Fresno Art Museum
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The Fresno Art Museum is an art museum in
Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...
. The museum's collection includes contemporary art,
modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...
,
Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
and Mexican-American art, and
Pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...
sculpture.


Mission Statement

"The Fresno Art Museum offers a dynamic experience for appreciating art. The Museum welcomes, inspires, and educates a diverse regional audience through significant exhibitions, thought-provoking programs, and meaningful interactions with artists and the creative process."


History

The museum traces its history back to the Fresno Art League, a group of local artists that was founded in 1948 and that gathered sufficient community support to incorporate as the Fresno Art Center in 1949. The group established a permanent space to occupy in 1956. With help from Fresno Mayor
Gordon Dunn Gordon Glover "Slinger" Dunn (April 16, 1912 – July 26, 1964) was an American discus thrower who won a silver medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics, a U.S. Navy lieutenant, and former mayor of Fresno, California from 1949-1957. Godron Dunn was bo ...
, a historic three-story dwelling called the W. R. Price home was moved to city owned property called "Radio Park" north of downtown Fresno. The city agreed to lease the land for $1 per year and maintains the building exterior and the grounds. The
American Association of Museums American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
granted the Art Center accreditation in 1973. The Museum has continued to maintain its accreditation, most recently being reaccredited in 2016. In 1985 the Board of Trustees changed the Center's name to Fresno Arts Center and Museum, and then again in 1988 to the Fresno Art Museum. Robert Barrett, the museum's director and curator from 1980 to 1994, was the driving force behind the museum's expansion, collection growth, establishment of an endowment fund, growth in adult education through a partnership with Fresno City College, and even attempted to raise the museum and tourism in an initiative called "Arts to Zoo". The museum held a successful $2 million funding drive to add a outdoor gallery of sculptures. Construction began in June 2000.


Permanent Collection

The Fresno Art Museum's permanent collection preserves and protects over 3,600 works. The main focus of the permanent collection and exhibitions is on modern and contemporary artworks (painting, sculpture, prints, photographs, and other media) from the 20th and 21st centuries, Pre-Columbian works from Mesoamerica and the Andes, and modern and folk art of Mexican origin. The Permanent Collection includes works by
Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association of photographers advoca ...
,
Ruth Asawa Ruth Aiko Asawa (January 24, 1926 – August 5, 2013) was an American modernist sculptor. Her work is featured in collections at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.< ...
,
Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...
,
Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...
, Robert Cremean, Maynard Dixon, August Madrigal,
Clement Renzi Clement Renzi (born as Clement Edward Joseph Peter Renzi) was an American sculptor whose figurative bronze and terra cotta works depict people, human relationships, animals, and birds. His work has been popular with collectors in California's C ...
,
Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...
,
Varaz Samuelian Varazdat Samuel "Varaz" Samuelian ( hy, Վարազդատ Սամվելի "Վարազ" Սամվելյան, 1917 – November 7, 1995) was a prominent Armenian American writer, painter and sculptor. Life and works Of Armenian descent, Varaz Samueli ...
,
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
, among others.


Noteworthy artists and exhibitions

The Fresno Art Museum became renowned for its exhibitions of
Feminist Art Feminist art is a category of art associated with the late 1960s and 1970s feminist movement. Feminist art highlights the societal and political differences women experience within their lives. The hopeful gain from this form of art is to bri ...
going from an unknown "art center" to nationally known with an exhibit of the artist
Judy Chicago Judy Chicago (born Judith Sylvia Cohen; July 20, 1939) is an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation images, which examine the role of women in history ...
's ''
The Dinner Party ''The Dinner Party'' is an installation artwork by feminist artist Judy Chicago. Widely regarded as the first epic feminist artwork, it functions as a symbolic history of women in civilization. There are 39 elaborate place settings on a triangul ...
''.
Judy Chicago Judy Chicago (born Judith Sylvia Cohen; July 20, 1939) is an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation images, which examine the role of women in history ...
brought Fresno's attention to women artists when she taught the first feminist art class in the country at
California State University, Fresno California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...
.


