About the panelists:

Brett Harper is the owner and director of the Harper family art studio, where he has guided the company for more than three decades. He oversees the selection of Charley and Edie Harper images for reproduction, determines the products on which they appear, and grants the licenses best suited to their mid-century modernist work. 

Named after the photographer Brett Weston, he has collaborated with major museums on high-profile exhibitions across the United States and internationally, drawing from the studio’s extensive archives to advance the Harper legacy. A graduate of Brown University with a bachelor’s degree in English and a self-taught artist, Brett lives in the Lebanon, Ohio, area with his wife, Sandra.

Maynard has written more than a dozen books focused on wildlife and conservation. His most recent work, Hope for Animals & Their World, was coauthored with primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall. For many years, he also brought science and environmental stories to audiences nationwide through his long-running public radio program, The 90-Second Naturalist. 

Maynard’s travels have spanned five continents in support of biological diversity, natural history, and wildlife conservation—efforts that earned him membership in the prestigious Explorers Club. He is an active member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and serves on the Board of Trustees for the Margo Marsh Biodiversity Foundation, a Washington, D.C.–based organization dedicated to primate conservation. 

Born and raised in central Florida, Maynard earned a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and a master’s degree in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources. 

Tamera Lenz Muente, curator at the Taft Museum of Art, led the curatorial team that organized Edie McKee Harper: Modernist at Play. Muente has installed more than 50 exhibitions of American and European paintings, prints, and photography since she joined the curatorial staff in 2006. Since 2020, Muente organized A Splendid Century: Cincinnati Art 1820–1920, which received the Excellence in Label Writing award from the Alliance of American Museums, contributed to Taft Museum of Art: Highlights from the Collection, and co-curated two exhibitions featuring new interpretation of the Taft collection. She has written for The Artist’s Magazine, Pastel Journal, and Watercolor Artist; authored essays for artists’ catalogues; published a historical novel (The Boy at the Museum, 2014; audiobook produced in 2025); and most recently wrote a chapter on Cincinnati art for Collecting Art: Reflections on Work at the University of Cincinnati (UC Press, 2025). She holds a BA in English from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and an MA in art history from the University of Cincinnati.   

This program takes place in the Fath Auditorium.

American Sign Language interpretation will be provided by Ghostlight Artistic Interpreting.

If you need accessibility accommodations, please contact us in advance at [email protected] or fill out the accessibility request form.