A respected museum director, Joel A. Bartsch has a three-decade history with the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS). He started at the museum in 1991 and served as a curator, director of Earth sciences, and project manager, until 2004. Joel Bartsch currently serves as the museum’s president and CEO.
HMNS is bringing Dreher Masterworks to visitors through May 29, 2023. The exhibition showcases prized carved gemstones produced by the Dreher family in Idar-Oberstein, Germany. The pieces are carved in gems such as rubies, aquamarine, obsidian, and topaz. Generations of the Dreher family have been producing animal sculptures using valuable gemstones since 1861. The family's favorite gemstone is natural agate from Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil.
To comply with the rules of the museum, guests are asked to avoid using flashlights or taking flash pictures at any of the exhibition spaces at HMNS, including the Dreher Masterworks exhibition. Guests are allowed to take pictures with flash only in the Grand Hall and in the rainforest at the Cockrell Butterfly Center. This rule was created with the sole purpose of preserving the quality of displayed items.
