MUSEUM OF NEW MEXICO FOUNDATION | FALL 2019
Los Luceros
Welcoming Our 8th Historic Site
Table of Contents
Cover: A classic Chevy pickup enters Los Luceros, a scenic, 148-acre cultural gem located north of Española in the village of Alcalde. Los Luceros was recently designated the eighth historic site in the Museum of New Mexico system. Photo © Gene Peach. Bottom: New Mexico Historic Sites Director Patrick Moore strolls the grounds at Los Luceros Historic Site. Read about Los Luceros’ rich history in our cover story beginning on page 3. Photo © Caitlin Elizabeth Photography.
LETTER TO MEMBERS
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES
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THE MORNING STAR RISES
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NEW MEXICO HISTORY MUSEUM
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MUSEUM OF INDIAN ARTS AND CULTURE AND LABORATORY OF ANTHROPOLOGY
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MUSEUM OF INTERNATIONAL FOLK ART
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NEW MEXICO MUSEUM OF ART
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OFFICE OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES
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CORPORATE PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
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THE SCOOP
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WAYS TO GIVE AND STAFF
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Our Mission The Museum of New Mexico Foundation supports the Museum of New Mexico system, in collaboration with the Museum of New Mexico Board of Regents and the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. The Foundation’s principal activities are fund development for exhibitions and education programs, retail and licensing programs, financial management, advocacy and special initiatives. The Foundation serves the following state cultural institutions: • Museum of Indian Arts and Culture and Laboratory of Anthropology • Museum of International Folk Art • New Mexico History Museum and Palace of the Governors • New Mexico Museum of Art • New Mexico Historic Sites • Office of Archaeological Studies
Member News Contributors Mariann Lovato, Managing Editor Carmella Padilla, Writer and Editor Kate Nelson, Writer Saro Calewarts, Designer and Photographer
Dear Members, The New Mexico Historic Sites system was established in 1931 by an act of the New Mexico State Legislature. Eighty-eight years later, eight historic sites dot our state, including Los Luceros Historic Site, so designated by the legislature in the 2019 session. Beginning on page 3, we share the history of Los Luceros and its inhabitants, including ancestral Puebloans, Spanish colonists, and Mary Cabot Wheelwright and friends from northern New Mexico’s 20th-century art colonies. Located 10 miles north of Española, Los Luceros occupies 148 magnificent acres along the Río Grande bosque. The site features an 18th-century Territorial-style adobe home and chapel listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a visitor center, apple orchards and more. Los Luceros will be one of the beneficiaries of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation’s Campaign for New Mexico History, set to launch this fall. Our goal is to raise $10 million in public and private funding over three years to address historic preservation and programming needs at all eight historic sites, plus the New Mexico History Museum and Palace of the Governors. The Foundation’s first statewide fundraising effort, the campaign received $1.85 million in capital outlay funds from the state legislature in the 2019 session. This issue of Member News also features profiles of donors to the Centennial Campaign for the New Mexico Museum of Art’s Vladem Contemporary, the Here, Now and Always Campaign for the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture and the Girard Campaign for the Museum of International Folk Art. These visionary individuals have joined hundreds of others to make these projects a reality, and we are grateful for their generosity. All three projects have made tremendous progress. We expect to break ground on the Vladem Contemporary this fall and complete construction by the end of 2020. The Here, Now and Always renovation is beginning. The refresh of Girard’s permanent exhibition, Multiple Visions: A Common Bond, and the publication of The Essential Alexander Girard, are also underway.
“The Foundation’s first statewide fundraising effort, the Campaign for New Mexico History, received $1.85 million in capital outlay funds from the state legislature in the 2019 session,” says Foundation President/CEO Jamie Clements. Photo © Saro Calewarts.
Fall is a wonderful time to visit our state museums in Santa Fe and our historic sites throughout New Mexico. As always, thank you for your membership support. You make possible all the extraordinary experiences offered at our 13 partner institutions. Sincerely,
Jamie Clements President/CEO
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Museum of New Mexico Foundation Board of Trustees 2019–20 OFFICERS Guy Gronquist, Chair Harriet Schreiner, Vice Chair Maria Gale, Vice Chair John Rochester, Treasurer Frieda Simons Burnes, Secretary
Above: The Museum of New Mexico Foundation welcomes 10 newly elected trustees. Back row, left to right, John Andrews, Michael Ogg and Jed Foutz. Middle, Rory McMinn. Front row, left to right, Diane Domenici and Kathryn Coleman. Not pictured are Bryan “Chip” Chippeaux, Steve Dunn, Kate Moss and Sara Otto. Photo © Saro Calewarts. Opposite: The River House in fall at Los Luceros Historic Site. Photo © Gene Peach.
