THE GEORGIA O’KEEFFE MUSEUM MAGAZINE
2O years: Looking back, heading forward
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2OTH ANNIVERSARY SPONSORS The Museum gratefully acknowledges the support of these sponsors for making 20th-anniversary events possible.
PRESENTING SPONSORS
SIGNATURE SPONSORS
BUSINESS SUPPORTER New Mexico Magazine Bank of America
GEORGIA O’KEEFFE MUSEUM BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2O16–17 Roxanne Decyk, Chair Chicago, IL; Santa Fe, NM Jack L. Kinzie, President Dallas, TX; Santa Fe, NM Jane Bagwell, Treasurer Santa Fe, NM Ramona Sakiestewa, Secretary Santa Fe, NM Elaine B. Agather Dallas, TX Ronald D. Balser Atlanta, GA; Santa Fe, NM Deborah A. Beck River Hills, WI; Santa Fe, NM Nancy D. Carney Houston, TX; Santa Fe, NM Julie Spicer England Dallas, TX Felicitas Funke Ketchum, ID Susan J. Hirsch Dallas, TX; Santa Fe, NM Donald D. Humphreys Dallas, TX John L. Marion Fort Worth, TX; Santa Fe, NM Deborah A. Peacock Albuquerque, NM Gary “Skip” Poliner Santa Fe, NM Christine Schuepbach Dallas, TX Barton E. Showalter Dallas, TX Marilynn J. Thoma Chicago, IL; Santa Fe, NM Joanna Lerner Townsend Dallas, TX; Santa Fe, NM David L. Warnock Baltimore, MD Robert A. Kret, ex officio Santa Fe, NM Anne W. Marion Founder and Chair Emeritus Fort Worth, TX; Santa Fe, NM Laura Bush, Honorary Dallas, TX Saul Cohen, Honorary Santa Fe, NM Lee E. Dirks, Honorary Lahaina, HI; Santa Fe, NM Emily Fisher Landau, Honorary New York, NY; Palm Beach, FL Joann K. Phillips, Honorary Santa Fe, NM Juan Hamilton Special Consultant to the Board Honolulu, HI; Abiquiú, NM; Santa Fe, NM Note: Board members can be reached through the Office of the Director at 505.946.1055. Updated April 28, 2017
CONTENTS SUMMER 2O17
2 Openings 3 From the Director 4 2O Years at the O’Keeffe in Pictures 6 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum at 2O—Local Impact, Global Reach 14 A History of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum’s Santa Fe Campus 16 What’s in a name? Of Limestone and Legacy 17 Donor Support 18 20th Anniversary Events 20 Happening at the O’Keeffe 22 Family Activities 23 Creative Activity 24 Twenty Years in Numbers
O’Keeffe Magazine is published for Members of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Send correspondence to: Mara Christian Harris, Communications Manager 217 Johnson Street Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 E-mail: mharris@okeeffemuseum.org Summer 2017 Published by the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. © 2017. No reproduction of images or content permitted.
ON THE COV ER : Maria Chabot, Georgia O’Keeffe Hitching a Ride to Abiquiu with Maurice Grosser, 1944. Gelatin silverprint. Gift of Maria Chabot. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.
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OPENINGS O’Keeffe members and patrons enjoyed a Museum-hosted trip to Toronto May 11–14 in celebration of the Georgia O’Keeffe retrospective at the Art Gallery of Ontario. In addition to a tour of the exhibition led by AGO curator Giorgianna Uhlyarik, members enjoyed a number of field trips and dinners that explored Toronto, including a stop at the Olga Korper Gallery, an artistic hub of the city. The exhibition will be on view in Toronto, its only stop in North America, through June 25, 2017. 1. Robert A. Kret, Director of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Olga Korper, and Jay Cantor 2. Irene Goodkind, Susan Hirsh, and Kathleen O. Petitt 3. Members meet in the foyer of the Art Gallery of Ontario 4. Cody Hartley, Senior Director of Collections and Interpretation of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, AGO Curator Georgianna Uhlyarik, and Robert A. Kret 1, 2 © Jennifer Rowsom; all others Dean Tomlinson © 2017 Art Gallery of Ontario.
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visitors’ explorations of Georgia O’Keeffe’s life and her creative relationship to New Mexico. Understanding the importance of a strong sense of place is key to learning about O’Keeffe’s artistic legacy, and the same is true for the Museum. As we move forward, we continue to expand our global reach. Our current international exhibitions, in Canada and Australia, bring accolades and interest from overseas to our doors. The Museum also grows virtually, as our digital presence engages people around the world. It’s gratifying to see new Georgia O’Keeffe fans emerging every day. I invite everyone to share in our celebration this summer, and you’ll have many opportunities to do so—this 20th-anniversary season features special speakers, events, and workshops. I especially look forward to “Preserving a Legacy,” an evening of conversation and reflection about the Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation moderated by me and Elizabeth Glassman, former president of the Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation and current CEO of the Terra Foundation for American Art. In coming months we’ll also have presentations about historic gardens and O’Keeffe’s devotion to drawing, as well as family programs with seasonal themes. On July 20, we’ll have an open celebration at the bandstand in Santa Fe’s historic Plaza, in the heart of Santa Fe. You can listen to the blues and connect with the Museum’s community—put on your dancing shoes and join us! Your support has made the past 20 years possible. As we begin the next phase of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, I am honored to have such strength in our Membership, and I thank you for your dedication. I look forward this summer to looking back on our past progress and planning for the future.
