The MAW Gallery

Meet The MAW Gallery named after Myrtle Agnew Walker, a talented artist who promoted art, education, and children. She loved art and enjoyed sharing it with people of any age to improve their love of sculptures, paintings, and other artwork (The MAW Gallery, n.d.). Walker wanted to be an artist when she was a kid. During her senior year of Kirkwood High School, Kirkwood Missouri (Mo.,) Northwestern University awarded her a scholarship focused on her artistic skills, exceptional in the 1930s. The award covered her tuition. However, it did not pay for Myrtle’s books, materials, or her room and board. Walker later became an amazing philanthropist since she and her spouse began a successful company (The MAW Gallery, n.d.). Through her scholarship program, she has offered over 200 pupils an opportunity to follow their artistic dream plus education that they couldn’t have. Myrtle Walker and her partner generously supported other charitable projects, including children’s art studios and the scholarship program (The MAW Gallery, n.d.). Long-time business partners, she and her husband, left an international corporation for their family, showing Myrtle was a successful businesswoman. Walker was also a devoted mother, and she raised her family by being active in the community leadership and girls scouts. Her children grew up knowing their mother as a Sunday school teacher and a Vacation Bible School and hospital sewing ladies’ organiser, a church sewing and quilt-making organizer, and a board member (The MAW Gallery, n.d.). Walker had seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. At 95, Walker died after a lifetime of creating and installing art in unexpected locations where people could get them. They include the “Myrtle's Turtles” that are huge bronze sculptures installed at The University of Texas at Austin Nursing School and are also found in other areas of the United States (The MAW Gallery, n.d.). In 2015, Myrtle Walker received a Missouri Arts Award in Philanthropy and the Missouri Art Education "Art for the Heart" award. In 2018, Dr. Mary Walker, her daughter, opened the MAW Gallery, taking on her mother’s quest for spreading joy and beauty through art (The MAW Gallery, n.d). Reference