TYLER, TX.- The Tyler Museum of Art spotlights 25 years in the evolution of its Permanent Collection while paying homage to two of its most generous benefactors with its next major exhibition, Devotion: The Impact of Amy & Vernon Faulconer on Our Collection. The exhibition opens to the public on Friday, Aug. 19 and continues through Nov. 27 at the TMA, 1300 S. Mahon Ave. on the Tyler Junior College main campus. Admission is free.

TMA members and special guests are invited for a first look at the exhibition during the Preview Reception from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18 at the Museum. To RSVP or for information on becoming a TMA member, call (903) 595-1001.

Organized by the TMA, Devotion features 24 works from the Museum’s Permanent Collection – all by artists with strong connections to Texas – that either were purchased by or acquired as a direct result of the generosity of Amy and the late Vernon Faulconer, who initiated the Dallas project The Warehouse with Howard Rachofsky in 2012 and was named one of the top 200 art collectors in the world by Art News Magazine in 201, Executive Director Chris Leahy said. “Perhaps more than any individual donors in our 45-year history, Amy and Vernon were responsible for the TMA’s evolution from an exhibition-only museum to a collecting institution. Beginning with the acquisition of Terry Allen’s landmark Iron Triangle in 1986, shortly after Vernon came on as president of our Board of Trustees, their encouragement and financial support helped us build one of the most impressive permanent collections in the state of Texas.”

Devotion marks the first time this selection of Permanent Collection works have been gathered together in a single exhibition. In addition to Allen, featured artists in the exhibition include David Bates, Vernon Fisher, Joseph Glasco, Karl Umlauf, and Tyler’s William Montgomery and Graydon Parrish.

“Vernon Faulconer’s untimely passing last August was a profound loss for our community and the art world, and this exhibition is a way for us to honor his memory and celebrate the legacy that Amy continues,” Leahy said. “Devotion is a tribute to and a celebration of a couple whose far-reaching influence as art collectors was surpassed only by their thoughtful philanthropy.”