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OBSESSIONS. DECORATION. SALIENT FACTS. 30 O ne of fall's highlights in the Texas museum community is the reopening of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. An 11-month refresh of the modernist, circa-1961 Philip Johnson– designed building promises state-of-the- art lighting, improved sightlines, moveable walls, handsome new hardwood flooring, and expanded storage for the museum's signature photography department, whose holdings number 45,000 prints spanning the history of the medium. The reborn building will be celebrated with a day-to-evening Party on the Porch Saturday, September 14. A flurry of special exhibitions also marks the occasion. The most seminal of these signifies diversity and offers discoveries about barrier-breaking magazine photographer Gordon Parks (1912-2006) — a National Medal of the GET YOUR KICKS IN THE LENS: AMERICAN MASTER AT THE REBORN CARTER TOP LEFT IMAGE: PRIVATE COLLECTION, COURTESY OF AND © THE GORDON PARKS FOUNDATION GEORGE EASTMAN MUSEUM, COURTESY OF AND © THE GORDON PARKS FOUNDATION W e p r e d i c t a s t a m p e d e t o M u l e A l l e y , t h e 1 8 0 , 0 0 0 square feet of horse and mule barns being restored and reimagined as a mixed-use community, retail, and dining destination within the historic Fort Worth Stockyards. Stockyards Heritage Development Co. recently announced that leases were inked for several new tenants. Lucchese Bootmaker opens two outposts in Mule Alley: a boutique on Exchange Avenue, plus the first Lucchese Collection store, which offers custom-fit apparel and made-to-order boots, located in the much-anticipated Hotel Drover. Also in the hotel is Little White Lies, an artisan boutique with apparel and accessories. Shoppers can stop into MB Mercantile & Supply, an old-fashioned general store-inspired concept stocking apothecary items, confections, and artisan-made gifts. New watering holes have been added to the mix as well, including DFW- owned The Biscuit Bar, serving casual Southern fare, and Sidesaddle Saloon, a shotgun-style craft cocktail bar by Neon Light District Hospitality, the group behind Taco Heads and Tinie's Mexican Rotisserie. Putting a perfectly Fort Worth spin on the food truck concept, Mule Alley visitors can grab a bite from a tricked-out horse trailer: Deputy Doggie will serve Texas-style hot dogs by Hotel Drover's executive chef Jenna Kinard, and Buckaroo Banana plans to serve up frozen bananas and tasty toppings. Mule Alley, 122 E. Exchange Ave, mulealleyfortworth.com. Lisa Collins Shaddock Arts lensman, activist for social justice and civil rights, and polymath talent who directed one of Hollywood's first blaxploitation films, Shaft. The exhibition, organized in collaboration with The Gordon Parks Foundation, travels from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., with 150 images from the first decade of Parks' 60-year career, including portraits of black working-class heroes, from a D.C. charwoman haloed by the American flag to dashing World War II Tuskegee airman Lt. George Knox. "Gordon Parks: The New Tide, Early Work 1940-1950," September 14 – December 29; fall exhibition lineup, member events, and opening-day details cartermuseum.org. Catherine D. Anspon Clockwise from top left, all at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art: Gordon Parks' Self-Portrait, 1941; Gordon Parks' Grain Boat taking on a load of wheat, Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada, October 1945; Gordon Parks' Washington (southwest section), D.C. Negro woman in her bedroom, November 1942. Hotel Drover at Mule Alley at the Fort Worth Stockyards