VOTING TRUSTEES Catherine A. Allen Anne Bingaman Cynthia Bolene William Butler Julia Catron Bryan “Chip” Chippeaux Kathryn Coleman Sharon Curran-Wescott Christie Davis Sherry Davis Rosalind Doherty Diane Domenici George Duncan John Duncan Kirk Ellis Jed Foutz Robert Glick Pat Hall Marian Haight Bud Hamilton Steve Harris David Hawkanson Susie Herman Rae Hoffacker Peggy Hubbard Ann Livingston Jim Manning Christine McDermott Rory McMinn George Miraben Michael Ogg Sara Otto Dan Perry Michael Pettit Skip Poliner Kathleen Pugh Jerry Richardson Wilson Scanlan Nan Schwanfelder Judy Sherman John Silver Bob Vladem Matt Wilson David Young ADVISORY TRUSTEES Victoria Addison Charmay B. Allred
Keith K. Anderson John Andrews JoAnn Balzer Bob Bauernschmitt Dorothy H. Bracey Robert L. Clarke Stockton Colt Liz Crews Joan Dayton Steve Dunn Carlos Garcia Leroy Garcia J. Scott Hall Stephen Hochberg Ruth Hogan Barbara Hoover Kent F. Jacobs, M.D. Jim Kelly Bruce Larsen Lawrence Lazarus, M.D. Martin Levion David Matthews Helene Singer Merrin Doris Meyer Beverly Morris Kate Moss Mark Naylor Patty Newman Dennis A. O’Toole, Ph.D. Jane O’Toole J. Edd Stepp Suzanne Sugg Courtney Finch Taylor Nancy Meem Wirth Claire Woodcock Robert Zone, M.D. HONORARY TRUSTEES Lloyd E. Cotsen* Jim Duncan, Jr. Anne and John Marion Edwina and Charles Milner Bob Nurock* Keith Roth* J. Paul Taylor Carol Warren Eileen A. Wells TRUSTEES EMERITI John Berl* Thomas B. Catron III Saul Cohen Alan Rolley Marian Silver James Snead *Deceased
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The Morning Star Rises Partnerships Breathe New Life into Los Luceros
History buffs streamed onto the spring-ripened grounds of Los Luceros Historic Site one morning last May, eager for a daylong seminar about the property’s storied past. But the doors to the visitor center were still closed. Inside, New Mexico Historic Sites Director Patrick Moore and Timothy Roberts, deputy director of facilities and interpretation, were scurrying about with a skeleton crew of staffers and volunteers to finish installing the first official exhibition in the state’s newest, and northernmost, historic site. “Tim!” Moore yelled as he teetered on the second-to-top rung of a step ladder, his lanky frame stretching to attach a banner to a ceiling viga. Roberts raced over to steady the ladder, Moore reached just high enough, and the logo of Los Amigos del Rancho Los Luceros unfurled. A few more primps, a quick sweep, and the space was ready. “Welcome, come in,” Moore boomed from the door as the crowd beyond him swelled into the hundreds. The exhibition they viewed laid out the bare bones of Los Luceros’ past. The seminar’s speakers would fill in a lot of blanks. But the best way to learn about Los Luceros on any day is by wandering its grounds, stepping into its historic hacienda, standing at the edge of the Río Grande and marveling at the view.
Nestled within the bosque north of Española, Los Luceros has served as a fulcrum of New Mexico history for centuries. Ancestral Puebloans charted lives here. The first Spanish colonists set up camp nearby. Located near the tail end of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, it became a sprawling Spanish land grant, with farm fields, fruit orchards, a chapel and a gracious Casa Grande. Mary Cabot Wheelwright later owned it, attracting members of northern New Mexico’s Anglo art colony— including Georgia O’Keeffe, Mabel Dodge Luhan and D. H. Lawrence among them. During recent decades of ownership changes and persistent neglect, the property’s fate teetered as badly as Moore on that ladder. But the 148 acres that comprise Los Luceros today are finally ready for a comeback. In
Sunset view of the Río Grande and bosque adjacent to Los Luceros Historic Site. Photo © Gene Peach.
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the last session of the New Mexico State Legislature, the property gained approval as a historic site. The move establishes the first foothold for the Museum of New Mexico north of Santa Fe, gives oversight to the Board of Regents, and enables the Museum of New Mexico Foundation to raise money for Los Luceros exhibitions and educational programs. With that, Los Luceros earned a spot in the Campaign for New Mexico History, a $10 million effort by the Foundation to benefit the eight historic sites statewide, the New Mexico History Museum and Palace of the Governors. “The lack of historic site designation has prevented us from raising private funds for Los Luceros, but not anymore,” says Jamie Clements, Foundation President/ CEO. “Thanks to Representative James Trujillo and the State Legislature, we can now include Los Luceros in our campaign launching this fall. Being the only historic site north of Santa Fe, it creates a better opportunity to draw support for the campaign from northern New Mexico.”
Protecting a Fragile History You can ask pretty much anyone in the north about Los Luceros, and they’ll reveal a personal connection to it. John Lenssen is one of them. The retired lawyer and longtime supporter of the state’s historic sites lives in nearby Nambé. Years ago, while serving as Española’s city attorney, he was approached by then-Mayor Richard Lucero, who wanted the two of them to buy Los Luceros and restore it together.
“I just laughed,” Lenssen says. “I had gone through the restoration of my place, and I knew how much it costs to restore an old adobe property.” Still, the notion of the place kept nudging Lenssen. For years, he had been a lone stalwart, calling regularly on the state to invest in its historic sites and donating his own money designating that it be spent only on them. He knew the sites didn’t get the attention of the state’s museums—and he knew they were hidden gems.
“Nestled within the bosque north of Española, Los Luceros has served as a fulcrum of New Mexico history for centuries.” That knowledge was planted in him as a teenager in 1956, while visiting his uncle, Boaz Long, then director of the Museum of New Mexico. Long got Lenssen a manuallabor job at the Salinas Pueblo Mission, which was then under state authority; it’s now a national monument. Later, when he established New Mexico as his home, Lenssen and his wife Diane, a Los Alamos native, sought ways to protect the state’s fragile histories—from Fort Selden in the south to Los Luceros in the north.
Left and right: Exterior and interior views of the 18th-century adobe chapel at Los Luceros. Photos © Caitlin Elizabeth Photography.
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They provided the funding for Los Luceros: New Mexico’s Morning Star, a 2018 book published by the Museum of New Mexico Press that explores the history and beauty of the property via author Michael Wallis and photographer Gene Peach. (Wallis, perhaps poetically, considered the Spanish luceros a community-inspired term for “morning star,” although the property was named for the Santiago Lucero family that settled there in the mid-18th century.) With its publication, Lenssen declared his work complete. “I think Patrick Moore is doing a good job and I told him, ‘It’s your baby now,’” he says. Moore was happily surprised by the number of other supporters who stepped up for the site—the members of its friends group, Los Amigos del Rancho Los Luceros, among them. Marie Markesteyn, one of the group’s founders, traces her attachment to a blissful two years in the early 1980s when she and her then-husband got to live in the Territorial-style hacienda. “It was pretty much stripped by then,” she says. “The carved wooden bancos had been ripped out by vandals right before we moved in.” The ranch’s history and setting charmed her. She now lives on adjacent land that was once part of the 50,000acre Sebastián Martín Serrano Spanish land grant that once included the property that would become Los Luceros. From that perch, she’s helped lead tours of Los
Luceros and added her muscle to the citizen-based lobbying push for its historic site recognition. State Representative James Trujillo took on the legislation after years of working with Los Amigos. “It’s the only state historic site that far north,” he says. “I’m looking for it to attract tourists and generate some revenue for northern New Mexico.” The bill passed unanimously. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed it into law on the session’s final day. Trujillo also targeted $100,000 from his share of capital outlay funds to projects at Los Luceros—and he pledges to do the same next year. “It belongs to us, to the state,” he says. “We own it, so better maintain it.” In all, legislators provided $1.85 million for bricks-andmortar improvements at all the historic sites and authorized five new staffers for Los Luceros—a manager, instructional coordinator, interpretive ranger, farm and ranch supervisor, and an agricultural worker. As Markesteyn relaxed in the shade of a century-old cottonwood, she gazed at the people who had come, thirsty for information about Los Luceros’ past, and spoke of a wish for the future. “I would like to see the state keep the authenticity of this property so people can feel they stepped back into history—many, many different histories.”
