MUSEUM OF NEW MEXICO FOUNDATION | SPRING 2019
Renovation Education
History Lessons from a Stripped-Down Palace
Table of Contents
Cover: An empty Palace of the Governors in February 2019. The historic building’s contents have been removed to install fire-suppression equipment and a new heating, ventilation and cooling system. The renovations uncovered secret fireplaces, hidden walls and windows, blocked doorways and other mysteries—revealing more of the 400-year-old building’s varied past. Bottom: A newly-discovered fireplace hidden inside one of the Palace’s thick interior walls.
LETTER TO MEMBERS
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES
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PALACE OF THE GOVERNORS RENOVATION
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NEW MEXICO HISTORIC SITES
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MUSEUM OF INTERNATIONAL FOLK ART
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MUSEUM OF INDIAN ARTS AND CULTURE AND LABORATORY OF ANTHROPOLOGY
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NEW MEXICO MUSEUM OF ART
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VLADEM CONTEMPORARY
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OFFICE OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES
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MEMBERSHIP
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THE SCOOP
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CORPORATE PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
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WAYS TO GIVE
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Photos © Saro Calewarts.
Our Mission The Museum of New Mexico Foundation supports the Museum of New Mexico system through fund development for exhibitions and education programs, financial management, retail, licensing and advocacy. 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 and Properties • 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 Museum of New Mexico system is a treasure trove of art and artifacts that tell the stories of our state’s art, culture and history and of folk art traditions worldwide. Your support is vital to their success. One of the most extraordinary artifacts within our vast collections is not an object, but a building—the Palace of the Governors on the historic downtown Plaza in Santa Fe. The Palace is a National Historic Landmark and, in 2015, it was designated a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Our Member News feature story is all about the Palace—including its history, recent infrastructure work and the Museum of New Mexico Foundation’s plans to support its future through the $10 million Campaign for New Mexico History. Launching this summer, the campaign also provides funding for the New Mexico History Museum and New Mexico Historic Sites. The timing couldn’t be more perfect as 2019 marks the 10th anniversary of the New Mexico History Museum. A special summer birthday party will bring members together to celebrate this milestone, including the Palace’s grand reopening with three newly installed exhibitions. Our three other Santa Fe museums also have big plans for 2019. The New Mexico Museum of Art aims to complete its $12.5 million Centennial Campaign in May and to break ground on the new Vladem Contemporary in the Railyard this summer or early fall. The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture also breaks ground this summer or early fall on the renovation of its Here, Now and Always permanent exhibition. This will culminate a four-year collaboration involving museum leadership and staff, the museum’s Indian Advisory Panel and Native community members from throughout the Southwest.
“Every division in the state museum system offers something to look forward to this season,” says Foundation President/CEO Jamie Clements. Photo © Daniel Quat Photography.
On May 5, the Museum of International Folk Art opens Alexander Girard: A Designer’s Universe (Member Preview May 4) about the design legacy of one of its foremost supporters. Bringing this traveling exhibition from Germany’s Vitra Design Museum to Santa Fe is but one part of the $1 million Girard Campaign, which also funds a refresh of Multiple Visions: A Common Bond, the permanent exhibition created at the folk art museum by Girard in 1982. Additionally, the campaign will support the publication of The Essential Alexander Girard, a definitive book exploring Girard’s history as both a folk art collector and mid-century modernist designer. Finally, we can’t forget the new exhibitions and educational programs taking place this spring and summer at our four state museums in Santa Fe, six historic sites statewide and the Office of Archaeological Studies. As you make plans for the warm and active days ahead, don’t forget that every division in the state museum system offers something to look forward to this season. Enjoy! Sincerely,
Jamie Clements President/CEO
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Museum of New Mexico Foundation Board of Trustees 2019–20 J. Scott Hall, Chair Pat Hall, Vice Chair Guy Gronquist, Vice Chair John Rochester, Treasurer Harriet Schreiner, Secretary
Above: Museum of New Mexico Foundation Trustee and former Board Chair Michael Pettit (pictured with his wife Cindi) is a fervent supporter of all of our museums. In January 2019, he was a lead supporter at the Montezuma Ball, an Albuquerque fundraising event that kicked off the Foundation’s $10 million Campaign for New Mexico History. See page 3 for our feature on this campaign’s support for our history-minded institutions, and to learn how you can be involved. Photo © Gabriella Marks. Opposite: A sunlit window spills light onto the weathered floors of the Palace of the Governors. Photo © Saro Calewarts.