Kind regards,
FROM THE DIRECTOR This summer, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum celebrates its 20th anniversary! In the following pages, you will read about the histories of the Museum and the buildings that help us to share O’Keeffe’s story. These are accounts that those of you who’ve been a part of the Museum since its early days may already know—yet even you may read some surprising details. I hope all readers will gain a new understanding of these sites. It was in 1997 that visitors were first able to immerse themselves in O’Keeffe’s artwork at our galleries in Santa Fe. As time progressed, the Museum expanded to include the Research Center, the Education Annex, and the Abiquiú Home and Studio. These places are where our audience enjoys such monthly events as Breakfast with O’Keeffe, and where the Museum promotes scholarship and community conversations, connects kids with creative possibilities, and encourages
Robert A. Kret Director, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
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1. Gloria Steinem, March 7, 2009 2. The Home and Studio becomes a National Historic Landmark, 1998 3. Georgia O’Keeffe Day on the Santa Fe Plaza for the 10th Anniversary, July 7, 2007 4. O’Keeffe Museum Director Robert A. Kret, Annie Liebovitz, Theodora Judge-Kret, February 13, 2013 5. Musicians in the Research Center gardens 6. Gail Sheehy, March 7, 2007 7. Covarrubias exhibition, 2014 8. Museum member reception in the courtyard 9. Founders Anne and John Marion are presented with a plaque by Stuart Ashman, Secretary of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, on behalf of Governor Bill Richardson and First Lady Barbara Richardson, recognizing their contributions and the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Museum, July 17, 2007 10. Georgia O’Keeffe’s 125th birthday, November 15, 2012 11. Research Center breakfast reception, June 26, 2014 12. Exhibition of Georgia O’Keeffe’s cookbooks in the Museum galleries, 2014 13. Marsha Mason, Joan Allen, Sam Waterston, August 23, 2009 14. A preview of new photography in the Research Center library, July 24, 2014
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Photos: 2, ©Nadelbachphoto.com; all other photos © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
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GEORGIA O’KEEFFE MUSEUM AT 2O LOCAL IMPACT, GLOBAL REACH
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Pioneering artist, independent woman, and modern icon—Georgia O’Keeffe was all three, and more. This year, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum celebrates 20 years of telling her story, which in many ways is the Museum’s story, too. It’s a story about a museum that has pioneered the presentation of a single artist’s life and work and become an influential, modern, Santa Fe institution that reaches far beyond local boundaries to bring O’Keeffe’s story to the world. With vision and determination, philanthropist Anne Marion, now Board Chair Emeritus, founded the Museum as a place where visitors could see O’Keeffe’s work and learn about one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. When the Museum opened in July 1997, its inaugural exhibition presented a modest 116 works, 94 of which belonged to the Museum. More than 370,000 visitors streamed through the galleries in the first year. Clearly, there was great interest in O’Keeffe’s life, work, and story, and that interest has never waned. To date, more than 3.5 million visitors have visited the Museum to see O’Keeffe’s work in the galleries, tour her northern New Mexico home and studio, and study the Research Center’s archives. From the beginning, the Museum made its mark on Santa Fe—since its opening, it has been the city’s most-visited museum. “The impact of the O’Keeffe Museum was immediate, and remains as significant as ever,” says Randy Randall, executive director of Tourism Santa Fe. “In our Visitor Centers, one of the most-asked questions is either about the Museum or directions to it.” In addition to preserving, presenting, and advancing Georgia O’Keeffe’s artistic legacy, the Museum’s mission includes an equal dedication to American Modernism. To help facilitate that goal, in 2001 the Museum opened its Research Center in the historic A.M. Bergere House, a former Fort Marcy officer’s residence.
TOP: Anne and John Marion. Photo by Paul Slaughter. © Georgia O’Keeffe
Museum. BOTTOM: Opening-day crowds in front of the Museum, July 17, 1997. Photo by Paul Slaughter. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.
1986 = Georgia O’Keeffe dies on March 6 at the age of 98.
1989 = The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation is established to settle the artist’s estate.
1995 = Abiquiú Home and Studio, owned by the O’Keeffe Foundation, opens for public tours. = GOK Museum founded by philanthropists Anne and John Marion;
major benefactors are The Burnett Foundation and the Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation.
1997 = The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum opens to the public. Former Spanish Baptist adobe church is renovated into a museum with 5,000 square feet of gallery space. Museum collection numbers 116 works, 94 owned by the Museum, making it the world’s largest collection of O’Keeffe’s work in a museum.
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370,000 visitors in first year.
1998 = Abiquiú Home and Studio declared National Historic Landmark. = O’Keeffe art materials, including brushes, pastels, and paints, are donated by Juan and Anna Marie Hamilton = Art and Leadership Program for Girls debuts; school and family education programs begin.
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TOP: Detail of a letter from Georgia O’Keeffe to Alfred Stieglitz with enclosed photographs, July 6, 1944. RIGHT: Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Research Center.
The Research Center houses a library and archival collections pertaining to Georgia O’Keeffe, her contemporaries, American Modernism, and related regional histories. The Research Center’s Academic Fellowship program has given more than 80 scholars from around the world the opportunity to study O’Keeffe, American Modernism, the Southwest, and Native American arts. The program expanded in 2014 to host an annual museum studies fellowship. It has been a platform for a visiting museum professional to engage with educators, museum peers, and local audiences to benefit the region’s museum communities. Today, the Museum’s deep and varied collection consists of paintings, drawings, sculpture, photographs, historic objects, archival materials, and two historic properties. The majority of
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= Georgia O’Keeffe: Catalogue Raisonné, authored by Barbara Buhler Lynes and published by Yale University Press, catalogs 2,029 of the artist’s works.
= Donation by Juan and Anna Marie Hamilton of personal tangible property of clothing, Ghost Ranch household items, and source materials, including rocks and bones.
= Education Annex opens, adult learning programs begin.
= Museum receives its first National Endowment for the Arts grant.
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2001
= Georgia O’Keeffe’s Ghost Ranch home renovated.
