GIVING FOR ART'S SAKE

Alice O’Connor’s relationship with UMD’s Tweed Museum of Art began when she was a young girl, exploring her grandparent’s home. When Alice visited, she often viewed the large art collection, which had been assembled by her grandfather, George P. Tweed. In fact, she thought she was the subject of David Ericson’s painting, “Boy in a Boat.” Now a Tweed Museum advisory board member, Alice regularly sees the collection she knew as a child, because 500 pieces of French and American art were donated to UMD by her grandmother, Alice Tweed Tuohy, in the years after her husband’s death. Alice Tweed Tuohy also made a donation of her Duluth home which housed the Tweed museum in its early years. Asked to join the museum advisory board after she and her brother, John T. Brickson, purchased 13 Picasso prints for the Tweed collection, Alice O’Connor is committed to her position, making the drive from Minneapolis for each meeting. “I really liked my grandmother — she was a unique, fun woman — so maybe I’m doing this for her,” Alice said. Alice appreciates the Tweed exhibits, and she commends the Tweed staff for balancing local and national perspectives. As chair of the Tweed Advisory Board development committee, she has helped to focus board attention on raising support for the remodeling of presentation displays of ceramics and Native American arts, and that’s a gift for art’s sake.