Best art museum
The ASU Art Museum was named the Best Art Museum in the Best of Phoenix 2021 edition of Phoenix New Times. Also, the ASU Art Museum’s “Pilot Projects” series was named Best Temporary Public Art.
Highlights from 2021-22
Above Mexican Independence Day
Sept. 15, 2021
A Country is not a House
The Graham Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to fostering “the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture and society,” granted $471,500 in project-based grant funding in 2021 to be split among 45 globe-spanning organizations, including ASU Art Museum. The funding supports the exhibition “A Country is not a House,” curated by Brittany Corrales and featuring architectural designs by Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello that address the consequences of the United States–Mexico border wall, offering new, proposed structures. The exhibition opened at the ASU Art Museum in May and ran through October.
Art in Focus: New Acquisitions
“Art in Focus: New Acquisitions” turned the curatorial process over to the Museum Ambassadors, the front-of-house staff of student workers. This process allowed them to participate in the exhibition-making process, rather than just sharing the final product with museum visitors. From a collection of more than 13,000 objects, the students narrowed their focus to highlight a few works that have entered the museum’s collection in the last five years including recent acquisitions by artists José Clemente Orozco, Michael Sherrill, June Wayne, Kumi Tsuda, Julie Heffernan, Courtney Leonard, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Henry Pim, Susan Collett, Justin Rothshank, Isaac Scott and Marina Perez Simão.
Julio César Morales
Southwest Contemporary magazine profiled Julio César Morales, senior curator at ASU Art Museum, and how he explores cultural differences at the museum. Read the story.
Miki Garcia
In the 2021-22 academic year, Miki Garcia, director of ASU Art Museum, was nominated to the Association of Art Museum Directors and selected as one of the 48 Most Intriguing Women of Arizona for 2022. She also was featured on several podcasts this year, including the State of Arts Arizona podcast, where she spoke about how diversity plays a role in museums and about the museum’s Pilot Projects initiatives.