= Academic Fellows Program begins; to date, 88 fellows.
these items came to the Museum in 2006, when the Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation dissolved after its stipulated 20-year lifespan and transferred to the Museum 1,200 O’Keeffe artworks and materials, thousands of archival objects, and her Abiquiú home and studio, thus cementing the Museum’s place as the repository of O’Keeffe’s life history and work. Although the Foundation had opened O’Keeffe’s Abiquiú home and studio to the public on a limited basis since 1995, the expanded access after 2006 widened visitors’ experiences beyond works of art, to include an understanding of O’Keeffe’s life and lifestyle. In Abiquiú, visitors experience the immediacy and vitality of the New Mexico landscape that inspired O’Keeffe. Also in 2006, the trove of letters between O’Keeffe and her husband, Alfred Stieglitz, which O’Keeffe bequeathed to the Beinecke Library at Yale University, was at last unsealed. Always in careful control of her image, O’Keeffe had specified that the correspondence be sequestered until 20 years after her death. Once the letters became available to scholars, a new picture of O’Keeffe emerged: a spirited, creative, influential member of the modernist art movement, and an independent woman driven to live life on her own terms. This new image of O’Keeffe has encouraged visitors to explore her life in a fuller context. Whether aficionados or novices, visitors had from the beginning clamored for a richer experience and more information about the artist herself: how she lived, how and where she created. Indeed, they wanted not merely more O’Keeffes—they wanted more O’Keeffe. Visitors today move through changing galleries that present O’Keeffe’s life and her diverse work. They experience the artist in a variety of contexts, from her family to the memorabilia she collected in her many travels, and in the photographs—taken in
TOP: Detail, Georgia O’Keeffe’s pastels. BOTTOM: Research Center library.
2002 = Research Center opens in historic Bergere House.
Research Center hosts inaugural three-day symposium, Defining American Modernism. =
After Maria Chabot’s death, Museum receives letters between Chabot and O’Keeffe, along with O’Keeffe’s camping gear. =
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Fifth anniversary of the Museum.
= O’Keeffe Museum is youngest museum ever to receive American Association of Museums accreditation. = Art and Leadership Program for Boys debuts. Since inception of Program for Girls and Program for Boys, 1,466 Santa Fe youth have participated.
2003 = The Museum acquires 23 Stieglitz photographs from the O’Keeffe Foundation = Museum wins Gerónima Cruz Montoya Award for Arts and Humanities, one of the Piñon Awards from the Santa Fe Community Foundation.
1 million visitors since 1997 opening.
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TOP: Georgia O’Keeffe Museum gallery. BOTTOM: Georgia O’Keeffe,
Jimson Weed, 1932. Oil on canvas, 48 x 40 in. Gift, the Burnett Foundation. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.
New Mexico and New York—of one of the most photographed women of the 20th century. This is O’Keeffe the woman, the artist, and one of the most influential forces behind American Modernism. “The first ten years of the Museum were about creating a vast storehouse of knowledge,” says Curator Carolyn Kastner. “The second ten have been about refining our vision as an institution, and a transition to considering her as an artist within the history of American Modernism. As scholars began to change their thinking and writing about her after the letters were unsealed, we as an institution have been changing our presentation of her story.” Part of the shift in presentation came with Robert A. Kret, who joined the Museum as director in 2009. His arrival solidified a more visitor-centric interpretation of the Museum’s mission. He marks the 20th anniversary with several milestones: “We’ve built a truly professional staff, focused on scholarship, and brought the Museum into the international eye,” he says, referring to Georgia O’Keeffe: A Retrospective, the first international exhibition devoted to the artist’s work, shown in Rome, Vienna, and Helsinki during 2011–12. The Museum’s desire to be what Kret calls “a small institution fighting above its weight class” reached a turning point in 2014, when the Museum sold three paintings for more than $50 million to establish its art acquisition fund. One painting alone, Jimson Weed (1932), realized $44.4 million, setting a record that still stands for a single artwork by a female artist. With some 850 news stories worldwide, more than 315 million people became aware of Georgia O’Keeffe and the importance of her work. Cody Hartley, senior director of Collections and Interpretation, says this was a defining moment for the Museum. “Not only did the sale increase our reputation as an institution and of O’Keeffe as an important artist, it raised the visibility for women artists generally. It
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= Museum receives 2005 Outstanding Business Leader and 2005 Outstanding Youth Leader Awards from the State of New Mexico.
= O’Keeffe Foundation dissolves, assets donated to the Museum, including Abiquiú Home and Studio; the Museum receives approximately 1,200 pieces of O’Keeffe’s archival materials and artwork.
= Art and Leadership Program for Girls and Program for Boys win the White House’s Coming Up Taller Award.
2007
= First Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Research Center Book Prize for significant contribution to shaping current thinking about the arts awarded to Terry Smith for Making the Modern: Industry, Art, and Design in America. Prize is awarded every three years.
O’Keeffe posthumously receives Lifetime Achievement Award from New Mexico Commission on the Status of Women. =
O’Keeffe’s Ghost Ranch home donated to the Museum by The Burnett Foundation. =
= 10th Anniversary of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. = Donation of Abiquiú Home and Studio furnishings by Catherine Krueger, O’Keeffe’s niece, in memory of her mother, Catherine O’Keeffe Klenert.
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2 million visitors since 1997 opening.