Catherine A. Allen Anne Bingaman Cynthia Bolene Frieda Simons Burnes William Butler Julia Catron Sharon Curran-Wescott Christie Davis Sherry Davis Rosalind Doherty George Duncan Kirk Ellis Maria Gale Carlos Garcia Robert Glick Marian Haight Bud Hamilton Steve Harris David Hawkanson Stephen Hochberg Rae Hoffacker Peggy Hubbard Jim Kelly Bruce Larsen Martin Levion Ann Livingston Jim Manning Christine McDermott George Miraben Mark Naylor Dennis A. O’Toole, Ph.D. Dan Perry Michael Pettit Skip Poliner Kathleen Pugh Jerry Richardson Wilson Scanlan Nan Schwanfelder Judy Sherman John Silver Courtney Finch Taylor Robert Vladem Matt Wilson David Young
ADVISORY TRUSTEES Victoria Addison Charmay B. Allred Keith K. Anderson Dorothy H. Bracey Lynn Brown Robert L. Clarke Stockton Colt Liz Crews Joan Dayton John Duncan Leroy Garcia Susie Herman Ruth Hogan Barbara Hoover Kent F. Jacobs, M.D, Lawrence Lazarus, M.D. David Matthews Helene Singer Merrin Doris Meyer Beverly Morris Patty Newman Jane O’Toole J. Edd Stepp Suzanne Sugg 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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Telling Secrets
Palace Renovation Reveals What’s Old is New
PHOTO © DANIEL QUAT PHOTOGRAPHY
For the Museum of New Mexico archaeologists who know the Palace of the Governors better than anyone, an absurdly thick wall between the map room and architecture room, just east of the lobby, was a stumper. It provided no defensive purpose and seemed to play no role in regulating the building’s heating or cooling. For decades, it was one of many secrets held by the Palace—despite the structure’s prestige as a National Historic Landmark and National Treasure, regardless of how many times it has been poked at, torn into, demolished, rebuilt and rehabilitated. But a state-funded project to install fire-suppression equipment and a new heating, ventilation and cooling system has opened a door to explore what’s hiding beneath the Palace’s weathered floors and behind its plastered walls. “Isn’t it something?” former New Mexico History Museum Director Andrew Wulf asks upon ushering a visitor into the Palace, whose exhibitions and artifacts have been swept into storage for the refurbishment. “To some people, it’s kind of shocking to see right now, but we’re returning the Palace to a more original form.” The empty building has created unique opportunities to strengthen supporters’ loyalty to every adobe inch of it. In response, the Museum of New Mexico Foundation is launching the $10 million Campaign for New Mexico History to benefit the Palace’s exhibitions and education programs as well as its history-minded counterparts, the New Mexico History Museum and New Mexico Historic Sites. The campaign’s goal is to raise $4 million for the Palace, $1 million for the History Museum, and $5 million to be divided among the Historic Sites statewide.
“For the first time ever, the Foundation is going statewide seeking private support for the Palace, the History Museum and the Historic Sites,” says Foundation President/CEO Jamie Clements. “The stories of our state’s history are best told when these historic places and institutions work together. That’s the idea behind the Campaign for New Mexico History.”
Past Imperfect Standing in front of the puzzling thick wall, Wulf pokes his head into a recently opened void and looks up. There, amid a jumble of mismatched vigas jutting above woodframe walls, a secret held within the Palace’s deep story starts to unravel. The general history of the Palace goes like this: Spanish Governor Pedro de Peralta began building it around
Archaeologist Stephen Post uncovered varied viga cuts inside a wall, providing clues that the ceiling posts came from different locations and were possibly installed more than 200 years apart.
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PHOTOS BOTTOM LEFT AND RIGHT: © SARO CALEWARTS
Blond-colored wood floors were uncovered when old exhibition display cases were removed for renovations. All Palace floors will be restored to this original hue.
Campaign planning for the Palace already has drawn curious supporters to convene in its high-ceilinged rooms, suddenly spacious enough to reflect their palatial title. Devoted “Palace in the Raw” program participants returned once a month to track the project’s progress, aided by graphics that explain what each space once was or might have been. Each event was capped by a historian’s talk on various aspects of the building’s past.
A 1974 archaeological dig in room 7 of the Palace of the Governors uncovered storage pits and pre-1680 Spanish Colonial cobble foundations. The storage pits were excavated by Puebloan occupants of the Palace after the 1680 Pueblo Revolt and were filled with trash after Diego de Vargas reclaimed Santa Fe for Spain in 1693. The 1974 excavation revealed for the first time how much Palace history was buried under the building’s wood floors. Photo © Nancy Hunter Warren, courtesy Cordelia Thomas Snow.
1609, and over the decades it grew considerably larger— and higher—than today’s version. Native peoples tore it down after the 1680 Pueblo Revolt and crafted a pueblo atop its ruins. In 1693, Diego de Vargas and returning groups of Spanish colonists began rebuilding it. In 1909, it became the state history museum, formally designated as the Museum of New Mexico.
“The more we look at the Palace, the less we know about it.” Even that historical outline leaves out a lot. Despite Spain’s lauded commitment to documenting almost every aspect of colonists’ lives, little evidence exists of the Palace’s early years. If there were ever more than a handful of drawings or descriptions, they could have been stolen, burned or tossed out. Copies sent to Spain might have fluttered into the desert winds along El Camino Real or floated to the sea bottom in a shipwreck. For decades, museum archaeologists Stephen Post and Cordelia Thomas Snow have scoured written archives, dug trenches and peeked into the building’s innards to piece together its story. “For me,” Post says, “one of the big excitements of this latest work is demystifying some of the very thick walls. Some are portrayed on maps as four-feet, ten-inches thick. We’re not even sure if those were adobe walls.”
Indeed, when workers broke into the map-room wall, they discovered at least one wall that only used to be adobe. What they found were two frame walls on either side of a large gap that, in part, had made room for inset exhibition cases. This was just one alteration that museum founder Edgar Lee Hewett and archaeologist Jesse Nusbaum made to transform the building to a museum. For Post, the structure that the two originally altered, and what happened to it, is a new mystery. “Before 1909,” he says, “that was a double adobe wall, each wall from a different period. When I climbed on top of the framing and crawled to the far eastern and western ends of the void, I could see different viga ends. Some were saw-cut, others were ax-cut, and some have keyed slots so they could be tied together with a cross brace.” The variations reveal technology changes ranging from the 18th century to the early 20th century, Post says. “It indicates the vigas were brought from different locations, at different times, and maybe purchased from another historic building to replicate the ‘old’ look in 1909.” The discoveries didn’t end there. Workers uncovered old fireplaces—three in one room alone. They found blocked-off doorways and evidence that hints at a possible zaguan (passageway) that once stood between the portrait room and the chapel. Each discovery carries new questions. “The more we look at the Palace,” Post says, “the less we know about it.”
