Museum Case

Will Hawkins is the Museum Coordinator at the Tuscaloosa Museum of Art, home of The Westervelt Collection. Mr. Hawkins graduated from Huntington College in Montgomery, AL with a degree in History. After college, he began working in the restaurant industry and continued for 15 years. While working in Tuscaloosa, he began volunteering with the Tuscaloosa Museum of Art, and shortly after, he was hired as a member of the staff and worked his way up to becoming the Museum Coordinator.

The Tuscaloosa Museum of Art houses The Westervelt Collection comprised of approximately 1000 works of fine and decorative arts. The collection was amassed by Jack Warner as investments for Gulf States Paper, now the Westervelt Company. Operating under a nonprofit foundation, the museum was asked by the Westervelt Company to share its collection with the community. Being a collection that was pieced together simply by the tastes of one man, the Westervelt Collection is remarkably cohesive. Hawkins stated that's he is always amazed at the story told through the pieces of art. There are four paid staff members at the museum. Mr. Hawkins and Kathy Thurman are the only two professional staff members. The museum employs two part-time college students.

Mr. Hawkins’s duties as Museum Coordinator include a very wide range of daily tasks. From handling the art to training docents and from scheduling tours to giving them himself, Hawkins’s day is packed with many different tasks. The museum has gone through quite a few changes since Hawkins has been on board, including two making two major moves. Hawkins has greatly enjoyed being with the museum through so much transition and feels that he has learned a great deal about the growth of an organization in his five years of working for the Tuscaloosa Museum of Art.

When asked what parts of his job he would have liked to have been trained more for, Hawkins said, "Everything. Everything except research." Hawkins's degree in history prepared him for the research necessary to make sure that information in the museum is accurate. However, not having a background in museum studies, Hawkins said that training for almost all of his other duties as Museum Coordinator came from on-the-job experiences at the museum and professional development conferences.

Hawkins recalled his first day as a volunteer at the museum. Jack Warner asked him to relocate two large paintings, and he did so as if they were “just any old pieces of art in [his] living room.” Hawkins said that much has changed in his dealings with the pieces themselves. Every bit of his knowledge about handling art has come from his experience at the Tuscaloosa Museum of Art.

Mr. Hawkins and Ms. Thurman attend two major professional development conferences each year, one put on by the Southeastern Museums Conference and another by the Alabama Museums Association. Hawkins has previously