Contemporary Forum dedicates this Web site (January 2007) to the phenomenal success of Phoenix Art Museum and to its Director, Jim Ballinger.
In November 2006, Phoenix Art Museum celebrated the grand opening of its $50 million expansion project, which includes a permanent home for its collection of contemporary art, in the new four-level Ellen and Howard C. Katz Wing for Modern Art designed by world famous architects, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. It is a stunning addition to the Museum and provides 25,000-square-feet of new column-free gallery space. At the same time, the Forum celebrated the addition of the Heather and Michael Greenbaum Lobby and the outdoor Wilde Family Plaza, other additions of over 10,000 square feet also designed by Williams and Tsien.
To complement these additions, the Jacquie and Bennett Dorrance Sculpture Garden was opened with a fabulous collection of contemporary sculpture on loan from collectors Carole and Joel Bernstein. The Garden, an oasis in the desert, was designed by the Watertown, Massachusetts, landscape architecture firm, Reed Hilderbrand Associates.
With the inspiration provided by its beautiful new space, Contemporary Forum looks forward to many years of energetic activity on behalf of Phoenix Art Museum. The Forum is proud of its past contributions and looks forward to implementing its goals of education and acquisition. And it is more than fitting that the Forum congratulates those who worked so hard on the Museum’s Capital and Endowment Campaign and who generously made the new Katz Wing a reality.
Contemporary Forum is dedicated to promoting interest, knowledge and understanding of contemporary art as it relates to our community, through the purchase of contemporary art for the Phoenix Art Museum; through the sponsorship of exhibitions of contemporary art; and through the access it provides its members to artists, galleries, collectors and art educators, both nationally and internationally.
Contemporary Forum aids area artists through our Artists Grants Program and the new Mid-Career Artist Award, given for the first time in 2006. In addition, each year CF presents the Scult Studio Art Scholarship created by Arlene and Mort Scult. This award supports the progress of an undergraduate art student at ASU by providing funds for tuition.
Forum members have the opportunity for art-related travel - both domestic and international - visiting galleries, special art exhibitions, museums, artists’ studios, and private collections.
Forum members and their guests attend special annual fund-raising events throughout the year (ArtPick in November, and the Art Auction & Dinner in February). Funds raised at these events (over $2,000,000 to date) are used for the exclusive purpose of acquiring significant works of art for the Museum.
Forum members are very socially minded, and enjoy the opportunity to meet and interact with people of similar interests at the many programs (artists’ studio visits, gallery events, private collections, lectures, and films) held at least twice a month throughout the year, giving greater insight to the question, “What is contemporary art, and why is it important to our city and to our culture.”
Contemporary Forum Mission
Contemporary Forum supports Phoenix Art Museum in its acquisitions and exhibitions of art created post-1960 both by raising funds for these purposes, encouraging individual donors to contribute funds for the acquisition of contemporary pieces as well as by encouraging an appreciation of contemporary art among CF and Museum members and among Arizona resident artists, art educators, art dealers as well as the general public.
An active Phoenix Art Museum membership is a prerequisite for joining Contemporary Forum or any of the Museum´s other nine Support Organizations.
For more information regarding Phoenix Art Museum visit its web site http://www.phxart.org/ or call 602 257-1880.
Center for Creative Photography
In 2006,
Phoenix Art Museum embarked on an innovative collaboration to bring world-class photography to its visitors. Working with the Center for Creative Photography (CCP) in Tucson, Phoenix Art Museum created a new exhibition space, the Doris and John Norton Gallery, dedicated to the display of photography. In addition, a new curatorial position was created and Rebecca Senf was hired to create lively and dynamic presentations of photography from the CCP’s collection. The Norton Gallery was inaugurated in November 2006 with an exhibition entitled, “Modern by Nature: Ansel Adams in the 1930s,” curated by CCP director, Douglas Nickel. Look for upcoming Doris and John Norton Gallery photography exhibitions as well as gallery talks and lectures by curator, Rebecca Senf.
About the CCP: The Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona is the world’s premier academic research facility for the study of photography. Founded in 1975 by then-University President John P. Schaefer and photographer Ansel Adams, the Center collects not only individual works by major photographers but entire careers. With a collection of nearly 80,000 photographs and over 3.8 million archival items, the Center is the largest single repository of materials chronicling the evolution of the photographic medium. The collaboration with Phoenix Art Museum is an exciting new chapter for the CCP, which allows it to share its rich holdings with a new audience.
Jacquie and Bennett Dorrance Sculpture Garden
The sculpture garden at Phoenix Art Museum is the result of a very generous gift from Jacquie and Bennett Dorrance. It was designed by Reed Hilderbrand Associates, a landscape architecture firm from Watertown, Massachusetts, that has received national recognition for their minimal and evocative landscape designs.
The purpose of the design is to extend the experience of art into the outdoors with the promise of engaging the viewer in an interaction between art and nature that can be more powerful than the permanent stabile environment of a gallery. The Jacquie and Bennett Dorrance Sculpture Garden offers places for individual reflection and areas for special events. In this way, the garden gives expression to the mission of the Museum to serve the public.
The design of the garden is strong enough to stand on its own, but through the careful integration of sculpture and landscape, each enriches the other to create a transforming experience. The designers have created a garden that strikes a contrast between the desert and the city. It is a place of reprieve from harsh weather conditions and offers cool shady areas, flowers and grass which encourage the viewing of sculpture. Large areas of oak and Arizona ash provide a high canopy over the terraces and lawn, and willow acacia trees surround the space and serve to unify the garden, frame the central lawn and reconcile the various styles of architecture around the space.
Eric Fischl, Tumbling Woman, 2002, bronze
On loan from Dr. and Mrs. Joel Bernstein
The most compelling feature of the garden is the collection of sculpture on loan from Dr. and Mrs. Joel Bernstein. At present (May 2007), ten extremely significant pieces have been selected from their collection that are primarily human in scale and are located to draw the visitor into the garden and to explore different areas within the garden. Carole and Joel Bernstein have collected art for years and have been extremely generous in allowing
Phoenix Art Museum members and visitors to share their "babies" with them.
The sculptures on exhibit are-
Five Running, Magdalena Abakanowicz
A-Head with Little Pain, Robert Arneson
No Pain, Robert Arneson
Tumbling Woman, Eric Fischl
Elephant with Tusks and Nijinski Hare, Barry Flanagan
Standing Woman, Gaston Lachaise
Rider and Horse, Tom Otterness
The Personal Miraculous Fountain, Jaume Plensa
Untitled, Joel Shapiro
Standing, Kiki Smith