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The Palace of the Governors exterior on Palace Avenue as it appears today. Photo © Daniel Quat Photography.
The Palace of the Governors, 1905-1910 (?). Palace of the Governors Photo Archives (NMHM/DCA), Neg. No. 006719.
Forming—and Transforming—a Future
“What I would like to show visitors is how a building can change, and how the way people think about things changes,” Snow says.
Hewett and Nusbaum saved the Palace from calls for its demolition and, in doing so, altered it to enable coherent exhibitions. But they did so at the dawn of a historicpreservation movement that hadn’t yet developed standards for documenting such work or limiting its scope for the sake of preservation. Nonetheless, at now well past the century mark, their work represents a third of the Palace’s life—a milepost worth honoring, both Post and Snow say.
“What I would like to show visitors is how a building can change, and how the way people think about things changes.” Post, who’s retired from the Office of Archaeological Studies, is overseeing the renovation as a contract archaeologist. Snow works in the Archaeological Records Management Division of the state Historic Preservation Division. She first grew acquainted with the Palace on a 1974 dig and now assists Post in this project. When the Palace begins to re-open in phases this summer, it will include a long-term exhibition developed by the pair that analyzes the building’s history focusing on its transformation into a museum.
Post adds, “Nusbaum wasn’t hurting the building, but he was changing it irrevocably. He and Hewett were pioneering the craft of replicating Spanish Colonial style in the American Southwest.” Other post-renovation exhibitions will add more information about how Native peoples tie into the Palace story. In the chapel room, for example, Spanish Colonial elements familiar from the former Tesoros de Devoción exhibition may mix with new displays about the region’s religious history, including Puebloan mission churches. Additionally, contemporary Native artists, including Michael Namingha, Ricardo Caté and Virgil Ortiz, are developing the exhibition Ogap’oge: The Place of Water to reflect tribal interpretations of the site.
A Palace for all New Mexicans Introducing change into an institution that represents all of New Mexico is a task that must be approached delicately. Improved climate control will enable display of artifacts that, before, couldn’t stand up to the building’s shifts in temperature, but the innovations may stop there. “Although this will become a 21st-century museum, we’re not going to rely on technology and devices to tell history,” Wulf says. “The building—its shape, line and color—should be the protagonist.” Matthew Barbour, regional manager of Jemez and Coronado historic sites, agrees. He has worked on past archaeology surveys for the Palace and recently guided potential donors through the building. “You can talk about almost any historical event in New Mexico and,
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one way or another, that conversation can be told through the Palace of the Governors,” he says. Before it was built, for example, Native peoples occupied the area and, throughout its colonial era, Towa, Tano, Keres, Tewa and Tiwa pueblos surrounded it. Its western end was cut off in the Territorial era to make room for Lincoln Avenue. And its portal pillars represent its 20th century transition. “These are all architectural eras living side by side,” Barbour says. With donor support for the Palace through the Campaign for New Mexico History, all that is old about the historic landmark will soon become new. The refurbished Palace will emerge with new discoveries about the secrets of its past—and new ways to talk about its significance in the future. “It’s the Palace as a storyteller, the Palace as a lightning rod of all we have failed to tell well, or tell at all,” Wulf says. “It’s really about how the storytelling will never end.”
Campaign for New Mexico History Goal: $10 million in public-private funding (includes funding for Palace of the Governors, New Mexico History Museum and New Mexico Historic Sites). Purpose: To renovate and build new exhibitions at the Palace of the Governors. To provide critical exhibition and education support at the New Mexico History Museum. To support historic preservation, restoration and exhibition development at the New Mexico Historic Sites. For more information on the campaign, contact Yvonne Montoya at 505.216.1592 or Yvonne@museumfoundation.org.
An unidentified man shows a doorway uncovered during a restoration of the Palace of the Governors in 1912. Palace of the Governors Photo Archives (NMHM/DCA), Neg. No. 013032.
Above: Museum of New Mexico Foundation Board Chair Scott Hall and his wife Chris at the January 2019 Montezuma Ball, the kick-off event for the Foundation’s Campaign for New Mexico History. Photo © Daniel Quat Photography.
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New Mexico Historic Sites Campaign for New Mexico History Goal: $10 million in public-private funding (includes funding for New Mexico Historic Sites, Palace of the Governors and New Mexico History Museum). Purpose: To support historic preservation, restoration and exhibition development at the New Mexico Historic Sites. To renovate and build new exhibitions at the Palace of the Governors. To provide critical exhibition and education support at the New Mexico History Museum. For more information on the campaign, contact: Yvonne Montoya at 505.216.1592 or Yvonne@museumfoundation.org.
Making Friends Fueling the Lessons of History New York City native Cynthia Garrett had an impressive career with the National Park Service before retiring in 2009 to Las Cruces, hometown of her husband, Billy. Before long, she found herself at a meeting with the irrepressible J. Paul Taylor. The former longtime state legislator and member of the Museum of New Mexico Board of Regents is honorary chair of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation’s Campaign for New Mexico History, which in part, provides funding support for the New Mexico Historic Sites. “He told us about his home and collection, and I said, ‘Well, I’m retired, and I know how important a friends group can be to a national park. Maybe we should form a friends group here.’” Taylor invited the couple to his home in nearby Mesilla. They arrived at 10:30 a.m. By 3:30 p.m., Taylor (who turns 99 in August) was still going strong, and they hadn’t seen the entire house. “I was hooked,” Garrett says. “He’s a gentleman, he’s a storyteller and he loves New Mexico. I said, ‘This is great. Let’s put together a plan.’ He said, ‘I already arranged for people from the state to meet you next week.’”
