2021 Annual Report
2021 Marks the Museum’s 90th Anniversary and Celebrates Founding Artists
The Nevada Museum of Art celebrated its 90th anniversary with The Latimer School: Lorenzo Latimer and the Latimer Art Club, an exhibition that brought together landscape paintings by the watercolor painter Lorenzo Latimer, alongside those of the artists he mentored including Mattie S. Conner, Marguerite Erwin, Dora Groesbeck, Hildegard Herz, Nettie McDonald, Minerva Pierce, Echo Mapes Robinson, Nevada Wilson, and Dolores Samuel Young. These artists joined together to formally found the Latimer Art Club in 1921. The Latimer Art Club was the founding volunteer organization of the Nevada Art Gallery, known today as the Nevada Museum of Art. To mark the occasion, the Museum hosted a juried exhibition of works by current Latimer Art Club members and a “paint-out” of the Sierra Nevada mountain range as viewed from the Stacie Mathewson Sky Plaza. The exhibition and milestone anniversary were also marked by the publication of a major book with an introduction by Ann Wolfe, Andrea and John C. Deane Family Senior Curator and Associate Director and an essay by Alfred C. Harrison, a nineteenth-century painting scholar and art historian.
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Offered Keynote Presentation for NV STEAM 2021
Developed specifically for Nevada’s K-12 educators, the Museum presented the keynote presentation Visions of the Future with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL) by Dan Goods, Kat Park and Lizbeth De La Torre as part of NV STEAM 2021. The two-day conference explored ideas and strategies that incorporate Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math into pioneering classroom practices that foster student creativity. Participating educators discovered “Design Thinking,” a strategy used by artists, designers, and scientists to understand how design and function are critical components that should be incorporated through all content areas. Additional presentations included Creating STEAM by Design: Beyond STEM and Arts Integration by Dr. Danah Henricksen and Dr. Punya Mishra and We Belong Here Exhibition Walkthrough and Performance by multimedia artist and composer Paul D. Miller. The program was sponsored by Tesla and Nevada Gold Mines, and presented in partnership with the Desert Research Institute’s Science Alive program.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Proserpine, 1881–82 Oil on canvas 39 9/16 x 24 3/16 in. Presented by the Trustees of the Public Picture Gallery Fund, 1927 © Birmingham Museums Trust Courtesy American Federation of Arts.
Hybrid Experiences Introduce Guests to Victorian Radicals
As the country began to return to more public activity after the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine, the Museum presented Victorian Radicals: From the Pre-Raphaelites to the Arts & Crafts Movement. Drawn from the collection of the city of Birmingham, United Kingdom, Victorian Radicals presented more than 145 paintings, works on paper, and decorative objects — illuminating this dynamic period of British art. Members and guests experienced the exhibition through a series of hybrid experiences designed to offer both in person experiences and virtual interpretation during this unique post-pandemic period. Guests returned to the galleries with timed tickets and also participated in a variety of virtual programs including an in depth talk by Tim Barringer, Paul Mellon Professor and Chair of the History of Art at Yale University.
Apsara Diquinzio Appointed Senior Curator of Contemporary Art
In Fall 2021, communities and staff welcomed Apsara DiQuinzio as Senior Curator of Contemporary Art. DiQuinzio will realize exhibitions, produce original scholarship, and guide the Museum in strategic decision-making for contemporary art acquisitions. DiQuinzio previously served as Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive as well as Assistant Curator, Painting and Sculpture at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and as a Senior Curatorial Assistant at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Said David Walker, CEO, “Apsara DiQuinzio has established herself as a national leader among curators, considering art as a catalyst for civic engagement and discourse. We are thrilled that she is bringing her keen eye, public spirit, and critical acumen to our curatorial team particularly now during a time of significant institutional expansion.”
2021 Art + Environment Season
From September through November, the Museum presented an expansion of its signature Art + Environment Conference from a weekend event into a two-month subscription season, featuring both virtual and in-person components and five exhibitions which examined topics ranging from iconic Earthworks to new dialogues surrounding contested lands, sustainable living and ancestral futures. The program welcomed more than 600 virtual guests from around the world and offered Season in a Box, a commemorative package that included the Museum’s newest book Gianfranco Gorgoni: Land Art Photographs edited by Ann M. Wolfe and the comprehensive 2019 Monacelli Press book Michael Heizer: The Once and Future Monuments by William L. Fox.
The program engaged national and international attendees with interests in architecture and design, general culture, art, and travel. Initial media coverage appeared in Art Daily, The Art Newspaper, and ARTnews, and Season coverage highlights include stories in The Wall Street Journal and Fast Company. Subsequent coverage focused on program highlights such as Judy Chicago: Dry Ice, Smoke, and Fireworks Archive; Gianfranco Gorgoni: Land Art Photographs; Land Art: Expanding the Atlas and Rose B. Simpson: The Four.
The Museum and the Center for Art + Environment announced several archive and art acquisitions following the close of the 2021 Art + Environment Season. The largest gift was from noted writer, curator, and art critic Lucy R. Lippard, a founding advisor to the Center for Art + Environment, and a speaker during the 2021 Season. Lippard generously donated the entirety of her library and research materials related to her work with Land Art, Western American land use, Native American art and culture, and more. Other key archive acquisitions included materials from Beverly Buchanan’s legendary Marsh Ruins and Blue Station Stones series, Cannupa Hanska Luger’s Mirror Shield Project from the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock, and objects from Christo and Jean-Claude’s Umbrellas project. The Museum also acquired numerous artworks that were on view in the exhibition Land Art: Expanding the Atlas, including works by Edgar Arceneaux, Mary Miss, Oscar Tuazon, and Cauleen Smith. The diversity of the artists and scope of art, along with rare archive materials significantly enhances the research posture of the Museum in Land Art and environmental justice.