Catch up on recent art news headlines in the Southwest region, including people on the move, grants, and more.
News
Danyelle Means, Former Leader of CCA Santa Fe, Named Interim Director of MIAC
Danyelle Means (Oglala Lakota) has been named interim director of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe. Means, who’s filling in for former MIAC executive director Polly Nordstrand (Hopi), who departed in November 2023, previously served as executive director and head curator of the Center for Contemporary Arts, and she was the first Indigenous leader of the longtime film house and art gallery. In April 2023, Means and the entire CCA staff lost their jobs when the board of directors decided to close the forty-four-year-old arts institution, only to reopen a short time later in a decision that irked many.
Luis Jiménez’s Heirs Claim Intellectual Property Rights Violations Over “Blucifer” Imagery
The estate of Luis Jiménez is suing Abstract Denver over the latter’s use of “Blucifer,” the once-widely-hated-and-now-iconic Denver International Airport sculpture created by the late sculptor. Artists Rights Society, which represents Jiménez’s estate—a decorated and perhaps under-appreciated artist with roots in Texas and New Mexico—claims that Abstract Denver breached intellectual property rights by producing and selling t-shirts and stickers with artistic renderings of “Blucifer,” according to Patricia Calhoun’s in-depth piece for Denver Westword. A story by Southwest Contemporary’s arts editor Natalie Hegert about Jiménez’s work, life, and influence was one of our most-read articles of 2023.
Grants and Awards
Museum of Contemporary Native Arts Receives Henry Luce Foundation Awards Grant
Institute of American Indian Arts’ MoCNA has been awarded a Henry Luce Foundation Awards grant for Reclaiming/Transforming Spaces, an upcoming exhibition and catalogue that, according to a press statement, will be “the first major investigation of contemporary Indigenous art from Canada and the United States that transforms and reclaims spaces through light, sound, installation, and 2-D art.”
2023 Mayor’s Awards for Excellence in Arts and Culture in Denver Announced
Chloé Duplessis, Joshua Emerson, Grace Gillette, Megen Gilman, and Tsogo Mijid have been named the winners of the 2023 Mayor’s Awards for Excellence in Arts and Culture by Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, Denver Arts and Venues, and the Denver Commission on Cultural Affairs. The five winners each received a $2,500 stipend.
City of Albuquerque Selects CityMaker
Irlanda “Landis” Pulido, a queer-Chicane-Indigene multidisciplinary artist, cultural worker, educator, and healing justice practitioner, has been named the 2023-24 CityMaker by the City of Albuquerque’s Department of Arts and Culture. According to a press release, Pulido will engage in projects with various City departments over the next ten months to amplify “the intersection of art and civic development.”
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture Announces 2024 Living Treasure and Legacy Awards
Santa Fe’s MIAC has named Patricia Michaels (Taos Pueblo) its Living Treasure awardee and Martha Arquero (Cochiti Pueblo) as the recipient of its Native Treasures Legacy award. Michaels is a haute couture designer who participated in Project Runway while Arquero has created clay sculptures since the 1960s. The awards are part of the annual MIAC Native Treasures Art Market, honoring “Native American artists who have made outstanding artistic contributions to the field of Indigenous arts and culture.”
Leadership Changes and Appointments
Firings and Resignations en Masse at Performance Santa Fe
According to news releases sent to Southwest Contemporary and a Santa Fe New Mexican report, Performance Santa Fe, an eighty-seven-year-old organization specializing in the performing arts, appears to be in shambles. In November 2023, Performance Santa Fe fired executive and artistic director Amy Iwano, which seems to have caused a domino effect that saw all but one employee depart one of Santa Fe’s longest-running nonprofits.
“We are entering a new chapter for Performance Santa Fe… with this new chapter comes many changes; changes in management, changes in programming, and changes in marketing,” says Leah Gordon, Performance Santa Fe board president, in an official statement provided to SWC. “The hunger for the performing arts remains alive and well in Santa Fe and Performance Santa Fe will remain at the center of it and continue to serve it’s [sic] mission by upholding excellence in the performing arts and bringing joy and enrichment every month to the community.”
International Folk Art Market Names New Executive Director
Stacey Edgar has become the executive director of IFAM, replacing Melissa Mann, who resigned in July 2023. Edgar most recently taught at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Embattled New Mexico Office of Archaeological Studies Names New Executive Director
The New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs recently announced the executive director appointment of John Taylor-Montoya, who moves from a program director position at the Office of Archaeological Studies. Taylor-Montoya replaces Eric Blinman, who was fired in February 2023 after helming the office for seventeen years. Blinman, according to reporting from the Santa Fe New Mexican, has since filed suit against his former boss, Cultural Affairs Secretary Debra Garcia y Griego, claiming that he was subjected to age, gender, and race discrimination.
University of New Mexico Art Museum Collections Manager Announces Retirement
Stephen Lockwood, the collections manager at the UNM Art Museum in Albuquerque, has announced his retirement. A press release states that Lockwood catalogued more than 30,000 artworks in the museum’s collection during his tenure, which lasted nearly a decade.