Cynthia and Billy Garrett at home with their two dogs in Las Cruces. Cynthia Garrett has partnered with J. Paul Taylor to form Friends of the Taylor Family Monument, which supports Taylor in offering tours of his historic home. Photo courtesy New Mexico Historic Sites.
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Garrett laughs at the memory of Taylor’s confidence that he’d found a kindred soul. Within a year, the Friends of the Taylor Family Monument was a reality, with Garrett at its helm. Taylor currently maintains his home as his private residence. Upon his death, his home and art collection are designated to become a New Mexico Historic Site. The Friends group and Historic Sites staff offer tours by appointment and assist in the preservation and interpretation of the property. “He’s taught me so much about New Mexico history and culture,” says Garrett, whose husband shares no relation to Pat Garrett—an icon of southern New Mexico history. “This particular historic place is an incredible opportunity to understand art, architecture and the culture of the Southwest borderlands. I feel very privileged to be a part of it.” Across the state, New Mexico Historic Sites and properties deepen people’s appreciation of our layered history and the lessons those places hold for us today. Leslie Bergloff, regional manager of the Taylor-Mesilla Historic Property and Fort Selden Historic Site, has seen that appreciation grow, especially with site and property improvements over the last two years. At Fort Selden, for example, the Museum of New Mexico Foundation has helped fund children’s summer programs, a living history program and other crowd-drawing annual events. On the horizon is a renovation of the site’s main exhibition, which hasn’t changed since the 1970s. “History, culture, traditions and art will all be integrated into a new exhibition that is engaging for people of all ages,” Bergloff says. Welcoming all kinds of people to the state’s six historic sites and two historic properties is a goal that matters to Garrett, whose final National Park Service posting was as superintendent of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. “Experiencing the places where history happened is, hopefully, how people can learn from it,” she says. “Not everything was perfect and, if we learn from our mistakes, if we talk about the issues that occurred, it can connect us.”
J. Paul Taylor, honorary chair of the Campaign for New Mexico History, offers education programs and private tours at his historic adobe home in Mesilla, New Mexico. Taylor’s home and art collection are designated to become a New Mexico Historic Site. Photo courtesy New Mexico Historic Sites.
Bergloff sees it happen every time a visitor expresses surprise at the significance of the historic sites in southern New Mexico. “The past is not just about dates,” Bergloff says, “it’s about identity. When we study the people of the past, it helps us understand who we are and how our identity as New Mexicans has evolved over time.”
To make a gift to New Mexico Historic Sites and Properties, contact Yvonne Montoya at 505.216.1592 or Yvonne@museumfoundation.org. museumfoundation.org 9
Museum of International Folk Art Girard Campaign
Modern Living
Goal: $1 million
Alexander Girard Inspires a Family’s Heartfelt Gift
Raised: $400,000* Purpose: To present Alexander Girard: A Designer’s Universe, a traveling exhibition of the Vitra Design Museum. Opening May 5, 2019 (Member Preview May 4). To refresh Multiple Visions: A Common Bond¸ the museum’s permanent exhibition showcasing Girard’s folk art collection. To publish The Essential Alexander Girard, a definitive book exploring Girard’s design and collecting legacies. To make a campaign gift, call Steve Cantrell at 505.216.0830 or email Steve@museumfoundation.org. *Fundraising totals as of February 1, 2019
Here’s what Elizabeth Miller most loved about the now iconic conversation pit that Alexander Girard designed in her family’s Columbus, Indiana, home: “As a 10-year-old, if you started at the kitchen door, you could get enough speed to do a flip into it.” That surely was not Girard and architect Eero Saarinen’s intention for the sleek mid-century-modern marvel of steel, marble and glass they developed with Miller’s parents, J. Irwin and Xenia Simons Miller, starting in 1949. Now a National Historic Landmark donated by the Miller children to the Indianapolis Museum of Art (now the Newfields), the Miller House celebrates Girard’s exquisite design taste and his personal bond with the family—most especially Xenia. “One of the best things he ever did was recognize mother’s inherent talent,” Miller says. Raised by a furniture maker, Xenia later studied under an architect. “Sandro,” as Miller calls Girard (he was “Mr. Girard” when she was young), took Xenia under his wing. “They’d take walks on Second Avenue in New York City, where all the antique stores were. He’d say, ‘You find five objects and tell me why they’re the best in the store.’ They did that for months. He understood mother was a powerhouse.”
“He was an absolutely wonderful friend and collaborator.” For New Mexicans, Girard is a patron saint of the Museum of International Folk Art. The museum holds some 100,000 pieces of his collection, and he personally laid out selections from it in the Girard Wing, which opened in 1982. His tie to the Millers and Saarinen was tight. Girard, Saarinen and their wives collaborated with the Millers in designing, first, an Ontario cottage, and then, the Columbus stunner. During his travels, Girard would see artworks that he thought the couple might like, purchase and ship them. “Their deal was that they’d live with it for a week or two and, if they liked it, he’d bill them, or they’d ship it back,” Miller says. “He was an absolutely wonderful friend and collaborator.” In 2017, Miller made her first pilgrimage to Santa Fe. On the off-chance that Khristaan Villela, the Museum of International Folk Art’s director, might be available, she sent him an email. 10 museumfoundation.org
Miller House, Columbus, Indiana, by Alexander Girard, 1953-1957. Photo by Balthazar Korab, courtesy Library of Congress. Details about the house will be featured in Alexander Girard: A Designer’s Universe, organzied by Vitra Design Museum, opening May 5 at the Museum of International Folk Art.
