Member Newsletter: Fall 2024

How did you first learn about Vance Kirkland and his art?

Zoë Livingston-Poole: We met (Founding Director & Curator Emeritus) Hugh Grant before the Kirkland  was actually open, but his works were in the original studio. We went over one day and met Hugh and got to see the Kirkland paintings.

That was the very first time I even heard about Vance Kirkland, and I fell in love with his work.

What was your impression when you saw Vance’s paintings?

Livingston-Poole: I could not believe the different periods of Vance’s work, from realism to the dot paintings and the abstraction to the explosion paintings and what I call the “Fantasia” paintings, the fantasy paintings. They just absolutely mesmerized me.

What works have you all collected of his over the years?
Livingston-Poole: Well, we have a six-foot-by-12-foot dot painting; that was our first Kirkland that we bought. We then bought an Asian Abstraction, and then we bought a “Fantasia” gouache and watercolor.

Why did you want to get engaged as members once the Museum was founded?

Livingston-Poole: First of all, I think it’s one of the most amazing museums in the world, and I don’t say that lightly. I’ve been an extensive traveler throughout this country and in Europe.

It is such an intimate museum. I think the team there is extraordinary, and then the depth and breadth of the works that are displayed, not just Kirkland’s work, and not just Colorado artists, but decorative arts across the world. I think Hugh has done an amazing job, frankly, putting Colorado artists on the map.

When we travel, I keep the Museum’s brochures in the car. I want to try to be an ambassador for the Kirkland, and whenever I hear somebody may travel to Denver, I give them a brochure and talk about the Museum. Even if people stop us on the street in Denver – we met a couple that had just flown in from Amsterdam recently – we suggest that if they love museums, our favorite museum and most unique museum is the Kirkland. We always encourage people who are traveling to Denver to visit Kirkland Museum. It is a jewel in the crown of Denver.

When you visit the Museum, do you have a favorite gallery or work?

Livingston-Poole: It’s hard to have a favorite gallery, because they all ignite the senses. Of course, we love Vance’s paintings, but we also love the ceramics.

We actually just purchased a McKinnell large vessel from the Kirkland Museum Store for our collection.

Has there been a piece you’ve come across recently at the Museum that’s made an impression?

Livingston-Poole: You know, every time I go, you see something new, and I’m sure it may have been there.

I think that you begin to view things differently as collectors when we begin to collect something new. For instance, we collect Edgar Brittons. In our travels, we purchased a bronze sculpture. It turns out that this gentleman was an apprentice to Edgar Britton.

We then go and look at all the Edgar Brittons at the Museum and almost view them differently. One is the large sculpture of dancers. We have that sculpture as well; this apprentice was involved in that project. It gives a whole new meaning to that piece, both at the Museum and ours.

What are you looking forward to as Kirkland Museum gets ready to embark on its next chapter as a part of the Denver Art Museum?

Livingston-Poole: I continue to hope that it will still be a standalone Museum and that that level of intimacy that the Museum offers will still stay intact.

We are very fond of the team there. We’re really hoping that what they have provided – that spirit, that energy, that passion – will continue because that’s what really, I think, helps draw people to that museum.

Eric Poole: Ditto.

Livingston-Poole: (Laughs) Well, we are passionate. We’re passionate collectors, we’re passionate learners. We really love to experience things, and I think the Kirkland has done that for us.