MoNAMuseum of Northwest Art 2016 ANNUAL REPORT Annual Report 2016 D.indd 24 9/25/17 11:07 AM 3 From the President MISSION STATEMENT 4 Board & Staff The Museum of Northwest Art connects people with the art, diverse cultures and environments of the Northwest. 5 Exhibitions Visitor Testimonials VISION STATEMENT 10 The Museum of Northwest Art enriches lives in our diverse community by fostering essential 11 Acquisitions conversations and encouraging creativity through exhibitions and educational activities that explore the art of the Northwest. 12 MoNA Store COLLECTIONS & EXHIBITIONS 13 Education MoNA collects and exhibits contemporary art from across the Northwest, including Alaska, British Columbia, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. 15 Year in Review 17 Supporters 22 Volunteers Annual Report 2016 D.indd 1 9/25/17 11:07 AM 17,283 visits 42,866 website visits 100% visited for free 427 155 members volunteers 1,404 32 students visited with permanent collection 76 school tours acquisitions monamuseum.org 2 Annual Report 2016 D.indd 2 9/25/17 11:07 AM FROM THE PRESIDENT It is my great pleasure to share with you some of the successes achieved in 2016, made possible by your generous support. Because of you, more members of our community have experienced Northwest art in all of its facets through museum visits, program participation, and attendance at MoNA events and celebrations. MoNA’s commitment to providing free museum admission has fostered a broader and more engaged audience, making the museum accessible to more first-time visitors than ever before. MoNA, with your support, continues to fund significant investments in programming and collections. Our comprehensive arts education program, MoNA Link, continues to increase the number of students served. Growing excitement about the Art & Science Camp has resulted in an expansion of this dynamic collaboration. We’ve acquired additional space for art conservation, exhibit preparation, and research. With your help, we added to the Museum’s expertise and capability through reorganization and new talent. Following planning and budgeting in 2016, our curatorial and collections team now includes Chloe Dye Sherpe: Curator, Kathleen Moles: Northwest Projects Curator, Deanna Lane: Consulting Collections Manager, and Stefanie Terasaki: Assistant Registrar. The team is planning ambitious exhibitions from the Museum’s permanent collection and growing our archive of artist letters, photographs, and documents. A highlight of 2016, Matched Makers: Northwest Artist Couples, featured the work of 28 couples that have shared their creative lives. Guest-curated by Vicki Halper, this special exhibition generated strong response from the press and the public. Another exceptional exhibit, Beyond Aztlan: Mexican and Chicano/a Artists in the Northwest featured works from fifteen artists who, as curator Dr. Flores stated, “challenge stereotypes and essentialist notions about ‘Mexican’ or ‘ethnic’ art.” At the annual MoNA Luminaries Awards, we had the privilege of honoring legacy artists Alfredo Arreguín, Fay and Robert Jones, Tony Angell, and Patti Warashina, along with legendary art historian Bill Holm. Awards were given to artists of promise Sutton Beres Culler, Saya Moriyasu, Denzil Hurley, and George Rodriguez, and special recognition for art history was presented to Dr. Charlotte Townsend-Gault. Your support for the Luminaries program has enabled MoNA to strengthen the connections between these generations of artists. In response to the extraordinary community response, MoNA presented our the second Surge event. Surge brought together scientists and artists who are exploring the impact of climate change on coastal communities. Through a keynote address, panel discussion, and exhibit which conveyed complex scientific concepts using powerful images, this team of artists and scientists deepened the public’s understanding of the critical issues surrounding climate change. Due to the program’s success, we will look to continue Surge presentations in the future. MoNA’s leadership is committed to its mission of connecting people to the art, diverse cultures and environments of the Northwest, and we’re looking to the future. In this past year, the Board of Trustees approved a strategic business plan connected to achievable strategic goals. We are excited to take this journey with you. On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I thank you for your continued support of MoNA. Gary Molyneaux, PhD Board President 3 2017 Annual Report Annual Report 2016 D.indd 3 9/25/17 11:07 AM BOARD & STAFF BOARD OF TRUSTEES STAFF Gary Molyneaux, PhD Christopher Shainin President Executive Director Lynn Ries Kyra Arnett Vice President Education Assistant C.J. Ebert Clara Duff Secretary Donor Relations Officer