The 18th-century Casa Grande at Los Luceros. The 5,700-square-foot Territorial-style adobe home was renovated by the Cabot Foundation in 2004 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Photo © Gabriella Marks.
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Connecting People Statewide The layers of history at Los Luceros speak to the challenge that Patrick Moore has promised to pursue as part of the Campaign for New Mexico History. The goal for all eight historic sites is to reorient their narratives from narrow slices of time or particularly prominent people to a broad and interwoven tapestry that mixes tribal peoples, Spanish colonists, farmers, outlaws, Buffalo Soldiers, blue-collar workers, tuberculosis patients, artists—in short, everyone. Each historic site is already writing new interpretive plans for exhibitions and educational programs that will address characteristics shared across the state: the eras of Native, Spanish and American settlement; water rights; power and oppression; resistance and resilience. The Campaign for New Mexico History, the Museum of New Mexico Foundation’s first statewide fundraising effort, pioneers a way to achieve these goals. “We want to make every visitor who comes to a historic site find a connection to themselves as an individual,” Moore says. “It’s about more than a neat place to go. It’s about how it connects us as people across the state.” He points to Fort Sumner Historic Site/Bosque Redondo Memorial, which reached out to the Navajo and Mescalero tribes last year to re-tool its programs and, this fall, will unveil a new exhibition using Native voices. “When we started doing that,” he says, “suddenly our attendance went up. History and cultural patrimony are important. It’s part of economic development. It’s part of education.” And sometimes, it’s part of the harvest season. For the past three years, Los Luceros has invited the public to glean apples from its 1,300 trees during Harvest Fest weekends. Moore and Los Amigos use the opportunity to acquaint people with the site, buildings and its gardens. The first year, 600 people showed up. Last year, 2,500 came. Given the blessing of a wet winter and spring, everyone expects this year’s September 28 festival to eclipse that. Partnerships have been hammered out with entities like the Los Alamos Nature Center and Española Valley Fiber Arts Center to host public programs all year long. Moore is working with the neighboring Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo to strengthen the tribe’s role in the site’s interpretive plan. The legislature’s actions set a new course for Los Luceros, Moore says. Now it’s time for others to do their part through the Campaign for New Mexico History. “It’s a thing now,” he said. “This is real. Los Luceros is symbolic of what all historic sites are becoming. This is no longer an unfunded mandate. This is New Mexico’s morning star.”
To support the New Mexico Historic Sites through the Campaign for New Mexico History, contact Yvonne Montoya at 505.216.1592 or Yvonne@museumfoundation.org.
Visit Our Newest Historic Site! Member Day at Los Luceros Saturday, October 26 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Museum of New Mexico Foundation members are invited to explore Los Luceros, our newest historic site. Activities include tours of the property, from the Casa Grande to the Chapel and River House. Members will also enjoy apple picking, entertainment, food, drinks and more. The event is free and open to all Foundation members. Look for your invitation in the mail. For additional details or questions, contact the membership office at membership@museumfoundation. org.
Top: Apple picking at the 2018 Circles Signature Summer Event at Los Luceros. Photo © Gabriella Marks.
For information about the Los Luceros Harvest Festival, visit nmhistoricsites.org museumfoundation.org 7
New Mexico History Museum Palace of the Governors Campaign for New Mexico History Launching this fall, the $10 million Campaign for New Mexico History is the Museum of New Mexico Foundation’s first statewide campaign. It will provide critical exhibition and education funding for the New Mexico History Museum and Palace of the Governors. It also will fund historic preservation, restoration and exhibition development at the eight New Mexico Historic Sites. Leading the campaign is honorary chair John Paul Taylor of Mesilla, New Mexico. Taylor, a former longtime New Mexico State Representative, has worked for many years as an educator, community leader and patron of the arts. His historic home and collections comprise the Taylor-Mesilla Historic Site. In addition to Taylor, the Museum of New Mexico Foundation is assembling a campaign cabinet including legislators, private citizens and leaders of Friends groups associated with the historic sites. Cabinet members are located in six regions throughout New Mexico and are responsible for identifying, cultivating, soliciting and stewarding donors to the history campaign.
The Whole of History Building Statewide Support
In 2008, a press release promoted the upcoming grand opening of the New Mexico History Museum with this compelling intro: “If you think history is boring, the New Mexico History Museum will have you shelving that notion right alongside the dust-covered history textbooks banished to the attic.” Those dust-covered tomes might have been the same ones Denny O’Toole was raised on as a kid back East. Growing up, and as former director of Portsmouth, New Hampshire’s Strawbery Banke Museum, a living history museum set on the site of a 17th-century English settlement, the self-described “semiretired” public historian says his background “emphasized the Anglo version of American history.” But in 1999, when O’Toole and his wife moved to a remote riverside ranch northwest of Truth of Consequences filled with prehistoric Pueblo ruins, he quickly understood the historic significance of his new environment. The couple engaged a professional archaeologist experienced in the Southwest to conduct educational field schools on the property. Students from Eastern New Mexico University, University of Colorado and the Earthwatch Institute of Massachusetts came to the ranch for field expeditions, lectures and learning.
“This campaign is an opportunity to build friends around the state for New Mexico history. Local communities are vital to our success.” O’Toole was hooked. “It was eye-opening for me coming to New Mexico,” he says. “It was the reverse of what most American kids learn in history classes. The Anglos are the Johnny-come-latelies in this story.” O’Toole’s interest led to a connection with former history museum director Frances Levine. He subsequently spent two terms as a Museum of New Mexico Foundation trustee, and now serves as an advisory trustee. These relationships, O’Toole says, “gave me a chance to stay involved with the history business.”