“He wrote back in two seconds,” she says. “We spent an hour together, and he showed us all around. [Curator] Laura Addison showed us all the Girard drawings in the collections. It was just fabulous. Some of the stuff I have from the house, she had the drawings for.”
The siblings, Margaret, Catherine and William Miller, readily agreed. The family hopes that the improvements their donation funds will help visitors realize “the incredible breadth of Alexander Girard’s mind,” Miller says.
Villela mentioned plans for refreshing the Girard Wing and the dream of turning the reading area into an homage to the trend-setting conversation pit from Miller’s childhood home. Miller, who had worked both in museums and construction management, knew that would require money. She wrote to her siblings about the joys of her visit and asked, “Between us, can we raise a certain amount of money and do it as a way of honoring the Girards’ collaboration with our family?”
She’s reminded of it every day, living with her husband in a classic mid-mod house in Pound Ridge, New York, although they voted against a conversation pit. “It was awkward,” she says of the Indiana one. “Think about walking down those steps with a tray of coffee cups and a pot full of coffee.” Awkward perhaps, but oh-so-memorable—especially if you’ve got that head of steam to flip into it.
To make a gift to support the Girard Wing refresh or the Museum of International Folk Art, contact Steve Cantrell at 505.216.0830 or Steve@museumfoundation.org. museumfoundation.org 11
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture and Laboratory of Anthropology Here, Now and Always Campaign Goal: $1.5 million Raised: Over $1.3 million* Purpose: To renovate the museum’s permanent exhibition Here, Now and Always. Created in collaboration with Native peoples and communities across the Southwest, the new exhibition will feature updated content and state-of-the art technology and exhibition techniques. Opening in 2020. To make a campaign gift, contact Celeste Guerrero at 505.216.2282 or Celeste@museumfoundation.org. *Fundraising totals as of February 1, 2019
With Love, from Leaphorn and Chee Author Tony Hillerman’s Children Fund Here, Now and Always Education From the moment the fictional Navajo lawmen Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee sprang from the typewriter of Tony Hillerman, a global audience gobbled up each new adventure from the award-winning mystery master. Hillerman died in 2008. Today, Anne Hillerman, his daughter, carries on the family writing tradition, crafting her own series of whodunits, with Leaphorn, Chee and some remarkably inventive characters of her own. With multiple mystery books between father and daughter, Leaphorn, Chee and company have introduced countless readers to Native lifestyles, religious beliefs, landscapes and modern-day struggles. “One of my dad’s big complaints was that people outside the Southwest didn’t understand how amazingly different the tribes here are,” Anne says. “They don’t realize the differences from Zuni to Navajo or Apache to Ohkay Owingeh, and they ask, ‘Where are the headdresses and teepees?’”
“The best legacy you can leave is sharing your passion for something that is important to you.” Thanks to a $100,000 gift from the six children of Tony Hillerman and wife Marie, who died in 2015, lessons about the Native landscapes and legacies of the Southwest will soon augment the Native histories presented at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. Upon considering what to do with their inheritance, Anne and her siblings were intrigued by the planned revamp of the museum’s Here, Now and Always permanent exhibition, a $1.5 million project now less than $200,000 short of its fundraising goal. Taking a behind-the-scenes tour, the Hillerman family was struck by the critical need for more educational components. Their parents held lifelong commitments to education, and the siblings saw museum education as an excellent way to honor them. “The best legacy you can leave is sharing your passion for something that is important to you,” Anne says. “They were adoptive New Mexicans,
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but they loved this state and would love that they can help share that with tourists and with New Mexicans.” Della Warrior, director of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, said the Hillerman gift will help develop curriculum materials, educational activities and interactive elements focused on the exhibition’s eight themes, including Ancestors, Song and Dance, Art, and Survival and Resilience. “Here, Now and Always is going to be so rich in content,” Warrior says. “There is a great opportunity to develop engaging learning experiences that contribute to the knowledge people will get about the Native experience and history, and the art and culture emanating from that.” Even better, those materials will extend beyond the museum’s walls into social studies classrooms throughout New Mexico, courtesy of lesson plans built on state educational standards.
“Many times,” Warrior says, “teachers are reluctant to teach about Native history and culture because they don’t have the information, or they fear they may not have it right. These materials will help them and also foster greater understanding and appreciation of the Native people of the Southwest.”
“I like the idea of teaching kids how rich the history is where they’re from.” Entering Anne Hillerman’s home in the foothills north of Santa Fe, you might be surprised by the relative lack of Native artifacts and artistry that she surely encountered throughout her childhood and during research trips for her books. Rather, family photos take center stage, including glorious landscape images taken by her husband, Don Strel, former director of the New Mexico Museum of Art. “I’d rather have the experiences than the stuff,” she says of her non-collecting habit. That sense of the importance of increasing knowledge through experiences undergirds her family’s donation. While she knows the family-funded programs will increase everyone’s knowledge, she especially wants them to reach Native children, who often struggle to reconcile their ancient roots in a Wi-Fi world. “I like the idea of teaching kids how rich the history is where they’re from,” she says. They will learn, Warrior promises, thanks to the Hillermans’ commitment to education. “Without this kind of support, our programs and exhibitions would be extremely limited—and certainly boring! We’re so grateful for this generous gift,” Warrior says.
