EASON EIGE
Top: Harvey, Sheldon (born 1978 Gallup, New Mexico; lives Window Rock, Arizona) Nilinigíí Baadáádoolyeed, 2005 oil on canvas, 28 x 22 1/4 in. (71.1 x 56.5 cm) Albuquerque Museum, gift of Eason Eige. PC2014.16.2 Below: Maiolica, glaze, earthenware, 1650 – 1750. 7 3/4 x 4 3/8 in. (19.7 x 11.1 cm) Albuquerque Museum, gift of Eason Eige. PC2014.2.1 Far Right: Matthew Charley, Diné Concha Belt, ca. 2015 stamped silver on leather 44 7/8 x 3 1/8 x 5/8 in. 2 7/8 x 3 ¾ in. (buckle), 3 in. diam. (each concha). Albuquerque Museum, gift of Eason Eige. PC2021.28.15
A Love of Giving Collector and curator Eason Eige has donated 399 objects to the Museum.
A
S A BOY, EASON EIGE’S
GRANDMOTHER KEPT A COLLECTION OF GLASS
ANIMALS IN A DRAWER
WINTER 2022
Art. History. People.
He would grow up to be an expert on glass, a curator, an artist, a collector, and a donor. That childhood experience
IN THE LIVING ROOM. She allowed
“taught me to take care of things that
him to take them out one-by-one, slowly
were fragile and unusual,” he says.
unwrapping them from the paper that
8
creating imaginary parades and zoos.
Eige, originally from Iowa, has spent
protected them. Young Eige—only eight
a lifetime of collecting—and donating—
years old at the time—was careful with
precious, fragile, and stunning
the precious collection, even as he was
objects. Today, he’s a major donor to