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Museum and Palace of the Governors, was raised with deep family roots in southwestern New Mexico, then spent 26 years working as a National Park Service ranger and historic architect in places as diverse as Arizona, Denver, Atlanta and New York. After retiring and returning to Las Cruces in 2009, he became involved in preserving the rich history of home. He served eight years on his local county commission and joined the board of the friends group supporting the Taylor-Mesilla Historic Site outside of Las Cruces. “I got involved in local activities with the hope that the public and private sectors could work together to build better futures,” he says. Garrett describes his new museum role as “another form of public service”—one that utilizes history to ground people in their communities and provide context for contemporary issues. “I see the history museum as being a place that can recognize, support and empower communities around the state,” he says. With the history campaign’s focus on supporting exhibitions and programs, Garrett is working with history museum staff to evaluate current programs and exhibition plans to ensure they appeal to the people who live in and visit New Mexico. Billy Garrett has taken the helm as interim director of the New Mexico History Museum and Palace of the Governors. Photo © Saro Calewarts.
Now living in Santa Fe, O’Toole is the first member of the cabinet for the Foundation’s $10 million Campaign for New Mexico History, a portion of which will provide much-needed funding for the history museum and Palace of the Governors. It’s all part of a vision of building greater statewide support for and participation in the history museum. “This campaign is an opportunity to build friends around the state for New Mexico history,” O’Toole says. “Local communities are vital to our success.” O’Toole’s enthusiasm is music to Billy Garrett’s ears. Garrett, the interim director of the New Mexico History
“We’re looking closely to see that what we present here is statewide in scope so that when people come through the museum, they have a sense of what New Mexico is as a whole,” he says. Garrett says that examining the history of contemporary issues—such as education, water, health care and food—“is one way to help people understand our different cultures and communities today.” Another is connecting the museum to the historic sites and other history-minded institutions to provide a fuller historical overview of the state. “I see us building on relationships that help us reach out to visitors and New Mexicans, to understand this place and its people and appreciate it,” he says. “Building a broader community of interest around history should be a basis for attracting additional support for the museum.”
To support the Campaign for New Mexico History, contact Yvonne Montoya at 505.216.1592 or Yvonne@museumfoundation.org. museumfoundation.org 9
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture and Laboratory of Anthropology Here, Now and Always Campaign The $1.5 million Here, Now and Always Campaign funds the renovation of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture’s permanent exhibition. Groundbreaking takes place this fall, with the following naming opportunities still available for sponsorship: Leadership Sponsorship Opportunities • Interactive Video Station $25,000 • Exhibition Display Cases $15,000 • Water Girls, painting by Marla Allison (Laguna) $14,000 • Exhibition Area Benches $5,000 Numerous exhibition items also are available for sponsorship—including pottery, weavings, jewelry and more—from $1,000 to $2,500 per item.
Telling the Story
Learning—and Loving—Native Culture Bill Butler is emphatic. “It’s a story that can’t die, that won’t die, that has to be told,” he says when asked why the renovation of Here, Now and Always at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture is so significant. That story—indeed the multiple stories of the Southwest’s Native peoples—is the reason Butler has for the past year dedicated himself as one of four lead Museum of New Mexico Foundation trustees who are helping ensure the project is finally realized. His passion echoes that of a long line of devotees who have supported the project since its inception, beginning with Nancy and Richard Bloch, whose $500,000 gift helped build the 21,000-square-foot Amy Rose Bloch Wing as a venue for the original exhibition that opened in 1997. This fall, a second groundbreaking takes place in preparation for the exhibition’s second act. With fundraising for the $1.5 million Here, Now and Always Campaign expected to cap at year’s end, the project is on track to re-open in spring of 2021. And thanks to funding from Butler and his wife, Uschi, the first exhibition space that visitors encounter will introduce what Butler describes as “the vital role that Native cultures have played in New Mexico and the Southwest for thousands of years.”
“The Here, Now and Always exhibition is telling a story that’s not told well in today’s classroom. It’s a complicated history, but it’s our history.” The Butlers, who moved to Santa Fe in 2015 from Virginia Beach, are longtime Native art collectors and supporters of Native causes. Both served on the National Council of the National Museum of the American Indian, and Butler was on that museum’s board of trustees. Uschi’s trips to Indian Market over 35 years helped build the couple’s wide-ranging contemporary Native art collection, including kachinas, sculptures, pottery, glass and more. Bill’s work on the boards of the Chrysler Museum and Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art added to his passion for supporting local museums. Agreeing to serve on the Foundation board in 2017 with a focus on the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture “was a natural transition,” Butler says. “I really understand the importance of preserving and saluting
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Museum of New Mexico Foundation trustees Bill Butler (left) and Gary “Skip” Poliner are lead supporters of the Here, Now and Always Campaign to renovate the permanent exhibition at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. Photos © Saro Calewarts.
and honoring Native culture. The Here, Now and Always exhibition is telling a story that’s not told well in today’s classroom. It’s a complicated history, but it’s our history.” Skip Poliner, another Foundation trustee with a passion for the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, says he and his wife, Ildy, “didn’t need convincing” when asked to become lead sponsors of the exhibition renovation. The couple generously sponsored two exhibition areas, Cycles and The Gathering Place. “It was clear it was time for a refresh,” he says. “And the willingness of so many Native communities to be actively involved in bringing this exhibit into the 21st century will continue to contribute to its national reputation.” Six years ago, when the Poliners moved to Santa Fe from Milwaukee, both brought 36 years of combined experience serving on both nonprofit and for-profit boards, with an emphasis on education-related organizations. While serving on the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum board, Poliner says he “decided I had the capacity to take on another nonprofit board for the opportunity of learning about a new organization and supporting other areas of the community.”