Anne Hillerman (left) with Museum of Indian Arts and Culture Director Della Warrior. Hillerman and her family have funded curriculum materials, hands-on activities and other educational components in conjunction with the renovation of the Here, Now and Always exhibition. Photo © Saro Calewarts.
To support the renewal of Here, Now and Always or education programs at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, contact Celeste Guerrero at 505.216.2282 or Celeste@museumfoundation.org. museumfoundation.org 13
New Mexico Museum of Art Centennial Campaign
The Art of Learning
Raised: $10.3 million*
Vladem Contemporary’s Educational Expansion
Purpose: To build the Vladem Contemporary, a second New Mexico Museum of Art location in Santa Fe’s Railyard Arts District.
The founders of the New Mexico Museum of Art astutely recognized Santa Fe’s capacity to become an art-world star. But back in 1917, they couldn’t have foreseen 21st-century museums evolving from places to view art to places of dynamic activity and engagement.
This venue for contemporary art exhibitions and education programs includes space to grow the museum’s contemporary art collection. Opening in 2021.
An average art class can involve a little dripping, splashing and noise-making, but educators at the museum have long felt their wings clipped by the the lack of dedicated education space and use-with-care restrictions in the historic building.
Goal: $12.5 million
To make a campaign gift, contact Suzette Sherman at 505.216.1186 or Suzette@museumfoundation.org. *Fundraising totals as of February 1, 2019
All that will change—dramatically—when the Vladem Contemporary, the museum’s second location, opens in the Railyard Arts District. Tasked with creating education offerings from the ground up, museum staff developed a wish list. It ranges from Sensory Friendly Mornings with reduced stimuli for people with autism to Family Creativity Days where all ages can indulge their inner artist.
“Museums are all about education in its broadest sense—discovery, inspiration and transformation.” “It would be our ambition to phase in these programs over two years,” says museum director Mary Kershaw. All of it, she says, depends on raising funds from generous donors. Within a 13-point education program plan, the museum anticipates these expanded programs and partnerships: Art Works: For several years, the museum has partnered with Gonzales Community School, a Santa Fe K–8 school, to offer ongoing museum visits and art lessons. “The first participants are now fifth-graders and refer to the New Mexico Museum of Art as ‘their’ museum during visits,” Kershaw says. “With the addition of Vladem Contemporary, we will add one to two additional elementary schools to the partnership.” Hands-on School Tours: Vladem Contemporary will have space to gather school groups after their tour for art-making activities, with a goal of serving more students, up to 1,000 a year. Teen Docents: By training a corps of younger docents, the museum aims to provide young visitors with peers to whom they can relate.
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Teens will also be instructed in museum research methods, art history and public speaking. Studio Classes: In its earliest years, the museum sometimes featured artists working in gallery spaces. Vladem Contemporary’s studio spaces will again enable more regular artist contact and participation, including collaboration with students from the nearby New Mexico School for the Arts. Summer Programs: To serve local families and tourists, the museum envisions drop-in classes as well as extended courses in traditional and new media—3D printing and digital filmmaking among them.
The impacts of these and other educational efforts are envisioned to be far-reaching, says Kershaw. The benefits for young learners are especially promising—as they gain confidence in experimentation, critiques and collaborations, and perhaps even find their future in art. “Museums are all about education in its broadest sense —discovery, inspiration and transformation,” Kershaw says. “Having a dedicated space for these activities will transform the impact the Museum of Art is able to have in our community—and it cannot come soon enough!”
To make a gift to support Vladem Contemporary education programs, contact Suzette Sherman at 505.216.1186 or Suzette@museumfoundation.org.
Children show off their handmade art inside an exhibition at the New Mexico Museum of Art. The museum will expand its educational offerings at the future Vladem Contemporary. Photo © Cheron Bayna.
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Vladem Contemporary Brick by Brick Add Your Name to Vladem Contemporary By now, you’ve heard about the Vladem Contemporary, the new contemporary art venue opening in 2021 in Santa Fe’s Railyard Arts District. With a motto of “one museum, two locations,” the Vladem Contemporary expands the New Mexico Museum of Art with a satellite museum dedicated to housing and showcasing contemporary art. The project transforms the former state archives space into a two-story, 35,000-square-foot building that nearly doubles the museum’s exhibitions, education and collections storage capacity. It also makes room for the museum’s first-ever Education Center and a rooftop event space. Private donors have given $10.3 million toward the $12.5 million goal to make the Vladem Contemporary a reality. Here’s where you come in.
Custom Engraved Bricks Purchase a $250 engraved brick in your name, or that of a friend, family member, or even a pet. In return, you’ll receive permanent recognition in the new museum’s courtyard.
Permanent Lobby Recognition Want to give more? Beginning at $1,000, you can also be permanently and prominently recognized on the Vladem Contemporary lobby donor wall. Other higherlevel naming opportunities are also available for permanent recognition. However you choose to give, you will be a building block of the Vladem Contemporary and its growing contemporary arts community.
To buy a brick visit museumfoundation.org/centennial-brick or to add your name to a donor wall contact Suzette Sherman at 505.216.1186 or Suzette@museumfoundation.org.
RENDERINGS COURTESY DNCA ARCHITECTS
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Office of Archaeological Studies Quality of Life Bioarchaeologists Open Windows on our Past Lives Bioarchaeology documents the human condition in cultures across time and place. The life histories it reveals are sources of knowledge of the past and guidance for the future.
