Presented by Rockford Art Museum, this engaging after-hours program features a rare Q&A session with Dick Behr and Tom Furst, two local businessmen whose passion for art extends beyond their own collections. Whether you’re a beginning, novice or expert collector, this intimate, candid conversation with Behr and Furst—as they generously share their personal collecting experiences—will leave you looking at art in a new way. “The Art of Collecting: A Conversation with Collectors Dick Behr and Tom Furst” takes place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 5 at Rockford Art Museum, 711 N. Main St., Rockford; free admission, open to public.
THE ART OF COLLECTING:
A CONVERSATION WITH
COLLECTORS DICK BEHR + TOM FURST
WED, AUG 5 | 7 PM, FREE ADMISSION
ROCKFORD ART MUSEUM
711 NORTH MAIN STREET, ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS
Presented by Rockford Art Museum, this engaging after-hours program features a rare Q&A session with Dick Behr and Tom Furst, two local businessmen whose passion for art extends beyond their own collections. Whether you’re a beginning, novice or expert collector, this intimate, candid conversation with Behr and Furst—as they generously share their personal collecting experiences—will leave you looking at art in a new way. “The Art of Collecting: A Conversation with Collectors Dick Behr and Tom Furst” takes place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 5, at Rockford Art Museum, 711 N. Main St., Rockford; free admission, open to public.
ABOUT THE COLLECTORS
Dick Behr is chairman of the board of Rockford-based Joseph Behr and Sons, founded by his grandfather in 1906 and a global leader in the recycling industry. First elected to the Rockford Art Museum Board of Trustees in 1968, and Trustee Emeritus since 2011, he has also served on the boards of local landmark institutions Alpine Bank, Anderson Japanese Gardens, Rockford Health System, Rockford University, and many more.
Behr has been instrumental during key phases of RAM throughout its history – and has provided support for the creation, acquisition, transportation, storage, refurbishment and/or installation of an astonishing number of public sculptures throughout Rockford. Those works include Liberman’s Symbol, Nierman’s Flame, McCauley’s Inlet Markers, Horvath’s Suspended Motion, Julin’s The Big Chair and Engman’s Untitled 1 (Snowplow), among many others, as well as the nine pieces that comprise the temporary public art program currently installed in downtown Rockford.
Tom Furst is founder of Rockford-based FurstSearch, an executive recruiting firm that is nationally known for excellence in management search. A former longtime member of the Rockford Art Museum Board of Trustees and past chair of the Rosecrance Health Network Board of Directors, he currently serves on the boards of the of the Kelley-Williamson Company, Furst McNess Company, and Bates Financial Services. He is also an elder and president of the congregation at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Rockford. Furst’s involvement with RAM was essential to the museum’s landmark 2004 exhibition Reuniting an Era: Abstract Expressionists of the 1950s that earned accolades nationwide.
Behr and Furst were part of the committee—alongside members of the Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, Rockford Art Museum, Rockford Park District, and Rockford Area Arts Council—that recently secured the temporary installation in downtown Rockford of public art by two lauded New York artists, Boaz Vaadia and Hans Van de Bovenkamp.
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