For the past nine years, the Frank L. Melega Art Museum in Brownsville has named an Artist of the Pike and exhibited that artist's works at the historic Flatiron Building in conjunction with the National Road Festival.

This year, museum director Patrick Daugherty has taken a new direction by naming an art collector instead of an artist as the 2009 Artist of the Pike.

"Collecting art is also an art," said Mr. Daugherty, in reference to this year's honoree, Uniontown entrepreneur and art aficionado Christopher D. Decker, who died last year. "The creative demands to appreciate art can match those needed to create it."

Starting with an opening reception from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and continuing through July 29, 16 works from Mr. Decker's collection will be on display at the museum and feature regional artists such as Ray Forquer and William Marsteller.

"The exhibition makes a statement about the accomplished artists from our area and the importance of collecting them," Mr. Daugherty said.

According to Nancy Decker, the collector's widow, Mr. Decker's interest in acquiring work by local artists started soon after he opened Laurel Business Institute in Uniontown in 1985.

"While vice president of human resources at the Gallatin Bank in Uniontown, Chris said he had trouble hiring good secretaries," Mrs. Decker said. "Being the businessman he was, he formed the business institute to train them, let me manage the enterprise and joined me as institute president two years later."

After the institute outgrew the initial site on the eighth floor of the Gallatin Bank Building, the Deckers moved it in 1990 to the West Penn Trolley Building in Uniontown. To decorate the walls, the Deckers began buying regional art with a transportation theme or with a historical bent. From there, the collection expanded to include other themes such as florals and landscapes, but the work was always by regional artists, including Nat Youngblood, Robert Griffing, John Buxton and James Sulkowski.

"The first two works we purchased were a pair of acrylics by Washington artist Ray Forquer titled 'The Wanderer,' a depiction of a man walking along the National Road, and 'Pack Train,' a mule train traveling over the same historic roadway," Mrs. Decker said. "Over the years, we added watercolors, prints, more acrylics, even photographs, the majority of which hang in the institute with a dozen or so displayed in our home."

Mr. Forquer met Mr. Decker when Mr. Decker asked him to paint a portrait of his father, the late Milt Decker, the legendary football and track coach at Trinity High School in North Franklin.

"As a student at Trinity, I had the opportunity to be on Milt Decker's track team, so it was a commission I enjoyed doing," Mr. Forquer said. "From that point on, Chris and his wife, Nancy, became my friends and patrons. Eventually they collected some of my landscapes and historical subjects along with having their portraits painted. The latter were commissions I was honored to create."

Mr. Forquer also said the local art community was blessed to have had Mr. Decker with his eye for the fine arts and his willingness to support the artists of the region by building a collection that many in the public are able to see and enjoy.

In addition to 16 works from the Decker Collection, the Melega Art Museum exhibit will include works by artists represented in the collection. These related pieces will be available for purchase.

Mrs. Decker said she intends to add to the works she and her husband have accumulated over the years.

"I love art and want to purchase more by artists from this area," she said. "My husband and I both felt we were lucky to have so many wonderful artists in our region working in such a wide range of styles and subject matter."

The 2009 Artist of the Pike exhibit will be held Saturday through July 25 at the Frank L. Melega Art Museum in the historic Flatiron Building, 69 Market St., Brownsville. Admission is free. For hours, directions or more information, call 724-785-9331 or visit www.melegaartmuseum.org.