Member Newsletter: Spring 2024

What sparked your interest in collecting art?

I have been collecting for over 40 years. I love the American West and was interested in work that was produced [there], starting in the 19^th century.

As I got into the 20th century material, I found that there was a tremendous amount of great art that was produced in this region but not a lot was known about it. Kirkland Museum was putting together this collection and the core of the collection was Vance Kirkland, who had this great career in the 20th century in Colorado producing remarkable work over the decades in different genres. The oeuvre, that body of work he produced in successive periods, was remarkable, creative, inspired work.

There’s something unique about the American West, both environmentally and culturally, socially and economically, that’s really compelling – the mythology in the American West, the pioneering spirit, individuality. That’s reflected in the artwork, the wide-open spaces, the big skies, the majestic mountains, the wildlife. For centuries people have explored the American West. They’ve been compelled to come to this area because of something really unique – the unique quality of the light, the unique quality of the color and the atmosphere, if you will.

I got the [collecting] bug early. I found that there was a tremendous amount of work out here being done by unheralded artists and you could acquire their work.

I became interested in the research and scholarship, and then in the exhibition and loaning work from my collection and disseminating this knowledge.

How did you learn about Kirland Museum?

I’m very inquisitive, and I wanted to learn more about what was going on here. There was this little private museum, and it was doing exhibitions about Colorado artists. I recall one of the early exhibitions that I went to was about William Sanderson, who taught at the University of Denver and made fine art paintings. His work was tremendous, and Kirkland did a show of his work; I was so impressed.

They’d do these exhibitions about these Colorado artists. They also produced or supported books, catalogs about the artwork and the artists, and so it was a tremendous resource in the community. You’d meet other people at their events – other collectors, scholars, teachers, artists – and so it generated this community.

What led you to becoming a member and donor?

When my wife and I got married 25 years ago and we purchased a home, she liked contemporary art, I like 19^th century art. We decided for our home we’ll meet in the middle of the 20th century. I really didn’t know about modern art. At some point I found Kirkland Museum … and then I met [Founding Director & Curator Emeritus] Hugh Grant. One afternoon he walked me through the galleries … and it all started making sense.

I realized I needed to contribute to support the mission of this institution because I thought the museum was doing something no one else had done.

Why have you donated pieces of your private art collection?

If you’re a collector you have to collect, and until you’ve filled all the walls, you’re not a collector, you’re a decorator. Long ago, I filled the walls and had too many pictures, but you see a great one and say, “Wow I need this one.”

I also want to share with other people my enjoyment of this work. By giving to Kirkland Museum, I feel like the work will have a great home, because it’ll be displayed, exhibited and shared with other people and they can enjoy it. If I sell a picture to another collector and it goes into their home never to be seen again, that seems disappointing and contrary to my desire to share this work. [When] I give a picture to Kirkland Museum, I know it’ll have a good home and it will be a place where the work will be exhibited and enjoyed for the next generation.

Each year when I get to the end of the year, I try to select something that I know Kirkland doesn’t have. Their collection is very extensive, so it’s a tall task to find something they don’t already have.

When I go through the galleries and I see a picture that I gave to the museum I’m really excited by that. Now it has a good home, it’ll be appreciated and shared with others. I think a lot of these art institutions have huge collections and only a small percentage is ever exhibited. If you give a work of art to one of those museums and it never sees the light of day, that’s really not my goal. My goal is that the material is available for exhibition, and same with loans.

I’m always excited to loan work, to share scholarship. I hired a bunch of grad students over the years to do primary research and then I hired [Associate Consulting Curator] Stan Cuba to write up biographies.  I’d share the bios with Kirkland for them, so they have the scholarship.

We’re losing that information more and more as archives are destroyed or lost, so, trying to capture it before it disappears and then have it in a repository where it’s available for scholars and the future is really important.

There is a whole group of us – a rag-tag pack bunch — who are all for the cause because I think a lot of great work was done here and ignored by many institutions. It’s unfortunate. Kirkland Museum has taken the mantle to really support these artists and their families. I think it’s just great.

What keeps you connected to Kirkland Museum?

The focus is Vance Kirkland, who was an amazing artist and whose work is so solid. Typically, an artist has an arc, a beginning, a middle and an end. Not the case with Vance Kirkland. He literally went out with a bang. While he’s dying, he’s producing some of the biggest, most vibrant work.

Every time I go into the galleries, I always look at Vance Kirkland’s work. Every era in his work is really consistently solid, creative, unique work. Every time I go back, I want to look a little more deeply at Vance’s work from one period or another.

And then, every gallery is so jam-packed that whichever gallery I go into, I can spend the entire visit [there] and see new things, because so much is on display. There’s decorative arts, there’s furniture, there’s painting, there’s so much to take in – you can’t take it all in one visit or 20 visits.