The community is invited to a public opening for the “Freak Power” exhibit in the Wheeler/Stallard Museum and the Robert Chamberlain photographic display in the Community Gallery in the Archive Building.
This free event will include remarks from the AHS Curator Lisa Hancock, tours of the exhibit and display, and Freak Power book signing by author and curator DJ Watkins.
The Wheeler/Stallard house is a Queen Anne style Victorian built in 1888 by Jerome B. Wheeler. Edgar and Mary Ella Stallard moved into the house in 1905, purchased it in 1917, and the family lived there for 40 years. The house last served as the residence of the Aspen Institute’s president before the Aspen Historical Society purchased it in 1969 and converted it into a house museum and organization headquarters.
The second floor of the museum features exhibit space, with “Freak Power: Hunter Thompson’s Campaign for Sheriff” on display for the 2018 summer season. AHS has partnered with Freak Power curator Daniel Watkins to share a special selection of the exhibition’s 125 pieces alongside select artifacts from the AHS Collection.
The exhibition chronicles a little-known period in the gonzo journalists’ life through original material from the 1970 campaign, photographs, and political art, telling the story of his plan to transform Aspen from a conservative mining town into a mecca for artists and activists. What started as a satirical campaign for sheriff fueled a local political and social movement that connected to a national undercurrent. As weird a tale as his own works of fiction, Thompson’s campaign may have been his most thought-provoking and impactful escapade of all.
