John L. Walker
U.S. Army, Vietnam War
John Lenard Walker was born on 14 January 1949 in Athens, Louisiana to J.D. Walker and Addie Graham Walker. He has a brother and sister, Bobbie Ray Owens and Rose Mary Jennings. In 1966 John graduated from Hillcrest High School, which later became Athens High School after integration. He starred on the basketball team as a guard and forward. He went to the prom with Jessie Faye Smith, a woman he would eventually marry in 2004. As Vietnam raged, John wanted to join the army. Instead of being drafted, he forged his mother's signature "because I was only 17. The recruiter knew it." John relates that the recruiter found his mother. "I'm going to go ahead and sign it just because he'll do it anyway," his mother said. John joined the army in June of 1966, and went through basic training at Fort Polk, Louisiana. To read the entire bio, click the link above.
If you or someone you know would like to share stories with us, please call (318) 865-4201 ext. 122, or contact ohp@rwnaf.org.
24 April - 26 April 2015
The R.W. Norton Art Gallery will be closed to the public Friday, 24 April, Saturday, 25 April, and Sunday, 26 April 2015 for an Education Conference.
All the News That's Fit to Print
7 March 2015 - 31 May 2015
As pundits routinely predict the demise of the daily newspaper, it's worth taking a look at the innovation they once were and what a profound effect they've had on history. In that light, the Norton presents "All the News That's Fit to Print", an exhibition of 19th-century newspaper and magazines that reported and even occasionally made the news. It's also worth noting that newspapers were not always welcomed. The first American newspaper appeared in Boston in 1690 and was immediately suppressed with its publisher arrested and all copies destroyed. The first successful paper managed to appear in 1704, heavily subsized by the colonial government (with the obvious establishment bias.)...
Many people own work by Peter Ellenshaw and aren’t even aware of it. If their personal movie collection contains works from the great films of Alexander Korda, the renowned works of Powell and Pressburger, or the entertaining movies of Walt Disney, odds are good that they own some Ellenshaw.
Around the Gallery Newsletter:
Shepherds with Sheep
by Charles-Émile Jacque
In honor of spring trying to open right outside our windows, we thought you might enjoy an overview of one of the first great landscape schools of the 19th century, the Barbizon artists of France. The Barbizon School was the name given to a group of landscapists (and later their American followers) who began their careers in France in the early19th century and congregated in the small village of Barbizon on the edge of the Forest of Fontainebleau. The movement began as a reaction against the dictates of the academic art establishment. Academic standards of the time were based upon the neo-classicism of the 18th century and insisted upon a polished finish, muted colors, historical or genre subjects, and a representational style of painting that eliminated the visible hand of the painter. Landscapes were considered, in the French term, dclass, suitable only for the under-educated middle class and not for exhibition in the Paris Salon, the juried exhibition that established an artists professional standing, or lack thereof. To read the whole article, please click on the link above.
Featured This Month:
Persian ironwood is a small, single trunk, deciduous tree eventually growing 20-40' tall or a large, multi-stemmed shrub growing to 15' tall. Flowers with dense, red stamens surrounded by brownish bracts appear in late winter to early spring before the foliage. Flowers are attractive on close inspection, but are generally considered to be somewhat insignificant. Oval to oblong leaves (to 4" long) emerge reddish-purple in spring, mature to a medium to dark green in summer and change to variable shades of yellow, orange and red in fall. Bark of mature trees exfoliates to show green, white or tan patches beneath and provides good winter interest. Best grown in average, slightly acidic, medium moisture, well-drained soils and in full sun. Tolerates light shade and a wide range of soil conditions.