The Council of 100 and the Distinguished Woman Artist Award

The Council of 100 presents the Distinguished Woman Artist Award annually to a woman artist who has spent thirty or more years in the studio and has created a unique and prestigious body of work. The Fresno Art Museum was the first museum in the United States to devote a full year of their exhibition schedule 1986/87, exclusively for women artists. In order to finance the cost of this year of exhibitions, it was necessary to match a grant for $25,000. Robert Barrett, the executive director of the museum, suggested the means to raise the funds; to enlist 100 women from the community, each of whom would donate $250 to the museum for this project. Weekly meetings were scheduled to inform the invited women about the project and their involvement with it. The group would be called the Council of 100. Over one hundred women participated and many of those women continue to support this program today. Since the spring of 1988, the Fresno Art Museum's Council of 100 has honored the following internationally recognized artists with the annual Distinguished Woman Artist Award and Exhibition: * 1988 -
June Wayne June Claire Wayne (March 7, 1918 – August 23, 2011) was an American painter, printmaker, tapestry innovator, educator, and activist. She founded Tamarind Lithography Workshop (1960–1970), a then California-based nonprofit print shop dedicated ...
* 1989 -
Helen Lundeberg Helen Lundeberg (1908–1999) was a Southern Californian painter. Along with her husband Lorser Feitelson, she is credited with establishing the Post-Surrealist movement. Her artistic style changed over the course of her career, and has been des ...
* 1990 -
Ruth Weisberg Ruth Weisberg (born 1942) is an American artist and Professor of Fine Arts at the University of Southern California, where she is also former dean of the USC Roski School of Art and Design. Weisberg's work is influenced by her Jewish heritage an ...
* 1991 -
Viola Frey Viola Frey (August 15, 1933 – July 26, 2004) was an American artist working in sculpture, painting and drawing, and professor emerita at California College of the Arts. She lived and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area and was renowned for her ...
* 1992 - Inez Johnston * 1993 -
Betye Saar Betye Irene Saar (born July 30, 1926) is an African-American artist known for her work in the medium of assemblage. Saar is a visual storyteller and an accomplished printmaker. Saar was a part of the Black Arts Movement in the 1970s, which eng ...
* 1994 -
Rachel Rosenthal Rachel Rosenthal (November 9, 1926 – May 10, 2015) was a French-born interdisciplinary and performance artist, teacher, actress, and animal rights activist based in Los Angeles. She was best known for her full-length performance art pieces whi ...
* 1995 -
Ruth Bernhard Ruth Bernhard (October 14, 1905 – December 18, 2006) was a German-born American photographer. Early life and education Bernhard was born in Berlin to Lucian Bernhard and Gertrude Hoffmann. Lucian Bernhard was known for his poster and typeface ...
* 1996 -
Bella Feldman Bella Tabak Feldman (née Bella R. Tabak; born 1930) is an American sculptor. Her work addresses the themes of sexuality, war, and the persistent anxiety of the industrial age. Feldman is known for pioneering the use of glass with steel. Her wo ...
* 1997 -
Claire Falkenstein Claire Falkenstein (; July 22, 1908 – October 23, 1997) was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, jewelry designer, and teacher, most renowned for her often large-scale abstract metal and glass public sculptures. Falkenstein was one of Am ...
* 1998 -
Jo Hanson Jo Hanson (1918–2007) was an American environmental artist and activist. She lived in San Francisco, California. She was known for using urban trash to create works of art. Biography Jo Hanson was born on August 1, 1918, in Carbondale, Illi ...
* 1999 - Inez Storer * 2000 - Angie Bray * 2001 -
Ruth Asawa Ruth Aiko Asawa (January 24, 1926 – August 5, 2013) was an American modernist sculptor. Her work is featured in collections at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.< ...
* 2002 - Ruth Rippon * 2003 - Nancy Genn * 2004 - Olga Seem * 2005 -
Junko Chodos Junko Chodos (born 1939) is a contemporary artist born and educated in Japan and residing in the United States since 1968. Her works represent a wide variety of techniques and styles, ranging from pencil, pen, and collage, to works done with acr ...
* 2006 - 20th Anniversary: 18 Profiles * 2007 - Gwynn Murill * 2008 - June Schwarcz * 2009 - Joan Tanner * 2010 - Kathryn Jacobi * 2011 -
Amalia Mesa-Bains Amalia Mesa-Bains (born July 10, 1943),Telgen, page 272-273 is a Chicana curator, author, visual artist, and educator. She is best known for her large-scale installations that reference home altars and '' ofrendas''. Her work engages in a concept ...
* 2012 -
Arline Fisch Arline Fisch (born August 21, 1931) is an American artist and educator. She is known for her work as a metalsmith and jeweler, pioneering the use of textile processes from crochet, knitting, plaiting, and weaving in her work in metal. She dev ...
* 2013 - Ann Page * 2014 -
Mildred Howard Mildred Howard (born 1945) is an African-American artist known primarily for her sculptural installation and mixed-media assemblages.Baker, Kenneth"Artist Intrigued by Interaction of Materials, Ability to Revise at Will", ''San Francisco Chronicl ...
* 2015 - Margaret Lazzari * 2016 -
Hung Liu Hung Liu (劉虹) (17 February 1948 – 7 August 2021) was a Chinese Americans, Chinese-born American contemporary artist. She was predominantly a painter, but also worked with mixed-media and site-specific installation and was also one of the f ...
* 2017 - Joan Schulze * 2018 -
Kay Sekimachi Kay Sekimachi (born September 30, 1926) is an American fiber artist and weaver, best known for her three-dimensional woven monofilament hangings as well as her intricate baskets and bowls. Early life and education Kay Sekimachi was born in San ...
* 2019 - Heather Wilcoxon * 2020 - ''Cancelled due to
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
'' * 2021 - ''Cancelled due to
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
'' * 2022 - Kim Abeles * 2023 - Martha Casanave The caliber of these honorees has elevated the status of the Council of 100's Distinguished Woman Artist Award and has brought the Fresno Art Museum national recognition from many organizations including the National Women's Museum in Washington, D.C.


Any Given Child

In September 2012, the Fresno Unified School District became the tenth national test site for the
John F. Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...
's Any Given Child initiative. The purpose of the initiative is to provide a high quality arts education for students K-12 across an entire school district, city government, and local arts community, aided by the Kennedy Center. The Fresno County Office of Education is the governing organization of all schools in Fresno County and facilitates the implementation of this program through its Visual and Performing Arts department. The Fresno Art Museum and the Visual and Performing Arts department have formed a partnership to provide a direct visual arts experience to every third grade student in Fresno Unified. The pilot program was first implemented in spring of 2013, allowing 1,348 third graders to tour the Museum and participate in specially designed curriculum. The 2014-2015 school year saw 6,099 third grade students come through the Museum as part of the Any Given Child Program. Part of the programming the Any Given Child program is one exhibition that runs for the entire school year, specifically chosen and headed towards the Any Given Child curriculum. The tours include a classroom experience where each child creates an art project based on the theme of the Any Given Child exhibition. There is a reception held near the end of the school year for the students and their families at the Museum to showcase the chosen artworks.


References


External links

* {{authority control Feminist art organizations in the United States Pre-Columbian art Museums of American art Art museums and galleries in California Modern art museums in the United States Sculpture gardens, trails and parks in California Art galleries established in 1949 Art museums established in 1960 Fresno, California San Joaquin Valley 1949 establishments in California