Gainesville Artwalk

Artwalk Gainesville is a free monthly self-guided tour that combines exciting visual art, live performance, and events in downtown Gainesville, Florida.

Held the last Friday of each month from 7 to 10 pm, with many local galleries, eateries and businesses participating, Artwalk is an exciting, fun way to experience the amazing wealth of creativity the Gainesville community has to offer.​​

Step into Florida history at Artwalk on Friday, June 27, 2014 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Discover portraits of Florida’s early years at the Matheson Museum’s current exhibition entitled A Penny for Your Thoughts. The gallery of the Matheson Museum will open at 7:00 pm, when participants will have their last opportunity to browse the temporary exhibition which highlights the museum’s collection of over 20,000 postcards. At 7:30 pm, Dr. Mark V. Barrow and Murray Laurie will discuss the process of writing the book A Penny for Your Thoughts, which was the basis for the Matheson Museum’s exhibition. At 8:00 pm, local historian Sharon Bauer will lead a tour of the temporary exhibition and will discuss how postcards provide a pictorial history of Alachua County. This event is free and open to the public. Free parking and refreshments will also be available. For more information, see the press release and photographs that are both attached and below. 

About the Speakers:
Dr. Mark V. Barrow has collected postcards for almost half a century. In 1996, he donated 1,600 postcards to the Matheson Museum. He is a retired cardiologist and founder of the Matheson Museum. He was in the first graduating class of the University of Florida College of Medicine and ran his own medical practice for many decades. He continues to be instrumental in historic preservation in the Gainesville community.

For over twenty years Murray Laurie has been documenting, recording and investigating the history of Alachua County. She wrote or co-wrote seven books and numerous articles on historical sites in Florida. She has served as president of the Matheson Museum. In 2009, Dr. Barrow and Ms. Laurie produced A Penny for Your Thoughts, which was the basis for the current exhibition at the Matheson Museum.

Sharon Bauer began researching genealogy and history after buying her first house 10 years ago. She is a Matheson Museum volunteer and was the library district’s Volunteer of the Year in 2010. She works in Information Technology at the University of Florida, and has a B.S. in News-Editorial Journalism from UF and an M.P.A. in Management Information Systems from USF.

About the exhibition A Penny for Your Thoughts:
The Matheson Museum’s temporary exhibition entitled A Penny for Your Thoughts will close on Thursday, June 26, 2014. There will be an exhibition closing ceremony on Friday, June 27, 2014 at 7:00 pm where the public will have their last opportunity to browse the exhibition. Postcards were the Facebook, Twitter and email of the early twentieth century. Although the twentieth century saw a postcard phase sweeping the world, these postcards also provide a pictorial history of Alachua County. Take a journey back in time and see the evolution of the University of Florida. Browse postcards of the industries that invented and in many cases reinvented the Gainesville community, such as turpentine, phosphate, and tung oil. View postcards of the region’s natural wonders, including the Devil’s Millhopper, Alachua Sink and Paynes Prairie. Read the personal stories of some of the first people to use this early form of mass communication. This exhibition is a sample of the 20,000 postcards in the Matheson Museum collection. The exhibition is made possible in part by a Tourism Product Development Grant.

info at artwalkgainesville.com