Museum of Collectibles & Curiosities

The Museum of Collectibles & Curiosities was created in 2015 as a tribute to native Austin artist, Patricia Duncan Brown, who attended the University of Texas, and graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art with top honors, and scholarship awards providing her with grants to travel within the US and abroad, for the purpose of visiting art museums.

After graduation, Patricia traveled throughout the US, from coast to coast, on an NEA grant. Next, she traveled throughout much of Europe, on the George Gund Foundation award. One Gund award is given each year to the top graduating student. At the end of her European travels, instead of returning immediately to the US, she turned her sights eastward, to Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. There she lived, made, and taught art, and learned ethnic cooking, delaying her return to the US and Texas for an additional 2 years.

Patricia was especially fond of tiny objects, of all sorts. Her passion to collect began at a very early age, and many of the items on display in this museum have been in her collections for a half century, and longer.