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made the point that Georgia O’Keeffe must be looked at. It was a sign that we are not done as a Museum, and that we are serious about securing her legacy and the future of the collection.” Hartley thinks the sale and its visibility were key factors in both the mounting and the wild success of recent O’Keeffe exhibitions in London, Toronto, Vienna, Australia, and beyond. The Georgia O’Keeffe retrospective had more than 450,000 visitors while it was open at Tate Modern in London and subsequently at Kunstforum Vienna. O’Keeffe, Preston, Cossington Smith: Making Modernism introduced O’Keeffe, in the company of two of Australia’s renowned artists, to over 59,000 people in Melbourne and Brisbane, further increasing her international visibility. “The major exhibitions outside the U.S. could not have been contemplated by the early founders,” adds Board Chair Roxanne Decyk. “Scholars have come to respect the seriousness of the Museum as a resource for all things O’Keeffe—her works, her artifacts, and the thinking about her as a modern artist and a pioneer in the abstract movement.” As a single-artist institution, the Museum aims to accurately reflect the scope of Georgia O’Keeffe’s work—far beyond the familiar landscapes and flower paintings—as well as the life she led, and the means by which she created: paints, drawings, canvases, objects, even houses and clothing. Thus, an important aspect of telling O’Keeffe’s story is educating visitors about her artistic practice, her way of living, her influences, and those she influenced. A crucial part of O’Keeffe’s legacy was her love of northern New Mexico and the communities and cultures of the people who inhabit it. Since 1998, more than 1,466 Santa Fe–area youth have participated in the Museum’s award-winning Art and Leadership Programs. Family, youth, and adult programs also
TOP: Georgia O’Keeffe retrospective at the Tate Modern, in London. BOTTOM: O’Keeffe, Preston, Cossington Smith: Making Modernism at the
Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, Australia.
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= Portions of Museum collection made available online, funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services.
= 125th birthday of Georgia O’Keeffe, 15th anniversary of the Museum. = 3D-imaging preservation project begins to monitor/preserve the Museum’s art collection, archival collections, and historic structures/ furnishings.
2011 = Georgia O’Keeffe: A Retrospective debuts in Rome, travels to Munich and Helsinki in 2012.
My Faraway One: Selected Letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, Volume One, 1915–1933, edited by Sarah Greenough, is published by Yale University Press. =
2013 The Museum purchases collection of photos depicting O’Keeffe’s life in New York and New Mexico, bringing photography collection to over 2,000 items. =
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TOP: Art and Leadership Program for Boys at the Ghost Ranch labyrinth. BOTTOM: Art and Leadership Program for Girls.
permeate the Museum’s calendar, attracting both tourists and locals. And, as O’Keeffe did during her lifetime, local high school interns plant, care for, and harvest vegetables at the Abiquiú house’s garden, enhancing the tour of her home and preserving the garden as she knew it. Innovation defined O’Keeffe’s career, and likewise, the Museum strives to be on the cutting edge of preservation and access. In conjunction with the Getty Conservation Institute and the University of Texas at El Paso, the Museum developed a filter that permits sensitive artworks to be more brightly lit. Similarly, the Museum developed improved methods for framing that remain aesthetically true to O’Keeffe’s original choices. Last year, the Museum received a prestigious Institute of Museum and Library Services grant to build digital access to its collections of art, belongings, and archival documents. Soon virtual visitors will have a rich, deep, online experience of the artist, her life, and the environment that profoundly influenced her. Santa Fe’s mayor, Javier Gonzales, sums up the Museum’s impact on the area: “So much of Santa Fe’s international renown as a center of arts and culture we owe to the iconic landmark institutions that call Santa Fe home. Among that number, the O’Keeffe is second to none. For 20 years, our growth and success have been paired with theirs, and Santa Fe will celebrate the Museum for a long time to come.” Roxanne Decyk shares a vision for the Museum as it enters its third decade: “Georgia O’Keeffe was an astounding, pioneering artist. Not a woman artist, not an artist of the Southwest—an innovative, groundbreaking artist, period. People now recognize that. We hope that people who see her work and look at the background material, whether on the website or during a visit, will see a great American artist with global impact.”
2014 The Museum becomes member of Google Cultural Institute. =
= Oral history project begins second phase of documenting memories of people who knew or met O’Keeffe. = The Museum establishes acquisition fund by selling three paintings for more than $50 million; Jimson Weed (1932) sells for $44.4 million, setting record for a work of art by a female artist.
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2015 = Museum acquires papers of O’Keeffe protégée and friend Frances O’Brien documenting her long relationship with the artist. = Mobile app created for audio tour of current exhibitions, general Museum information. = State of New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs presents Lifetime Achievement Award to Agapita Judy Lopez and Belarmino Lopez for their 40 years of stewardship of the Abiquiú Home and Studio.
Kelly Koepke is a Santa Fe–based freelance writer and content creator who moved to Santa Fe for the light, culture, and lifestyle. In addition to O’Keeffe Magazine, she contributes to a variety of publications, and helps businesses small and large, for profit and not for profit, better communicate.
TOP: A preparator works on a photograph. BELOW: Dale Kronkright, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Head of Conservation, analyzes a painting. TOP LEFT: Drawing workshop. BOTTOM LEFT: Making art.
2016 New gallery concept devoted to significant periods in O’Keeffe’s life and work debuts. =
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3 million visitors since 1997 opening.
Georgia O’Keeffe retrospective opens at Tate Modern in London; with over 100 of the artist’s works, the largest European exhibition to date. The exhibition travels to Vienna in fall 2016 and then to Toronto in spring 2017. =
O’Keeffe is introduced to Australian audiences with the exhibition, O’Keeffe, Preston, Cossington-Smith: Making Modernism, which debuts in Melbourne =
and in 2017 moves to Brisbane and Sydney. Museum acquires O’Keeffe’s The Barns, Lake George (1926). =
Institute of Museum and Library Services grant awarded to build state-of-the-art digital infrastructure for access to the Museum’s collection of art, belongings, and archival documents. =
Founder Anne Marion retires from Museum’s Board of Trustees; she is succeeded by board chair Roxanne Decyk. =
O’Keeffe’s letters to sister Anita O’Keeffe Young made accessible online. =
2017 =
The Museum celebrates 20 years.
Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern exhibition at Brooklyn Museum pairs O’Keeffe’s artworks with photographs of the artist, and clothes and other objects belonging to her. =
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A HISTORY OF THE GEORGIA O’KEEFFE MUSEUM’S SANTA FE CAMPUS The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum’s facilities and administrative offices occupy several buildings in downtown Santa Fe, each with a distinct and memorable history in the community. The galleries, at 217 Johnson Street, are on the property of a former Spanish Baptist adobe church that served the non-Catholic Hispanic population and hosted an active kindergarten program. In the years immediately prior to the sale of the building, it was the Allene Lapides Gallery. The Museum’s Research Center, at 135 Grant Avenue, was the first structure developed in the 1870s as part of the Fort Marcy Military Reservation, before becoming a private residence listed in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The Education Annex, at 123 Grant Avenue, occupies the site of Santa Fe’s first modern supermarket, where O’Keeffe did some of her shopping.
O’Keeffe’s New Mexico, previously held two pianos that she and Ruthie would play together; the My New Yorks gallery was Ruthie’s bedroom. Between those two rooms, separated by a wall in what is now the Museum’s smallest gallery, stood the baptistry. Walking through the galleries today, Sally speaks of Ruthie’s mother, Gregorita Lopez, “stylishly dressed in spike heels in front of the stovetop, cooking beans and tortillas.” Fast forward to 1996. Plans move forward for demolition of the neighboring structure at 211 Johnston Street and construction of a new two-story addition adjoining the former church. The
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Galleries Documentary evidence shows that the land on which the Museum galleries stand dates back to Juan Rafael Esquivel and his family, circa 1756. In the 19th century, the United States military occupied the adobe structure prior to its purchase by the street’s namesake, James L. Johnson, who bought the lot for residences. An 1882 city lithograph map identifies Johnson Street. The Spanish Baptist Church acquired the building in 1947, and made it into a place of worship and ministerial residence. Construction of the main sanctuary was completed in 1950; today, that space is the largest of the Museum’s nine galleries. As a junior high and high school student, Sally Stoker, a Museum employee since 2008, would come over to the Spanish Baptist Church after school with a classmate, Ruthie Lopez, whose father was the Reverend Miguel Lopez. In those days, Santa Fe High School was on Lincoln Avenue, at the location of the current City Hall. Walking through the Museum today, Sally remembers the layout of the church and residence. The original entrance was from the west side of the building, on the other side of the courtyard. The sanctuary, which currently hosts the gallery
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ABOVE: Arthur Taylor, Spanish Baptist Church, 217 Johnson Street, Santa Fe, New Mexico, circa 1976–1977. Courtesy of the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives (NMHM/DCA), Negative number 117162. TOP: Richard Wilder, Johnson Street Looking Towards Grant Avenue, Santa Fe, New Mexico, circa 1983–1984. Courtesy of the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives (NMHM/DCA), Negative number 147963.
addition includes a new pedestrian entrance, Museum Store, restroom facilities, locker room, and upstairs offices. The “Recent Santa Fe” style used in the addition reflects the desire for harmony with historic buildings, achieved through the uses of adobe construction, re-stuccoing for consistent color on all walls, a building height not exceeding two stories, and wooden exterior doors and window trim. The City of Santa Fe acknowledges the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum’s architectural team of Greg Allegretti and Richard Gluckman with the 1998 Heritage Preservation Award for their sensitivity to the historic streetscape.
Arthur Taylor, Safeway Market, Grant Avenue, Santa Fe, New Mexico, circa 1977. Courtesy of the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives (NMHM/DCA), Negative number 111915.
Education Annex In its previous life, from 1942 to 1990, the building now occupied by the Education Annex was a Safeway supermarket. Built when the population of Santa Fe numbered just over 21,000, Safeway was where everyone shopped—unless you went to Kaune’s Foodtown or Piggly Wiggly. Photographs from the archives of the Palace of the Governors show two different buildings at 123 Grant Avenue that are well remembered by some Museum staff. Security Specialist Alex Lopez, a longtime Museum employee, remembers his older brother, Ralph Lopez, starting his first full-time job at Safeway in 1957, after graduating from Santa Fe High. In 1966, a new, air-conditioned building replaced the original Safeway. The Santa Fe New Mexican of February 7, 1966, reported improved parking. Security Specialist Steven Brinegar has a memory of going into Safeway in 1968 or 1969 to buy an afterschool snack, after attending the nearby middle school and hearing rumors of Georgia O’Keeffe’s presence. “At the time,” he says, “I was curious about the identity of the person who had sparked such a sensation.” Today, the Education Annex is the Museum’s primary location for family programs, lectures, and all-staff meetings. An average of 45 children and their families visit the space each month to create their own artworks inspired by O’Keeffe. Several times a year, the Annex becomes an exhibition space for art made by staff, docents, local high schools, and Art and Leadership Program participants.
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Research Center Created as officers’ quarters for the Fort Marcy military complex, the A. M. Bergere House, at 135 Grant Avenue, was one of six residences based on a standard U.S. Army floorplan. Two of the six original officers’ quarters still exist. The Research Center building is one, and the second, at 116 Lincoln Avenue, currently houses the offices of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and is closer to the original plan. Few of the design elements of the home in H. T. Hiester’s historic 1882 photograph remain in the structure now standing. But look closely—the wooden porch framed by a diagonal cross railing and the square columns are intact today. Following the military presence, Solomon Luna, a descendant of the family that founded Los Lunas, acquired the Grant Street residence in 1899. The next occupants were Eloisa Luna Otero and her daughter, Nina Otero-Warren, from her first marriage, to Manuel Basilio Otero. Eloisa later married Englishman Alfred Maurice Bergere, who became the building’s namesake in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Alfred and Eloisa had nine children of their own. Following Alfred’s death, the widowed Eloisa lived in the home with her daughters, Anita Bergere and May Bergere. May’s youngest child, Cristina, was born just days after May’s husband passed away, and Cristina was lovingly raised by her mother and aunts in “The Big House.” Cristina subsequently married Dick Herdman, and shortly before the sale of the house in 1976, Dick photographed each room, his wife playfully posing in several pictures, all now encased in an album bound in caramel leather. Herdman recalls the house as a “great gathering place” that he, his wife, and their three children enjoyed staying in during visits to Santa Fe. Compare this photograph to our building now: to the right of the entrance you can see the office addition, presently occupied by curatorial offices. At the rear of the building is the addition of the Michael S. Engl Family Foundation Research Center Library, which holds collected materials related to Georgia O’Keeffe, Alfred Stieglitz, and American Modernism. The Center’s garden is publicly accessible and blooms with some of O’Keeffe’s favorite flowers—gracing the perimeter are daylilies, irises, peonies, lilacs, and eight varieties of rose.