Learning about the exhibition’s educational outreach was particularly appealing. “Seeing how impactful these programs can be to young people and families is something we would like to be able to make a lasting contribution toward,” he says. Though Poliner says he wouldn’t call himself a “serious collector,” he also jumped at the opportunity to get involved with Native Treasures, the museum’s annual Memorial Day weekend showcase of traditional and contemporary Native art that provides funding for museum education programs and exhibitions. Together with Butler and Foundation trustee David Young, Poliner co-chaired the 15th year of the event, making it one of the most memorable—and profitable—ever. “I’ve enjoyed the opportunities that MIAC has presented to be exposed to a totally different environment, to meet new people, learn new customs,” says Poliner. “I’m still learning; it’s not past tense. But that’s what makes what we’re doing so much more enjoyable every day.” To support the Here, Now and Always renovation, contact Celeste Guerrero at 505.982.2282 or email Celeste@museumfoundation.org.
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Museum of International Folk Art Girard Campaign
Design Devotees
The $1 million Girard Campaign will refresh Multiple Visions: A Common Bond, the Museum of International Folk Art’s permanent exhibition created by Alexander Girard in 1981. Campaign gifts also will fund the following projects:
Supporting the Legacy of Alexander Girard
The Essential Alexander Girard $125,000
The museum’s mission to highlight the universal human experience through folk art excited Girard, an ardent folk art collector whose career in modern interior and textile design emphasized the creative intersection between design and folk art. He and his wife, Susan, formed a close relationship with the museum, eventually donating over 100,000 folk art works from 100 countries. Girard also designed the ever-popular exhibition Multiple Visions: A Common Bond. Its nontraditional display has since 1982 drawn hundreds of thousands of viewers to experience folk art as a window on the world.
An illustrated anthology on Girard’s design and collecting legacies. Co-edited by Laura Addison, curator of European and North American collections, and Paul Makovsky, editor in-chief of Contract Magazine, the book will guide readers to a more holistic understanding of this mid-20th-century design icon. Alexander Girard Symposium October 18-19, 2019 $60,000 A two-day symposium featuring speakers on the design legacy of Alexander Girard and his representation of culture, as seen through the lens of his Multiple Visions exhibition. Speakers include Jochen Eisenbrand, chief curator, Vitra Design Museum; Amy Auscherman, archivist, Herman Miller; Khristaan Villela, director, Museum of International Folk Art; Monica Obniksi, curator, Milwaukee Art Museum; and Felicia Katz-Harris, curator of Asian and Oceanic folk art, Museum of International Folk Art.
When Alexander Girard moved to Santa Fe in 1953, the Museum of International Folk Art was preparing to debut a 5,000-piece folk art collection from founder Florence Dibell Bartlett amid International– style architecture and mid-century modern interiors.
Girard laid some serious groundwork for the museum’s future success. Now, with Alexander Girard: A Designer’s Universe, the Vitra Design Museum’s major retrospective on Girard’s modernist legacy, on view at the folk art museum through October 27, a renewed focus on design is generating new museum initiatives and new generations of support. Maria Gale, a Museum of New Mexico Foundation trustee, is among the newly inspired folk art museum fans. Twenty-five years ago, when Gale, a medical social worker and counselor, left Cleveland for Albuquerque, she had no idea what was ahead. A move to Santa Fe, marriage and two Alexander Girard at work in his design studio. This image is featured in Alexander Girard: A Designer’s Universe, presented by the Vitra Design Museum, on view at the Museum of International Folk Art through October 27, 2019. Photo courtesy Vitra Design Museum.
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children later, she took a spot on the board of Santa Fe’s Center for Contemporary Arts. Soon, a conversation with fellow Princeton grad and Foundation President/CEO Jamie Clements set her on a course of discovering the Museum of New Mexico. Though Gale had once studied art history, Santa Fe was her first immersion in the art world. “I don’t golf, I don’t play bridge, I don’t do crosswords, but I love art,” she says. “It was fun finding out where I really fit in.” Gale’s contemporary art bent led her to give to the new Vladem Contemporary, the future satellite museum of the New Mexico Museum of Art. She also met Museum of International Folk Art Director Khristaan Villela, who, she says, “showed me the wide, invisible world of the museum’s collections.” “I knew who Girard was. I was willing to take a dip in that pond,” she continues. “I found that folk art was that perfect intersection of art that restores the soul with the people that make it come alive. It was perfect for someone like me, whose passion is art and people. That cross-pollination made my heart sing.” Gale’s next gift was to the museum’s $1 million Girard Campaign. “The smaller campaign appealed to me because I knew my gift would have some impact there,” she says. That gift is helping the Girard Wing get a much-needed refresh—everything from improved lighting and glass, HVAC repairs, and new paint and upholstery, to better wayfinding and a redesigned gallery guide. Director Villela envisions an innovative use of technology that at once honors Girard’s desire to forego exhibition labels while appealing to today’s tech-hungry audiences. “The Girard exhibition experience has always been immersive,” he says. “We’re hoping to give you some powerful tools to enhance the experience without taking away from Girard’s vision.” With the campaign now at the halfway mark, Villela says its other funding objectives—including a book and symposium—will provide “other means of looking at Girard in a more holistic way, both as a friend of the museum, and in terms of his important contributions to mid-century modern design. This wing, and Girard’s
Museum of New Mexico Foundation trustee Maria Gale is a newly inspired donor to the Museum of International Folk Art’s Girard Campaign. Photo © Saro Calewarts.
role in it, is not going anywhere. This campaign is an opportunity for the wing to really take flight.” Gale says she’s not going anywhere, either. “This is such a wonderful community to get involved in the arts. It’s an avenue to the most wonderful life,” she says. “For me, it’s about relationships, about supporting institutions that are run by capable people. All of us who live here benefit from that. So roll up your sleeves, and get involved. You’ll be rewarded in friendship, in knowledge, in fun.”
To support the Girard Campaign, contact Steve Cantrell at 505.216.0830 or Steve@museumfoundation.org. museumfoundation.org 13
New Mexico Museum of Art Vladem Contemporary Centennial Campaign The $12.5 million Centennial Campaign funds the creation of the Vladem Contemporary, a second New Mexico Museum of Art location in the Railyard Arts District. Even as the campaign nears its final goal, various naming opportunities are still available as a way for you to participate in this new community center for contemporary art. Leadership Naming Opportunities • Main Gallery $2 million • Upper Gallery $1.5 million • Grande Arcade $1 million • Rooftop Terrace $1 million • Collection Storage $500,000 • Exhibition Staging $250,000 • Terrace Hall $250,000 • Studio Bridge $250,000 • Collections Hall $100,000 • Loading Suite $100,000 • Workshop $100,000 Additional naming opportunities are available at the $50,000 level. Lobby recognition is available at $1,000 and $10,000. Courtyard bricks inscribed with your name, or given as a gift, are $250.