Sarah Christensen Kristine Gibbs Treasurer Consulting Archivist Deanna Lane Tom Beckwith Consulting Collections Manager Bruce Bradburn Stephanie Lark Sales Associate Tom Bucknell Keshema May Shelly Crocker MoNA Store Manager Chris Elliott Kathleen Moles Curator Northwest Legacy Projects David Hall TessaRose Petersen Betsy Humphrey Finance Manager Steve Klein Chloé Dye Sherpe Curator Gretchen McCauley Stefanie Terasaki Lorne Render Assistant Registrar Meghan Dunlap Rice Justine Thayer Cheryl Telford Communications Director Liz Theaker Development Director Jasmine Valandani Education Director Marlene Viloria Development Assistant monamuseum.org 4 Annual Report 2016 D.indd 4 9/25/17 11:07 AM WINTER EXHIBITIONS JANUARY 9 – MARCH 17 April Surgent, Antarctic Drift Ice, 2015, cameo engraving on glass, Collection of Here and There: Topographic John and Joyce Price Conversations with Morris Graves Here and There engaged viewers in a discussion between Morris Graves, eight contemporary artists, and their environments. Not only did these artists live in the same topographical regions as Graves, they were also contemplating the natural world and its ability to inspire creativity. In addition to the emphasis on physical location and presence, the exhibit inspired complicated discussions around changing environments. ARTISTS: Lanny Bergner, Eve Deisher, Lori Goodman, Morris Graves, Julie McNiel, Allen Moe, Leslie Price, Ann Chadwick Reid, Emily Silver LENDING INSTITUTION: Seattle Art Museum April Surgent: Observations of Life on Ice April Surgent’s exhibit, Observations of Life on Ice, drew heavily on Surgent’s 2013 fieldwork in the Antarctic on Anvers Island, a place agreed by many to be one of the fastest winter warming regions on earth. As Surgent noted, “the Antarctic has potential to generate significant impacts on humanity and the rest of the world; from the advanced scientific research happening there, to the changing climate that is affecting the world’s ecosystems.” Thousands of pictures and a handful of journals informed and inspired glass engravings. Appassionata: The Art of Jacqueline Barnett 1990-2015 Often used as a musical term, appassionata refers to an intensely impassioned period or person. Appassionata: The Art of Jacqueline Barnett 1990-2015 was curated by retired Seattle gallery owner Francine Seders and contained dynamic artworks that evoked both joy and pain. Featured oil paintings “reflect[ed] an intense emotional state of mind (while) their composition and play of colors gave them strength and stability,” stated Seders. Barnett used bold colors, stable compositions, and fluid brushstrokes to reflect emotions that all individuals experience. 5 2017 Annual Report Annual Report 2016 D.indd 5 9/25/17 11:07 AM SPRING EXHIBITIONS MARCH 26 – JUNE 12 Beyond Aztlán: Mexican and Chicano/a Robert Flynn: Art from the artists in the Pacific Northwest Permanent Collection Spanning the last six decades, Beyond Aztlán Robert Flynn: Art from the Permanent assembled a diversity of works by Chicana/o Collection celebrated the career of this and Mexican artists currently or formerly of prolific Pacific Northwest artist. A sculptor, the Pacific Northwest. A shared ancestry is painter and printmaker, Flynn is self-trained the common bond that links these artists, and and taught at both a junior college and a night most paid homage to their cultural heritage school. While Flynn’s pictorial style originally through the use of certain themes, icons, drew him to sign painting, he ultimately left and motifs. Nevertheless, despite their joint this profession. With tremendous support legacy, individual experiences, sensibilities from his wife Sharon, he devoted his time fully and identities varied enormously, challenging to making art. The exhibit included selections stereotypes and essentialist notions about of both sculpture and paintings, many of “Mexican” or “ethnic” art. which are abstract. ARTISTS: Cecilia C. Alvarez, Alfredo Arreguin, Arturo ARTISTS: Robert Flynn, Guy Anderson, Philip Artorez, Paul Berger, Mark Calderon, Daniel Carrillo, McCracken, George Tsutakawa, Harold Balazs, Mark Daniel DeSiga, Alma R. Gomez, Boyer Gonzales, Jr., Tobey, John Franklin Koenig, Paul Horiuchi Jesus Guillen, Fulgencio Lazo, Jesus Mena Amaya, George Rodriguez, Jose Luis Rodriguez Guerra, Ruben Trejo GUEST CURATOR: Lauro Flores The last museum exhibition of LENDING INSTITUTIONS: Larson Gallery & Jacob “Chicano” art in the Northwest was Lawrence Gallery over 30 years ago. Let us hope that SPONSOR: KeyBank Foundation Beyond Aztlán stimulates new exhibitions of these exciting artists sooner than that. Art Access, 2016 Alfredo Arreguin, Migration, 2016, oil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist. monamuseum.org 6 Annual Report 2016 D.indd 6 9/25/17