H. T. Hiester, 135 Grant Avenue, Fort Marcy Officer’s House, undated. Courtesy of the New Mexico Museum of Art.
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Precise and elegant, the classical Roman lettering that welcomes visitors to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum is hand-chiseled into limestone. Embedded in the building’s exterior, the pale tablet complements the wall’s soft brown hue. The site’s name is forever affixed to the adobe building on Johnson Street. Its mark on history is set. The tablet is the creation of stone carver Nicholas Benson, owner and creative director of the John Stevens Shop, in Newport, Rhode Island. A master of his craft, Benson has added his talents to monumental sites that include the National World War II Memorial and the National Gallery of Art. In 2010, Benson became a MacArthur Fellow when the foundation awarded him a “Genius Grant.” Nicholas is the third generation of Bensons who have operated John Stevens. History runs deep at the stonework shop. It is one of the oldest continuously operating businesses in the nation, and the remarkable designs and carvings produced there reflect the milestones of this country’s development. Englishman John Stevens arrived in the American colonies in 1698, and opened his stone-carving shop in 1705. The business remained in the Stevens family for over two centuries. Nicholas Benson’s grandfather, John Howard Benson, purchased the John Stevens Shop in 1927, bringing to it a devotion to the craft that had begun with his study of Roman inscriptions. An instructor at the Rhode Island School of Design, John Howard was a lauded stone carver whose work appears at Harvard University, on the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington Cemetery, and in many other hallowed places. His son, John Everett Benson, apprenticed in the shop as a teenager, and acquired the business when John Howard passed away, in 1956. In the 40 years he directed the shop, John Everett produced notable work for such landmark sites as the Boston Public Library and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. His skills are also visible on the gravestones of Lillian Hellman and Tennessee
PHOTO © GEORGIA O’KEEFFE MUSEUM
PHOTO COURTESY NICHOLAS BENSON
WHAT’S IN A NAME? OF LIMESTONE AND LEGACY
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Williams. Having turned over the family business to his son Nicholas, John nowadays focuses on sculpting. Given the John Stevens Shop’s reflections of the great American story, it was apt that the Benson mark would appear on the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Speaking over the phone on a rainy day in seaside Newport, Nicholas Benson sounded relaxed and upbeat as he recalled his involvement with the Museum’s beginnings in the mid-1990s. “I had a very clear sense of what I wanted to do,” he remembered. Once he’d “procured the stone that was going to work,” the execution of his precise vision took only “a few weeks, beginning to end.” Less concrete was the original plan to showcase the Museum’s name. During the initial stages for the site, planners mulled over the possibility of advertising it on basic signage. It wasn’t until that suggestion caught the ear of book designer Eleanor Caponigro—who had worked with O’Keeffe on some of the artist’s publications, and whom Benson describes as a “mover and shaker in Santa Fe”—that a more permanent design was considered. According to Benson, when Caponigro heard that the proposed site might announce itself to the world through an impermanent sign, “Eleanor said, ‘No no no. Don’t do that.’” She believed the site needed Benson’s careful touch. “‘You have to get this guy to hand-letter and hand-cut the piece.’” The planners agreed. It is Benson’s high level of craft that elevates the carving to a work of art, establishing a link to classical tradition through meticulous skill. Benson created the Museum’s engraved tablet with simple tools: “just a broad-edged brush and a mountain chisel.” Close attention to form is essential to all of Benson’s work. Even when contributing to a contemporary project, his lettering bears “a slight sweep that suggests the human hand.” Although Benson has familial ties to New Mexico, it has been some five years since his last visit. He’s due for a return, but presently is occupied with projects for Yale University and the anticipated Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial, in Washington, DC. Yet with his mark literally made on the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, his presence in Santa Fe is firm. Linking the past to the future is at the core of what Nicholas Benson does. “I definitely look back at my father’s and grandfather’s generations for inspiration. Being born into a long run of tradition, this is a long haul, as far as history goes.” His creation will forever welcome visitors to the home of Georgia O’Keeffe’s legacy.
DONOR SUPPORT
O’KEEFFE CIRCLE The O’Keeffe Circle is the Museum’s premier giving circle, whose patrons provide critical unrestricted annual support to sustain and advance the mission of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. The Museum wishes to thank these donors for their ongoing support, which ensures that the Museum’s dynamic exhibitions, conservation, education and outreach programs, and historic homes and studios are shared with the public for generations to come.
Robert A. Kret and Theodora Judge-Kret Barbara and Mike Lynn Anne and John Marion Nedra and Richard Matteucci The Eugene McDermott Foundation Thomas and Jane O’Toole Deborah Peacock and Nathan Korn Skip and Ildy Poliner Carol Prins and John Hart Caren Prothro Steve and Patti Raben
Suzanne and John Adams
Roxanne Decyk and Lew Watts
Ramona Sakiestewa and Andrew Merriell
Elaine and V. Neils Agather
Lee E. Dirks
Christine and Martin Schuepbach
Richard Andrew and Diane Buchanan
Michael and Lehua Engl
Marvin and Donna Schwartz
Jane and John Bagwell
Julie and Bob England
Bart and Elizabeth Showalter
Emy Lou and Jerry Baldridge
Felicitas Funke
Maya Sieber-Blum
Barbara and Ronald Balser
Irene Goodkind
Karen Rogers Still and Marc Still
Sid Bass
Deborah Hankinson
Carl and Marilynn Thoma
Deborah Beck and Fred Sweet
Susan and Laurence Hirsch
Joanna and Peter Townsend
Sallie Bingham
Lynne and Joseph Horning
David L. Warnock
Nancy and Robert Carney
Lillias and William Johnston
Kathy and David Chase
Kate and Dana Juett
Peter and Lynn Coneway
Charles and Mary Kehoe
The Museum wishes to thank Sotheby’s
Flo Crichton
Donna M. Kinzer
and Chubb for their sponsorship of
Cira Crowell and Chas Curtis
Jack and Karin Kinzie
O’Keeffe Circle.