Connecting to Contemporary Art
First Impressions, Lasting Gifts A mountain lion is poised to pounce on a prairie dog under a portal that commands a sweeping blue-sky view of Santa Fe. Ravens, a wolf, two donkeys and other critters share space there, too. All are denizens of the delightful bronze sculpture animal menagerie that lives on Van Mabee’s meandering back patio. The view inside Mabee’s home is equally artful, with every wall, corner, and niche bursting with more sculptures, paintings, pots and other works, mostly by contemporary Native artists. Mabee’s much-loved collection represents the culmination of her lifelong education into New Mexico’s diversity of artists and cultures that began with yearly summer visits to Santa Fe as a child with her father. “Santa Fe was so different than what I had been exposed to in Texas,” says the West Texas native who now lives in Dallas and spends summers in Santa Fe. “But the more I became educated about the history of this area, I grew to love the art, and especially, the stories that inspired it.” While Mabee says that Native art “is my connection to Santa Fe,” her recent decision to spend more time here motivated her to explore opportunities to get involved in other areas of the art community. A friendship with Museum of New Mexico Foundation trustee Dan Perry introduced her to the Vladem Contemporary, the New Mexico Museum of Art’s contemporary art annex underway in the Railyard Arts District. Architectural rendering of the north side of the Vladem Contemporary. Image courtesy DNCA Architects and StudioGP.
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late husband, Doug Ring, started making regular weekend trips here from Los Angeles, both developed a love of the city and contemporary art. “The Museum of Art was always a place we stopped by,” Miscikowski recalls. “The whole museum is spectacular, but we especially enjoyed the contemporary wing.” In 1997, the couple’s contemporary art connection in the city grew stronger when they purchased a home to live here part-time. They also began a friendship with the Museum of Art’s former contemporary art curator, Laura Addison. They supported the museum in significant ways, from financial support, to lending works from their growing collection for exhibitions, to donating works to the permanent collection.
Plans for an innovative Education Center inspired Van Mabee to sponsor the center at the future Vladem Contemporary. Photo © Saro Calewarts.
A $4 million gift from Bob and Ellen Vladem gave the project its first major boost. The New Mexico Museum of Art’s forward-thinking, education-based mission inspired Mabee to sponsor the Vladem Contemporary’s Education Center. Among its attractions are classroom windows that open to the street—providing a view of youth and other visitors learning inside. “The Education Center being such a large part of the new museum really touched my heart,” Mabee says. “Art has been an education for me. That’s why I’m so excited about what the children who come here are going to learn. Those children will one day remember the museum as part of their history.” Unlike Mabee, Cindy Miscikowski had no exposure to Santa Fe as a youth. But in the eighties, when she and her
Even as they expanded their participation in the contemporary art world of Los Angeles, Miscikowski says that living long distance didn’t diminish their desire to support Santa Fe’s contemporary art scene. So when news of plans for the Vladem Contemporary hit, Miscikowksi was all in, making an early gift to the Centennial Campaign even before seeing the project’s design. “It was an incredible leap of faith in the project and a huge boost to our initial campaign efforts,” says Foundation President/CEO Jamie Clements. A second major campaign gift from Miscikowksi followed. “The opportunity to have a whole building dedicated to contemporary art was a natural thing to support,” Miscikowski says. “It’s a way for the museum to have permanency in the national realm of contemporary art.” On a local level, Miscikowski believes the Vladem Contemporary will be a boon to the Railyard and all of Santa Fe. “Bringing the museum to the doorstep of the Railyard is going to be fantastic. Think of people getting off the train and walking into a contemporary art museum,” she says. “I think it will be a gathering space, and not just for high-end visitors. It will be fundamentally a part of the fabric of Santa Fe that everyone can feel part of.”
To support the Vladem Contemporary, contact Suzette Sherman at 505.216.1186 or Suzette@museumfoundation.org. museumfoundation.org 15
Office of Archaeological Studies International Archaeology Day Saturday, October 19 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Office of Archaeological Studies will celebrate International Archaeology Day on Saturday, October 19, with an open house at the Center for New Mexico Archaeology. The event includes hands-on opportunities for all ages to learn about and experience ancient technologies, including stone tools, atlatl-andspear, bow-and-arrow, yucca textiles, pottery and more. Guests can also explore the science of archaeology, including osteology and botany. The center’s dating laboratories, where staff and volunteer scholars engage in important research, will be open for tours. This event is free and open to the public. The Center for New Mexico Archaeology is located near the Santa Fe Animal Shelter at 7 Old Cochiti Road, off Caja del Rio Road and New Mexico Highway 599 (Veteran’s Memorial Highway), in Santa Fe.
History’s Building Blocks Experience the Many Dimensions of Archaeology
Archaeology is the reconstruction of history. On the smallest scale, the reconstruction is often accidental, revealing the history of an individual and a few short moments of their life. More often, archaeology assembles many building blocks to reconstruct histories of communities and cultures, offering perspectives of human adaptation over millenia. Unlike other Museum of New Mexico divisions, the Office of Archaeological Studies (OAS) is an enterprise that earns more than 92 percent of its annual budget. Since 1952, this has meant finding clients who need archaeological services and fulfilling those needs on a nonprofit basis. “While the image of archaeology is of excitement and discovery, in reality, clients hope that we find little that is exciting,” says OAS Director Eric Blinman. “Excitement equates to cost and delay, and in extreme cases, potentially important discoveries are acknowledged but are preserved in place without investigation.” Preservation is a positive outcome that is always better than pursuing poorly supported archaeology, yet it contributes little to an understanding of the past. The middle ground is triage, utilizing a limited amount of funding to accomplish the greatest good. For nearly 70 years, OAS has excelled at triage, building a vibrant and even cutting-edge archaeological presence in communities statewide. Challenging and rarely romantic, archaeology is usually rushed, dirty and uncomfortable. Field seasons are seldom planned, leaving In addition to field work, research and archaeological collections storage, the Office of Archaeological Studies hosts numerous trips, statewide educational programs and hands-on learning opportunities for both Foundation and community members. © Photo Cheron Bayna.