Genetic markers define relatedness within and between ancient communities. Bioarchaeology’s nondestructive documentation of genetic traits in teeth and the skeleton reflect the diversity of ancient Southwestern peoples.
For 35 years, as part of client projects, Office of Archaeological Studies bioarchaeologists have opened windows on past lives of ancient and more recent New Mexicans. Augmented by funding from the Museum of New Mexico Foundation, the Dr. Don E. Pierce Endowment and Friends of Archaeology, the research ranges from studies of early Puebloans to Civil War casualties at Glorieta Pass Battlefield to the picture of community health revealed in a late 19th-century Santa Fe cemetery.
With Foundation support, the work of our bioarchaeologists continues in 2019. We may soon learn more about early life in Santa Fe as aging utilities are replaced through forgotten cemeteries. “Each of us has a lifetime to have a positive impact,” says Office of Archaeological Studies Director Eric Blinman. “Your gifts help characterize past people and connect them to people in the future.”
Diet and health have dimensions illuminated by life histories. Bioarchaeology documents how overreliance on any caloric source (such as maize) risks nutrient deficiencies and disease susceptibility. As populations grow and communities become more complex, restricted access to protein can compromise community health or lead to inequality. Bioarchaeology shows that cancer was present in New Mexico’s past, including where radon exposure within earthen architecture is the probable cause. Instances of valley fever suggest some ancient New Mexicans traveled to warmer climes and returned after contracting the disease. And tuberculosis was endemic with outbreaks in crowded villages. Ancient Rio Grande Valley residents were intrepid hikers, and their skeletons show traces of toil. Varying strength and motor patterns reveal different work habits within communities and increased labor burdens of Pueblo people under Spanish rule. Crippling injuries or disfiguring conditions occasionally occur. Through them, we see that communities cared for disabled individuals.
Zooarchaeologist Caitlin Ainsworth, a graduate student in the anthropology department at the University of New Mexico, works in the bioarchaeolgy office at the Center for New Mexico Archaeology. Photo © Saro Calewarts.
To make a gift to support education and research at the Office of Archaeological Studies, contact Celeste Guerrero at 505.216.2282 or Celeste@museumfoundation.org.
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Membership Step Up Your Membership Honoring the History Museum’s First Decade May marks the 10-year anniversary of the opening of the New Mexico History Museum. In honor of this birthday milestone, we invite you to Step Up your membership support to a higher category. For a limited time, all membership levels are 10% off full price. Stepping Up includes special tenth-anniversary gifts—our thanks to you for your added support. Step Up to the following levels and receive:
Sponsor ($150 | $135) Best Value! Year-round benefits: • All core benefits • 2 Member for a Day passes, giving your guests free admission and Museum Shops discounts for one day • Membership in North American Reciprocal Museum Association, including free admission to more than 1,000 museums (narmassociation.org). PLUS, this thank-you gift: • One free month of membership
Patron ($300 | $270) Year-round benefits: • All Sponsor benefits • 4 Member for a Day passes • Premier 30-minute early access to member previews PLUS, these thank-you gifts: • One free month of membership • Museum Shops $10 off coupon
Benefactor ($600 | $540) Year-round benefits: • All Patron benefits • 6 Member for a Day passes • A gift from the Museum Shops • Conversation with the Curator tour PLUS, these thank-you gifts: • One free month of membership • Museum Shops $10 off coupon • Gift of New Mexico tinwork
Ambassador ($1,000 | $900) Year-round benefits: • All Benefactor benefits • Invitation to one Circles First Look event • Exhibition catalogue • Recognition in our Annual Report PLUS, these thank-you gifts: • One free month of membership • Museum Shops $10 off coupon • Gift of New Mexico tinwork • Book about New Mexico art Step Up at museumfoundation.org/stepup. Select senior rate to get 10% discount. For more information, call 505.216.0837.
PHOTO © ANDREW KASTNER
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Great Grants The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture was awarded a $143,945 grant from the National Archives Foundation to support the Indigenous Digital Archive, including the creation of an app and web portal for online access to ratified Indian treaties; maps, videos and educational curriculum modules; and training sessions and videos that maximize impact of the New Mexico State Library Tribal Libraries Program. The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture was awarded a $216,630 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to conserve subsets of its historic Pueblo, Apache and Navajo collections of baskets, silverwork and pottery. Additionally, the agency awarded the
museum $166,091 for critical infrastructure development at the Center for New Mexico Archaeology to provide storage for the museum’s archaeological vessels and specialty ceramics. The Museum Resources Division was awarded a $30,000 grant from the City of Santa Fe Arts Commission for collaborative arts marketing to promote and publicize exhibitions and public programs under the brand Exploration by Design. Anchor events include Alexander Girard: A Designer’s Universe at the Museum of International Folk Art; public programs at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum; and Action Abstraction Redefined at the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts.
Full Bloom Must-Do Member Events for Spring Monday, April 1 Member Monday Center for New Mexico Archaeology Saturday, May 4 Member Preview: Alexander Girard: A Designer’s Universe Museum of International Folk Art Saturday and Sunday, May 10–12 Members’ Double Discount Sale Museum Shops and shopmuseum.org Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 24–26 Native Treasures Benefiting the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture Santa Fe Community Convention Center Saturday, June 1 Member Preview Palace of the Governors Reopening
PHOTOS ©
Visit museumfoundation.org/events for up-to-date event information.