2O16 DONORS We thank these additional donors from 2016 for their generosity.
Debra Miller Judith and Philippe Newton Karen and Spencer Ralston Kira and Clay Randolph
Kay and John Alsip
Barb and George Isham
Jerry Rightman and
Marissa Anchia
Meriom Kastner
Roberta Syme
Phyllis B. Arlow and Donald F. Seeger
Gary and Susan Katz
Ed and Sharon Sorken
Gail and Robert Bavis
Evelyn M. Kennedy and
Kay Swindell
Betty and Bruce Brownlee
Malcolm R. MacPherson
Elaine Trzebiatowski and
Michael and Sheryl DeGenring
Barbara Kimbell and
Michael Meyer
Claudia D. Grayson
William K. Michener OK EEFFEMU SEU M.ORG
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2O YEARS
UNIDENTIFIED PHOTOGRAPHER, GEORGIA O’KEEFFE AT UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, CIRCA 1912– 1914. BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPH, GIFT OF THE GEORGIA O’KEEFFE FOUNDATION
2Oth ANNIVERSARY EVENTS
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Help us celebrate 20 years as a Santa Fe institution! Beginning July 12, join us for events highlighting the Museum’s two decades of celebrating a great American artist with a great American story! Details and registration at okeeffemuseum.org/events. Look for the m icon indicating membersonly events. To join or renew, contact Member Services at 505.946.1089.
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MONDAY, JULY 17: 20th anniversary of the opening of the Museum. Join us throughout the day for discussions about the art on view in the Museum galleries, 9 AM–5 PM. Free with Museum admission.
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 12: Join Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Director Robert A. Kret and Elizabeth Glassman, CEO and President of the Terra Foundation, for a conversation exploring the life of the Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation. 6 PM, Eldorado Hotel. $15; members free. Members-only reception following the lecture, Research Center gardens, 7–8 PM. To join, call 505.946.1089 or e-mail eloya@okeeffemuseum.org.
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TUESDAY, JULY 18:
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 19:
Historic Gardens: lecture presented by Dean Norton of Mount Vernon, 6 PM at the Eldorado Hotel. $25; members free.
Research Center Open House, 10 AM–noon. Free with Museum admission.
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THURSDAY, JULY 20
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FRIDAY, JULY 21:
Georgia O’Keeffe Day at the Bandstand on the Santa Fe Plaza, 6 PM. Free.
Drawing in the Galleries, 5–7 PM. Free with Museum admission.
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SATURDAY, JULY 22: Family Program: Shades of Green, 9:30– 11:30 AM, starting in the Museum galleries. Georgia O’Keeffe used so many shades of green in her artwork, it almost appears to have been a primary color to her. Together we will discover green works of art in the galleries, and then create artwork using as many shades of green as we can dream up! Free for children 4–12 and their grownups. Johnson Street Experience—the Museum and its neighbors on Johnson Street open their doors for food, entertainment, and fun. The Museum will have refreshments, art activities, and entertainment in the courtyard from noon to 3 PM.
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FRIDAY, JULY 28: Summer O’Keeffe Circle event! Dinner in a private home. For information about becoming an O’Keeffe Circle patron, please contact Betty Brownlee at 505.946.1023 or bbrownlee@okeeffemuseum.org.
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ART OF THE DRAW Four Santa Fe cultural institutions celebrate Art of the Draw during the summer of 2017. This multi-venue, multi-event collaboration celebrates drawing as the fundamental starting point for creation in both the arts and sciences for representational painting, sculpting, engineering, design, and architecture. The featured exhibitions collectively explore drawing as the root of art, the first form of written expression that informs the creative process.
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Ongoing Installation Georgia O’Keeffe used her drawing practice to work out ideas of abstraction and composition in advance of painting each canvas. As part of presenting O’Keeffe’s story in the Museum galleries, drawings are on display in each gallery in conjunction with paintings to illustrate how fundamental drawing was to her creative practice.
New Mexico Museum of Art May 27— September 17, 2017 Lines of Thought: Drawing from Michelangelo to Now: from the British Museum features drawings by, among others, major artists as diverse as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Albrecht
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Dürer, Piet Mondrian, Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Bridget Riley, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Franz Kline, and Rachel Whiteread. The collection combines work from master artists of the past with artists working today, clearly demonstrating the common thread of accomplished drawing as the basis for creation in both the arts and sciences.
IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts July 7, 2017—December 31, 2018 Native Modern: Abstract Expressionism, Colorfield, and Native Art Traditions. Pieces and drawings featured in the exhibition are from MoCNA’s permanent collection and were created in the 1960s and 70s at IAIA. These early works are visual testimony of the Institute’s revolutionary educational curriculum which sparked a cultural change within Native Art by defying standards that had been imposed by the dominant society since the 18th century.