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archaeologists working outside of Gallup in the brutal cold of February or outside of Roswell in August heat. “The aroma of diesel fumes is familiar in highway archaeology,” Blinman says. The ambiance of modern litter taints the ancient litter that is of most interest. Nonprofit archaeology is nonetheless ethical, and OAS strives to provide career employment to bright individuals who want to contribute to New Mexico as a whole. That means accomplishing as much as possible with client projects and private funding in order to deliver the best results to modern and descendant communities.
Many Pillars of Support There are a variety of ways that private individuals and donors can help OAS archaeologists do more than the minimum in community-based education and research: Friends of Archaeology: New board members are needed, as are volunteers to plan and execute an annual calendar of educational and fundraising events. Participation provides an opportunity to shape local, regional and even international programs while collaborating with both staff and outside archaeologists. Educational Outreach Volunteers: Education volunteers receive formal training in Southwestern archaeology and anthropology in exchange for providing support in classrooms and at community events. Teaching is one of the best ways to learn, and the OAS educational outreach program has been recognized twice as the best in the nation by the Society for American Archaeology. The program stresses hands-on experiences that engage all the senses, supporting the development of critical thinking skills, teaching basic concepts of human ecology and conveying the deep heritage of New Mexico’s cultures. Laboratory Volunteers: Lab volunteers contribute to meaningful research programs that expand both the scope of OAS client projects and advance archaeology as a discipline. The plasma radiocarbon sampling laboratory is one of only three in the world, the archaeomagnetic dating laboratory is one of only three in the western hemisphere, and OAS is one of only a few
A researcher studies archaeological animal bones in the OAS Osteology Laboratory. Photo © Cheron Bayna.
archaeological organizations with digital radiography capability. Over the decades, OAS has benefited from the knowledge, skill and experience of chemists, engineers, physicists, doctors, dentists, artists, and bright and energetic individuals of all backgrounds. Private Support: Private philanthropy is the most reliable way of expanding the work and potential contributions of OAS. Quality education programs are expensive, and between $30,000 and $50,000 of programming each year is supported by Friends of Archaeology contributions. Bequests, though tinged with sadness, are the largest sources of research and education funding, both directly and through endowment contributions. A past bequest from Dr. Don E. Pierce has furthered the goals of both OAS and the Museum of New Mexico Conservation Department. “Gaining knowledge of the past can enrich our life experiences today,” Blinman says. “We invite you to participate as time, interest and ability allow.”
To join Friends of Archaeology, call 505.216.0829. For details on upcoming events, contact Jennifer Kilbourn at friendsofarchaeologynm@gmail.com. museumfoundation.org 17
Corporate Partner Spotlight DNCA and StudioGP Creativity Happening Now
“When you say Santa Fe, the first thing you think is art,” says Graham Hogan, president of StudioGP, the architecture firm he founded in Albuquerque six years ago. “Contemporary art is about creativity happening now,” adds Devendra Contractor, principal architect of Albuquerque’s decade-old DNCA Architects. “We are dedicated to exploring the limits of all that.” Since 2017, Hogan and Contractor have worked together to create an architectural vision for Santa Fe’s newest contemporary art space, the Vladem Contemporary, the New Mexico Museum of Art’s satellite museum slated to open in the Railyard Arts District in 2021. Their collaboration has inspired a dynamic community conversation around concepts of art, history, architecture and place. All are subjects that both architects have been immersed in individually, and collaboratively, for nearly two decades. “My career was based on projects related to culture and the arts,” says Contractor. “My personal passion has to do with sustainability, site-specific work, geared to a specific climate and region,” says Hogan.
Center in Colorado Springs and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Both also had deeply personal reasons for wanting to impact the arts and architecture in Santa Fe. “My mom’s an artist and a creator. My Dad’s a builder who had a cabinet making shop,” says Hogan, a Colorado native. “Their interests became the passion that guided me into the architecture I do today.”
“We really see what we’re doing as an act of philanthropy, which, at the root of the word, means a love of human values. The work we do is grounded in humanist values.”
Though Hogan and Contractor would ultimately establish their own firms, each planted their architectural roots in New Mexico at the Albuquerque firm of the internationally celebrated architect Antoine Predock. They met while working for Predock, with Hogan spending 18 years there and Contractor a decade. The work each did with Predock—particularly in the area of designing fine art, performing arts and other modern cultural gathering spaces—laid the groundwork for the contemporary architectural focus of their respective businesses today.
Contractor, who grew up in India and attended St. John’s College in Santa Fe, says, “My grandparents were artists and educators who lived in Taos. My grandmother started one of the first contemporary art collections there, the Taos School Collection, now at the Harwood Museum,” he says. “My grandfather was director of the Hans Hoffman Institute, named for the well-known abstract expressionist painter. This is my way of honoring how they promoted the contemporary arts at a time when a lot of contemporary art was not understood or appreciated.”
By 2017, when the request for proposals for the Vladem Contemporary was issued, each had a solid record of professional success. Contractor’s credits ranged from The Tang Museum at Skidmore College in Saratoga, New York, to the Tamarind Institute at the University of New Mexico. Hogan’s work included the Cornerstone Arts
Neither Hogan or Contractor had previously worked with the Museum of New Mexico, though Contractor had designed the Railyard Art Galleries, a series of galleries that launched the pedestrian-oriented contemporary arts corridor in the Railyard in 2010. Each architect had responded individually to the request
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for project proposals. But they quickly saw that collaborating on the Vladem Contemporary would be the best way to contribute to the continuing evolution of the Railyard, and to the museum community in Santa Fe. “This is exactly the kind of project we love to do because it’s an opportunity to give back to the community,” Contractor says. “I can’t think of a better project,” adds Hogan. “A contemporary art museum is such a fundamental part of Santa Fe.” Their belief in giving back has translated to each firm dedicating in-kind services on the project. Their generosity brings each recognition as a Museum of New Mexico Foundation Corporate Partner, though Contractor admits he finds the word “corporate” an “odd fit” for both his and Hogan’s small, community-based firms. “We really see what we’re doing as an act of philanthropy, which, at the root of the word, means a love of human
values,” Contractor says. “The work we do is grounded in humanist values. We try to celebrate what it is to be a human being. That’s what art is about, too.” As they move into the project’s final phase, the DNCA and GP Studio team is excited for the community to experience what each believes is a definitive project for Santa Fe today—and tomorrow. “We knew this would be a complex project, but thought it would be a very important conversation to have, both as architects and as members of the community,” says Contractor. “We’ve got a really strong team. We’re pouring our hearts and souls into it,” says Hogan. “The success of this project is paramount.” For information about becoming a Corporate Partner, contact Mariann Lovato at 505.216.0849 or Mariann@museumfoundation.org.
