A sense of discovery.

• Author: Ferling, Rhona L.
• Position: Corporate Gallery: The Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Collection

Every time you turn a corner at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale in Scottsdale, Ariz., you come across a piece of art that intrigues you in some way - whether it's a display of feather masks, a bold abstract painting or a pair of hand-carved dragons. You never know what you're going to see next, but you have an inkling it won't be just another tired landscape.

But this diverse collection is no hodgepodge. In fact, it's been carefully designed to appeal to as many of the hotel guests as possible, including children. For Bernice Rhodes, who developed the collection for the Hyatt, that meant instilling a sense of whimsy and fun, like placing a venerable antique carousel horse in the lobby (the hotel site was once an Arabian horse farm), where it serves as a central rendezvous point for guests. And then there's the Indonesian elephant puppet near the main staircase, not to mention the pre-Columbian masks at the registration desk and two carved wooden deer on the stair landings.

Another goal in creating the collection was "to subtly emphasize the beauty of the location without making this solely a Southwestern art collection. The collection has strong contemporary and ethnographic streaks, and many of the pieces use typical Southwestern colors," Rhodes says. For example, the painting "Cherokee Secrets," by Rita Dibert, which the hotel commissioned, is an abstract work, but its luminous colors and textures are reminiscent of the surrounding landscape, thanks to the artist's extensive research on the geography of the Southwest.

The hotel conducts a tour for guests every Friday morning, and outside groups can also view the collection by special arrangement. Three part-time docents, all of whom have extensive art-history background, lead the tours and answer any questions about...