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There wasn’t a cake with 50 candles at the UNM Art Museum on Thursday, but there was a crowd of hundreds, a large cheese platter and art along the walls.
The museum celebrated its 50th birthday that night. The event was marked with an opening reception of five exhibitions, which will be on display through Dec. 14.
Robert Ware, a curator who has worked at the museum for 13 years, said the site has changed a lot since he started.
“There have been a lot of changes over the years, and I think it’s all been exciting,” he said. “It’s all worked out very nicely. So I’m happy to be here.”
To celebrate its half century of life, the museum featured various new art collections. Ware helped curate one of the collections in the event.
Ware said as a curator at the museum, he had the opportunity to run the museum’s Raymond Johnson exhibit. He said it was one of the best art experiences he has ever had.
“To be able to get in touch with history that thoroughly and closely, that kind of proximity to his life’s work is very encouraging and satisfying to me,” he said. “And here at the museum, there had been a couple of exhibitions that have been very special to me.”
Ware said the museum is an important part of students’ educational experience. He said the museum does not “grant degrees, but we educate students nonetheless.”
And Ware said as far as a birthday gift from the University goes, renovations for the aging museum will do.
“Since this building is now 50 years old, it’s time for us to get a new museum,” he said. “I think the University understands that. We’re trying to get the community onboard with that as well. We have the largest collections in the Southwest … And people don’t know that.”
Lisa Tamiris Becker, director of the museum, said she is thrilled to celebrate the 50th anniversary with the community. Although she just started working at the museum in April, she said she sees the importance of the site for the University community.
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“It’s an extremely exciting moment for the museum having had so many years of contributing to the educational experience of the campus,” she said. “I’m excited to be in New Mexico because of the significance of art to the state of New Mexico … and also just the love of art in the community.”
Becker said she aims to establish a permanent collection space at the lower level of the art museum in the coming years. She said she also aims to bring a “dynamic program of changing exhibitions that would cover a range of approaches to art.”
The museum will also continue to work with students, Becker said.
“We use all the different modalities that we can to reach students,” she said. “That would include print communication, further development of our website, further development of social media and presentations. I really believe in all of the above rather than just one modality.”
Becker said she believes the museum is an integral part of UNM.
“It’s actually pretty central to the fabric of the American university system,” she said. “The idea of encountering art is through having a direct experience to a work of art. You can use that direct experience to explore aesthetics, social issues, history, any different topic that’s somehow different than the classroom where you’re only seeing a projector.”
All exhibits in the museum are free and open to the public, Becker said. She said she encourages students to visit the museum as often as they can.
“The more you come back, the more you’ll have a deeper experience with art,” she said.
Click here for a video piece on the UNM Art Museum’s 50th anniversary.