Graham Hogan (left) of StudioGP and Devendra Contractor of DNCA Architects lead the dynamic design team for the Vladem Contempoary. Hogan’s and Contractor’s companies have donated services toward the project to become Foundation Corporate Partners. Photos © Saro Calewarts.
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Great Grants The Bosque Redondo Memorial at Fort Sumner will receive $100,000 in matching funds through 2020 from the National Endowment for the Humanities Office of Challenge Grants’ Creating Humanities Communities program. The money was raised for the ongoing project Taking Back History: The Enduring Legacy of Bosque Redondo, which supports exhibitions and humanities programs that honor and memorialize the Navajo and Mescalero Apaches who were interned at the site from 1863 to 1868. The match was supported by a state funding measure sponsored by former State Representative George Dodge as well as from donations from Friends of Bosque Redondo, Fort Sumner businesses and visitors to the site. The Marketing Department of the Museum Resources Division was awarded a $45,900 grant from the City of Santa Fe Arts Commission to promote exhibitions and programs at the four state museums in Santa Fe through June 2020.
Museum Shops Member Sale Mark your Calendars for Double Discount! From Monday, November 25, through Sunday, December 1, Museum of New Mexico Foundation members will receive an extra 10% off at our four museum shops inside the New Mexico History Museum, New Mexico Museum of Art, Museum of International Folk Art and Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. Your double discount also applies at our online museum shops at shopmuseum.org. PHOTO © JASON ORDAZ
General members receive 20% off, while Circles members receive 25% off. It’s your opportunity to stock up on your favorite items or take care of your holiday shopping—all while supporting the Museum of New Mexico Foundation.
Ways to Give Membership
Education Funds
Support the Museum of New Mexico Foundation’s ability to deliver essential services to our 13 partner cultural institutions while offering enjoyable member benefits.
Fund museum education and outreach programs at our four museums, eight historic sites and the Office of Archaeological Studies.
The Circles
Exhibitions Development Fund
Leadership-level membership that gives members access to a series of exclusive events.
Support exhibitions, related programming and institutional advancement at the division of your choice.
Circles Explorers
Planned Gift
A Circles membership group whose members explore the art, culture and history of New Mexico through active, adventurous cultural excursions and other unique experiences.
Corporate Partners and Business Council
Provide a lasting impact at our 13 partner cultural institutions through an estate gift, bequest, charitable gift annuity or gift of art.
Endowment
Support the museums through your business and receive recognition and member benefits for your business, clients and employees.
Establish a new fund, or add to the principal of an existing fund, to provide a reliable source of annual income that sustains a variety of cultural programs and purposes.
Annual Fund
Special Campaigns
Provide critical operating support for the Museum of New Mexico Foundation to fulfill its mission on behalf of our 13 partner cultural institutions.
Give to special campaign initiatives designed to fund a range of capital expansions and programming advances throughout the Museum of New Mexico system.
For more information, visit museumfoundation.org/give.
Museum of New Mexico Foundation Staff EXECUTIVE OFFICE Jamie Clements Jamie@museumfoundation.org Francesca Moradi 505.216.0826 Francesca@museumfoundation.org
DEVELOPMENT Steve Cantrell Museum of International Folk Art
505.216.0830 Steve@museumfoundation.org Celeste Guerrero
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture Office of Archaeological Studies
505.982.2282 Celeste@museumfoundation.org
Suzette Sherman
New Mexico Museum of Art
505.216.1186 Suzette@museumfoundation.org Caroline Crupi 505.216.0829 Caroline@museumfoundation.org Kristin Graham 505.216.1199 Kristin@museumfoundation.org
GRANTS Peggy Hermann 505.216.0839 Peggy@museumfoundation.org
MEMBERSHIP
Yvonne Montoya
Saro Calewarts 505.216.0617 Saro@museumfoundation.org
505.216.1592 Yvonne@museumfoundation.org
Mariann Minana-Lovato 505.216.0849 Mariann@museumfoundation.org
New Mexico History Museum and Palace of the Governors New Mexico Historic Sites
Cara O’Brien 505.216.0848 Cara@museumfoundation.org
Marylee McInnes 505.216.1606 Marylee@museumfoundation.org
Brittny Wood 505.216.0837 Brittny@museumfoundation.org
SHOPS
FINANCE
Sara Birmingham 505.216.0725 Sara@museumfoundation.org
Tammie Crowley 505.216.1619 Tammie@museumfoundation.org
Kylie Strijek 505.216.0651 Kylie@museumfoundation.org
Georgine Flores 505.216.1651 Georgine@museumfoundation.org
LICENSING
Patrick Ranker 505.216.1617 Patrick@museumfoundation.org
OPERATIONS
PHOTOS ©
Sachiko Hunter-Rivers 505.216.1663 Sachiko@museumfoundation.org
Pamela Kelly 505.216.0614 Pamela@museumfoundation.org For a full Foundation staff list, visit: museumfoundation.org/staff
Shop All Four of Our Museum Shops
Be inspired with the jewelry assortment at the Museum of New Mexico Foundation Shops! For special occasions or extra special gifts, indulge with a unique, authentic, original and trustworthy gift of jewelry. Shop online or in our four beautiful museum stores. Santa Fe Plaza New Mexico Museum of Art The Spiegelberg Shop at the New Mexico History Museum
Museum Hill Museum of International Folk Art Colleen Cloney Duncan Museum Shop at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture
shopmuseum.org