Picture, for a moment, all of the things you have tucked away in the basement or attic -- heirlooms, occasional-use items such as holiday ornaments, gifts that have sentimental value but don't fit your decor, clothing temporarily out of fashion, objects you love but don't have room to display.

Then imagine inviting someone to make over your house using only those items. You can bet your home would have a different feel even though every component of its new look was something you were familiar with.

In a way, that's what the Westmoreland Museum of American Art did for "Four Perspectives on Fifty Years," and the results are insightful, surprising, revealing and even fun.

For the final exhibition of its 50th anniversary year, the Westmoreland decided to try something different from a more typical curator-organized show, which would likely be guided by art historical valuations and the museum's specific mission.

Instead, it invited four individuals who are not museum staff, but who represent significant parts of any museum's constituency, to probe that portion of the permanent collection that is in storage for works worthy of attention during this golden anniversary.

A well-managed collection will reflect and support a museum's mission, but gallery space, scheduling and educational concerns limit how much of it is displayed at a given time. Some objects may be so esoteric that they are sought mostly by researchers. Others, such as works on paper, are susceptible to damage by light and so must be "rested" between exhibitions.

Thus, a rich and eclectic array of works was available to the guest curators: artist Adrienne Heinrich, collector Marty O'Brien, critic Graham Shearing and patron Anne Robertshaw.

The result is four distinct shows, within a larger umbrella, that individually and collectively illustrate the remarkable breadth of the museum's collection through treasures that don't neatly fit within exhibitions having more historic or scholarly leans. Some have never been previously exhibited.

Robertshaw, who moved to Greensburg in 1950, pays tribute to fellow resident Mary Marchand Woods, who bequeathed her estate to the establishment of the museum. It opened in 1959 with four Victorian settings, and they are the inspiration for Robertshaw's warm, lilac-walled period room that includes Cecilia Beaux's Victorian sofa and her circa 1918 painting, "Still Life With Fruit."

Note also the circa 1923 photograph of Woods with her ambassador husband in Japan, Hiroshi Yoshida's 1928 woodblock print "Evening in Pittsburgh," and the decorative "Butterfly" (1892) by Albert Bierstadt, known for his transcendental Western landscapes.

Museum chief curator Barbara Jones invited participants to supplement from their own collections to give visitors a sense of what inspired them to create their exhibitions, and all save O'Brien did so.

Shearing, whose longstanding suggestion to the museum that it do a show inspired by Andy Warhol's unorthodox 1969 exploration of the Rhode Island School of Design collection was a catalyst for "Four Perspectives," champions the figure.

A congenital wit and connoisseur, Shearing combines the fluid draftsmanship of Frederick Demmler, who died too young, and Paul Cadmus, hung among a wall of works on paper of mostly nudes, with fine sculpture such as Stanley Bleifeld's foreboding 1965 "The Waiter." But he also allows the humor of the likes of Robert Gwathmey's 1935 "The Chauffeur," and he perceptively introduces John Donaghy's unsettling 19th-century genre paintings.

Perhaps most revealing of this cosmopolitan aesthete is his own elegant and tiny 16th-century print, "Scorpio," Shearing's zodiacal sign, that links him to the continuum of history from whence all else rises.

O'Brien also has chosen from the museum's solid works on paper collection to make two distinguished mini-exhibitions themed "Urban Settings With Figures" -- my own favorite being Robert Riggs' "The Pool," showing a crowd of gangly naked boys, all energy and awkwardness, awaiting their turn to swim -- and "In the Ring: Boxing and Wrestling," exuding sweat and tension, which also includes Walker Kirtland Hancock's idealized bronze, "Amateur Boxer."

But most laudably, O'Brien makes argument for the overdue recognition of Greensburg artist Dorothy Lauer Davids (1905-80) through seven genre paintings that epitomize the 1930s and '40s, and archival materials.

Finally, Heinrich, who was the first to receive the Westmoreland's Exhibition Award in 1996, features works by women artists, beginning with the social commentary of Virginia Cuthbert's 1937 painting "Slum Clearance on Ruch's Hill, Pittsburgh" and a 19th-century "Crazy Quilt," and including an intimate, abstracted "Figure Drawing" by Eva Hesse and the book "Holy Cats by Andy Warhol's Mother." Heinrich brings the exhibition full circle with engaging works by contemporary local artists Aaronel deRoy Gruber, Jane Haskell, Diane Samuels and herself, subtly acknowledging the continuing vibrancy of the collection.

The guest curators brought unique expertise, respect for the visual arts, and admiration for this institution to the task, which involved long hours of preparation and investigation, in collaboration with Jones and Westmoreland collections manager Douglas Evans. All the rest of us have to do is enjoy.

"Perspectives" continues through Jan. 3 at 221 N. Main St., Greensburg, as does "James Osher: Three Seconds With the Masters." Heinrich, O'Brien and Shearing will give a gallery talk at 7 p.m. Dec. 3; Osher at 7 p.m. Nov. 5 (free). Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday and until 9 p.m. Thursday. Admission is $5 suggested donation, free for children younger than 12 and students. For information, call 724-837-1500 or visit www.wmuseumaa.org.

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.