Harvey’s The Rest Of The Story,” children know Him as “Farmer Dooley” with Barney The Dinosaur, and he is a member of  the National Speakers Association.  Whatever the musical topic, Tanner can develope an entertaining and engaging program.

In his 37 years as a full-time entertainer, Tanner has performed for three United States Presidents, for European royalty, and for business leaders from four continents. A fifth-generation Texan from Gainesville, Tanner now makes his home in Irving, Texas, with his wife Gina and son Erik.

 Serving as Curator and Collection Manager, Jennifer Perry Thalheimer has worked at The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, Florida, for ten years. She grew up near the ruins of Laurelton Hall, Tiffany’s country home on New York’s Long Island, so her appreciation for Louis Comfort Tiffany came naturally.

Ms. Thalheimer holds a Master of Arts degree in the History of Decorative Arts from the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum/ Parsons School of Design Graduate Program in New York City, and received a Bachelor’s degree in Historic Preservation from Penn State University. She has published and lectured extensively on the subject of American decorative art and the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany. In 2006, she authored an essay in the catalogue for the exhibition Louis Comfort Tiffanyand Laurelton Hall: An Artist’s Country Estate which was held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Ann K. Wagner, Associate Curator of Decorative Arts at the Winterthur Museum and Country Estate outside Willmington, Delaware, is responsible for the collection of metalwork and other related materials. With her colleague Donald Fennimore, she co-authored the book, Silversmiths to the Nation: Thomas Fletcher and Sidney Gardiner, 1808-1842, and co-curated an exhibition of the same title, for which the curators borrowed more than 200 objects of silver and gold to chronicle the influential firm’s work. The exhibition opened in New York City at The Metropolitan  Museum of Art in 2007, was next on view at Winterthur, and closed in January 2009 at its final venue, The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Ms. Wagner organized a silver symposium at Winterthur Museum in autumn 2008 and has written articles and lectured about Fletcher & Gardiner silver, American silver, and  metalwork in the Winterthur collection to audiences from Los Angeles to Williamsburg.

A recent graduate of Winterthur’s Masters program in Early
American Material Culture with the University of Delaware, Ms.
Wagner previously earned a Master’s degree in Art History from
the University of Washington and an English Literature Bachelor’s
degree from Wheaton College (Mass.).

Prior to her appointment at Winterthur in 2004, Ms. Wagner’s
experience included four years as a curatorial assistant in the
American and European decorative arts department of the Seattle
Art Museum.