Artist of the Month

Click here to return to directory of artists.

---

June 2006: Barbara B. and Ronald David Balser

Barbara B. and Ronald Davis Balser Establish the Balser Art Collection in the Goizueta Business School at Emory University

Atlantans Ron and Barbara Balser firmly believe that business knowledge alone does not make a leader. "You should be well-rounded in all forms of visual and performing arts," Mrs. Balser explains. "Art teaches one to observe details and to further expand one’s mind." The Balsers generously agreed to support the establishment of the Balser Art Collection to provide Goizueta Business School’s students, faculty, and visiting executives, as well as the entire Emory community, with a diversified cultural and educational resource. The collection of more than 180 pieces of art opened to the public on April 20, 2006, and is permanently on view in the new addition. Consisting of artwork that the Balsers selected for the building and donated, the collection includes works by Braque, Chagall, Dali, Hockney, Lichtenstein, Oldenberg, Picasso, Rauschenberg, Tamayo, Lipchitz, Miro, Murakami, and Warhol.

Having two daughters and a son-in-law that are alumni of Emory — Ginger Balser Reid (1993, Emory College), Laura Balser (2001, MBA, Goizueta Business School), Major Matthew D. Smith (2001, MBA, Goizueta Business School; married to Laura) — inspired the Balsers to provide art to “expand the realm of the possible” for other Emory students, and to enhance the national and international image of the University. They also saw the Goizueta Foundation Center for Research and Doctoral Education as a 90,000-square-foot “captivating canvas in itself, awaiting the right accoutrement.”

Not only has Ron Balser proven his artful collecting abilities through the four months of rigorous work he and Barbara Balser spent establishing the collection, but the new collection also includes four of his own photographs as well as four granite benches he designed. The photography series, “Mountain Men Rendezvous,” was inspired by his observations of an annual Santa Fe tradition, the Mountain Man Trade Fair, that recreates the time period of traders and trappers. He wanted to recapture in his photography the gathering’s rhythm, patterns, textures, and contrasts. One of the photographs, “Pistol,” shows a man holding a pistol in his hands; on his bent head he wears a cowboy hat that obscures his face, which adds an aura of isolation to the picture. Mr. Balser etched the granite benches with his own words of wisdom — “instructions for life and leadership,” according to Mrs. Balser. One of the benches, for example, reads “Go forth without delay into the uncharted to receive your reward.”

Barbara Balser took political science classes at Emory University to complete the requirements for her degree in public relations from Boston University and has served on the Goizueta Business School Advisory Board since 1999. Ron and Barbara Balser are co-chairs and CEOs of Balser Companies, which advises public and private companies on company-sponsored executive benefit plans designed to recruit, reward, and retain management teams and help them reach their personal financial goals.

Back to Top

---