Santa Fe Desert Chorale August 1, 5, and 11, 2017 Liberté: A Concert Dedicated to Picasso. For more information, visit nmculture.org/artofthedraw. Georgia O’Keeffe, Black Diagonal, 1919. Charcoal on paper, 245/8 x 183/4 in. Gift of The Burnett Foundation. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Melchior Lorck, Tortoise and view of a walled, coastal town, 1555. Charcoal, heightened with white on blue paper. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum. George Burdeau (Blackfeet), Beast Series, 1964. Mixed media, watercolor on paper. IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. Pablo Picasso, Profil sculptural de Marie-Thérèse, 1933. Etching, 121/2 × 9 in., 020369, courtesy of LewAllen Galleries.
WEDNESDAYS WITH O’KEEFFE Wednesdays, 10:15 AM–3:45 PM, July 12 and 26; August 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30; and September 27. $119 = Wednesdays With O’Keeffe combines the best of the northern New Mexico O’Keeffe loved. Starting at the Abiquiú Inn, the day includes a tour of the O’Keeffe Museum Home and Studio, lunch at Ghost Ranch, and the Ghost Ranch O’Keeffe Landscape Tour. = Register at ghostranch.org/visit/tours-trail-rides/wednesdays-with-okeeffe by 4 PM the day before the tour. Frances O’Brien, Land Formation at Ghost Ranch, circa 1950. Digital image. Gift of Brian and Bina Garfield in Honor of Frances O’Brien.
WALK AND TALK We invite you to look at Georgia O’Keeffe’s work from a fresh perspective. Join artist Liz Brindley for a walk through the Museum galleries to explore O’Keeffe’s art through engaging conversation. Maximum of 8 visitors, weekdays at 3 PM. $40 per person, includes general Museum admission following tour.
Georgia O’Keeffe, Untitled (Lake George Landscape), 1929/1930. Graphite on paper, 4 x 61/2 in. Gift of The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.
BREAKFAST WITH O’KEEFFE: O’KEEFFE’S DRAWING PRACTICE Wednesday, August 2, 9 AM = Throughout her remarkable career, Georgia O’Keeffe’s ongoing drawing practice guided her ideas of abstraction and composition. Join Museum Curator Carolyn Kastner and art historian Linda Swanson in an exploration of how O’Keeffe’s lifelong drawing practice kept her engaged with new subjects, which fueled her creativity to the end of her life. = Museum Education Annex, 123 Grant Avenue = $15; members, free.
#taketimetolook Georgia O’Keeffe was inspired by the landscapes around her. Share a snap of a landscape that inspires you by sending it via Instagram to @okeeffemuseum.
FA M I LY A C T I V I T I E S
FAMILY ACTIVITIES We love to see children at the Museum! Sketchbooks and an activity guide are available anytime for children’s visits to the Museum galleries. Or participate in a monthly Family Program, which are free activities designed for children and their favorite grownups. You’re invited to learn, create, and, most important, have fun! Come explore the world of art together. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, 217 Johnson Street
FAMILY PROGRAMS SATURDAY, JULY 22, 9:30–11:30 AM
Family Program: Shades of Green Georgia O’Keeffe used so many shades of green in her artwork, it almost appears to have been a primary color to her. Together we will discover green works of art in the galleries, and then create artwork using as many shades of green as we can dream up! SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 9:30–11:30 AM
Family Program: Sunprints Join us for a fun-filled morning of creating original sunprints. Cross your fingers for a beautiful, sunny New Mexico morning! SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 9:30–11:30 AM
Family Program: Up in the Sky Georgia O’Keeffe loved to draw and paint clouds. She would look out airplane windows and make small sketches; later, in her studio, she would use these sketches to make large cloud paintings. Using a variety of materials, we will create original cloud works and incorporate them into unique landscapes. Led by Leland Chapin, visual artist and art educator.
YOUTH ACTIVITIES SUNDAY, AUGUST 13, 3–5 PM
Youth Art Exhibition Opening: Art and Leadership Program for Girls and Program for Boys Witness the talents of extraordinary Santa Fe students ages 11–14, and enjoy music and refreshments at our annual celebration of the Museum’s summer youth programs. Education Annex, free.
FIRST FRIDAYS FRIDAYS, JULY 7 AND AUGUST 4
Art Activity Join us in the galleries to create your own drawings while exploring the use of color in modern artwork! All ages welcome.
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Creative Activity
Georgia O’Keeffe, Spring, 1948. Oil on canvas, 481/4 x 841/4 in. Gift of The Burnett Foundation. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.
Drawing Exercises Let’s try three different drawing techniques to experiment with composition and perspective! All you need is three sheets of paper, a drawing tool, and the image above.
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Look at the painting above very carefully and pay close attention to the details. Now close your eyes, and draw on your paper the scene you remember. Be sure to keep your eyes closed while you’re drawing! Now try to draw this same painting while using the hand you don’t normally use. If you’re right-handed, use your left! If you’re left-handed, use your right! Rotate the magazine so that you’re looking at the painting upside down. On your last sheet of paper, draw what you see. You can try this with other images of your choice, and have fun with different ways of drawing and seeing!
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T W E N T Y
Y E A R S
I N
N U M B E R S
88
3,469,425*
fellows
visitors since July 17, 1997
1,466
youth participated in Art & Leadership Programs
2 O’Keeffe
homes acquired
3
Book Prizes
116
1
objects in the collection at opening
Research Center
3,51O
5O
Members in states and the District of Columbia Members in 24
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art objects in the collection in 2017
8 countries * AS OF JUNE 9, 2O17
COME SEE WHY SANTA FE IS THE CITY DIFFERENT
World-class art, cuisine, shopping and the great outdoors. PLAN A MAGICAL SUMMER GETAWAY TODAY AT SANTAFE.ORG.
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COME SIT AT THE TABLE Dinner with Georgia O’Keeffe: Recipes, Art & Landscape = $50 Exclusive Logo Mugs by One Acre Ceramics – Assorted Colors = $28 Exclusive Table Runners by Betsy Olmsted – Assorted = $70
• 5O5.946.1OO1 • STORE.OKEEFFEMUSEUM.ORG