Daisy Face, Environmental Enrichment Panel #3036, Alexander Girard for Herman Miller, 1971, Vitra Design Museum, Alexander Girard Estate. This and other iconic Girard designs are featured in Alexander Girard: A Designer’s Universe, organzied by Vitra Design Museum, opening May 5 at the Museum of International Folk Art.
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PHOTO © JASON ORDAZ
Saturday, June 8 Folk Art Flea Museum of International Folk Art
Corporate Partner Spotlight A Garcia Family Affair Philanthropy Begins at Home Sheilah Garcia grew up watching her mother log long hours on the Albuquerque School Board and work to give children a broad range of opportunities. That lesson stuck. Today, Garcia oversees her family’s automotive empire, Garcia Automotive Group, with over 15 dealerships in New Mexico and Texas. Since 1974, when Garcia made her first Museum of New Mexico Foundation gift of $10 for membership, she and her family have donated to various Foundation projects. She and two of her children, Edward and Carlos, are now members of the Chairman’s Circle; Carlos is a Foundation trustee; and the Garcia Automotive Group stands as the Foundation’s top Corporate Partner, giving $25,000 annually. “Philanthropy is important,” Garcia says. “It’s good to be a part of your community—by giving or participating.”
When Foundation leaders first approached Garcia for support, she was taken by their knowledge and professionalism. Those attributes, she says, have remained steady through the decades and across staff changes, keeping her and her family engaged in the Foundation and its affiliated museums. “A lot has changed, but our museums still teach about the heart and soul of New Mexico,” she says. “I feel like, living in New Mexico, we’re very fortunate. We have so many talented people who choose to live here. We have a richer cultural life than a lot of places do. Our museums do such a good job. It’s important that people feel welcome and that everybody has an opportunity to go.” For information about becoming a Corporate Partner, contact Cara O’Brien at 505.216.0848 or Cara@museumfoundation.org.
Garcia says her personal interest has always been in the arts, in part because they are too often ignored in school settings. “Whether it’s someone’s child in a school band or going to a museum exhibit, the arts can make a difference in a child’s life,” she says. Though she says she did not intentionally raise her children as philanthropists, they’ve followed her lead, aiding efforts that include youth sports and animal rescue, in addition to the Foundation.
“A lot has changed, but our museums still teach about the heart and soul of New Mexico.” “When we were in a position to do something, it was natural,” she says. “Sometimes there’s a lot of struggle when you have nothing extra, but when you do, it’s important not to keep it all yourself. When you see a need, you try to fill it when you can.”
Sheilah Garcia and her family have been dedicated supporters of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and its affiliated museums since 1974. Photo © Cara O’Brien.
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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, six 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.
Provide a lasting impact at our 13 partner cultural institutions through an estate gift, bequest, charitable gift annuity or gift of art.
Corporate Partners and Business Council
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.
Support the museums through your business and receive recognition and member benefits for your business, clients and employees.
Annual Fund Provide critical operating support for the Museum of New Mexico Foundation to fulfill its mission on behalf of our 13 partner cultural institutions.
Endowment
Special Campaigns Give to special campaign initiatives designed to fund a range of capital expansions and programming advances at divisions throughout the Museum of New Mexico system.
Museum of New Mexico Foundation Staff Jamie Clements Jamie@museumfoundation.org
Kristin Graham 505.216.1199 Kristin@museumfoundation.org
Jessica Ordaz 505.216.0826 Jessica@museumfoundation.org
Elisabeth Loya 505.216.0829 Elisabeth@museumfoundation.org
DEVELOPMENT
GRANTS
Georgine Flores 505.216.1651 Georgine@museumfoundation.org
Jack Price 505.216.0839 Jack@museumfoundation.org
Patrick Ranker 505.216.1617 Patrick@museumfoundation.org
MEMBERSHIP
OPERATIONS
Saro Calewarts 505.982.6366 ext. 24 Saro@museumfoundation.org
Sachiko Hunter-Rivers 505.216.1663 Sachiko@museumfoundation.org
Mariann Minana-Lovato 505.216.0849 Mariann@museumfoundation.org
Marylee McInnes 505.216.1606 Marylee@museumfoundation.org
Cara O’Brien 505.216.0848 Cara@museumfoundation.org
SHOPS
EXECUTIVE OFFICE
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
505.216.2282 Celeste@museumfoundation.org Yvonne Montoya
New Mexico History Museum and Palace of the Governors New Mexico Historic Sites and Properties
505.216.1592 Yvonne@museumfoundation.org Suzette Sherman PHOTOS ©
New Mexico Museum of Art
505.216.1186 Suzette@museumfoundation.org
Brittny Wood 505.216.0837 Brittny@museumfoundation.org
FINANCE
LICENSING
Carl Condit 505.216.1619 Carl@museumfoundation.org
Pamela Kelly 505.982.3016 ext. 27 Pamela@museumfoundation.org
Sara Birmingham 505.982.3016 ext. 23 Sarab@swcp.com
For a full Foundation staff list, visit: museumfoundation.org/staff
Homeward Bound
Influenced by his heritage, all of Greg’s animal sculptures are one-of-a-kind and signed and dated. These colorful, spirited wood carvings would be happy to find a way into your home! Gregory Lomayesva is a recognized painter, sculptor and mixed-media artist known throughout the world. Drawing from his Hopi and Hispanic heritage, he developed an esthetic that uses both abstract imagery and traditional symbols. When he combined his woodworking skills with his painting skills his sculptures captured a large audience of collectors.
The Speigelberg Shop at the New Mexico History Museum
MUSEUM OF NEW MEXICO FOUNDATION
shopmuseum.org