Aspen Art Museum

Aspen Art Museum Building

Previously housed in a converted hydroelectric plant at 590 North Mill Street, the Aspen Art Museum (AAM) opened its new facility to the public at 637 East Hyman Avenue on August 9, 2014, . The building is designed by architect Shigeru Ban, recipient of the 2014 Pritzker Prize for Architecture. It is Ban's first US museum to be constructed. The 33,000-square-foot, four-level facility houses eight exhibition spaces: six gallery spaces, a roof top sculpture garden, and an outdoor commons. There are five main architectural features within the building's design plan: Grand Stair, Moving Glass Room Elevator, Woven Wood Screen, Wood Roof Truss and Walkable Skylights.

Accreditation

The Aspen Art Museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. The museum is a member institution of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), which represents directors of art museums throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In March 2009, the AAM joined other Aspen area businesses through becoming certified under a jointly run City of Aspen Environmental Health Department and Canary Initiative “ZGreen” program. Environmental efforts undertaken by the AAM through the ZGreen program include recycling, composting, and zero waste events.

The Gabriela and Ramiro Garza Distinguished Artist in Residence Program

The AAM's Distinguished Artist in Residence Program was first established in 2006. The Aspen Art Museum’s annual artist in residency program brings artists to Aspen, Colorado, to work on creating a new body of work, which will ultimately be exhibited in the AAM galleries. Artists in residence hold a gallery walkthrough and a lecture as part of their residency.

Education Programming

The AAM provides educational and public programming, including community-based programming through art workshops, public lecture events, guided tours of museum exhibitions and private collections, and member art trips.

Exhibition in a Box

Launched as a pilot program in 2007, Exhibition in a Box is tied to National Standards of Learning and focuses on object-based learning, the creative process, visual literacy and critical thinking skills. The program is available to all public and private elementary schools located within a 2-½ hour drive of Aspen. Following a museum representative’s visit to the classroom, the program continues with a museum field trip where students tour the facility, meet museum staff, and see in-person the works of the artists discussed at their school.

Education Workshops

Over the course of nine weeks each summer, the AAM offers art workshops for children using museum exhibitions as a foundation.

Young Curators of the Roaring Fork

The AAM’s Young Curators of the Roaring Fork program brings together high school students from Aspen to Rifle, Colorado, to curate an exhibition of artwork by their peers. Participants in the program learn the process of exhibiting contemporary artwork—from identifying a theme and soliciting work, to promoting and installing a museum-quality exhibition. Throughout the academic year, the Young Curators meet with museum staff, attend museum functions, and visit with artists to gain the knowledge necessary to curate and administrate their own exhibition.

The Questrom Education Fund

The Questrom Education Fund was established in 2012. The QEF provides for education-based outreach programs.

Family Workshops

Offered on select Saturdays, families create hands-on art projects

Story Art

Held once a month at area libraries, this program introduces children to the basic foundations of art through storybooks, looking activities, and hands-on art projects.

Art Studio

Art Studio is an ongoing program held from September–June, designed to explore art through three age levels: 2–5 years olds, K-4th grade, 5th - 8th grade.

Teacher’s Workshops

Designed especially for educators, these workshops introduce current exhibitions and provide learning tools to integrate contemporary art into classroom curriculum.

Public Programming

The Questrom Lecture Series

Questrom Lecture Series events include lectures and public discussions with visiting artists, important scholars, curators, and critics.

Sunday Cinema

Sunday Cinema is a moving image program series, presenting various formats of film on the last Sunday of each month.

Art Matters! Television Program

“Art Matters!” is the AAM’s bi-weekly half-hour television program aired on Aspen’s GrassRootsTV12 local community television access station. “Art Matters!” episodes include in-studio conversations with renowned artists, curators, and arts professionals, virtual tours of galleries, private art collections, art fairs, and artists’ studios, as well as being available in streaming video and video-on-demand formats on the GrassRootsTV12 station web site.

“Art Matters!” shows have included such guests as artists Doug Aitken, Lisa Anne Auerbach, Walead Beshty, Phil Collins, Harrell Fletcher, Jim Hodges, Friedrich Kunath, Yan Lei, Julie Mehretu, Jason Middlebrook, William O'Brien, Mai-Thu Perret, Catherine Sullivan, Fred Tomaselli, Richard Tuttle, and Mark Wallinger, architect Shigeru Ban, curators Ian Berry, Peter Eleey, Massimiliano Gioni, Sylvie Gilbert, Paul Ha, Jens Hoffmann, and John Hanhardt, as well as other art-world professionals.

Architecture Lecture Series

The AAM Architecture Lecture Series (ALS) brings international architects to Aspen to discuss the role of public architecture in our society and how its form, style, and purpose impact our engineered landscapes.

Art In The Outdoors

The AAM offers a series of programs to explore art outdoors.

Collaborations and Outreach

The Aspen Art Museum collaborates with other Aspen area non-profits, businesses, community institutions and organizations, including: Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, Aspen Historical Society, Aspen Institute/Aspen Ideas Festival, Aspen Music Festival and School, Aspen Writer’s Foundation, Aspen Young Professional Association, City of Aspen Community Development Department, Colorado Mountain College, GrassRoots TV12, Pitkin County Jail, Pitkin County Library, Aspen Youth Center, Shining Stars, Pitkin Senior Center, Youth Recovery Center, Theatre Aspen and Aspen Music Festival and School.

Beginning in 2005, the AAM and the Aspen Skiing Company partnered to bring contemporary art to audiences by selecting contemporary artwork for each season’s lift-tickets. Artist-participants are: Yutaka Sone, Peter Doig (2006/07), Karen Kilimnik (2007/08), Jim Hodges (2008/09), Carla Klein (2009/10), Walter Niedermayr (2010/11), Mark Grotjahn (2011/12), David Shrigley (2012/13), Mark Bradford (2013/14), Anne Collier (2014/15).

Special Events and Annual Benefits

ArtCrush

ArtCrush is the AAM’s annual summer benefit. During ArtCrush, Nancy and Bob Magoon CEO and Director and Chief Curator Heidi Zuckerman presents an annual artist honoree with the Aspen Award for Art. The award is given to an artist who has either exhibited, or will exhibit, at the AAM. Aspen Award for Art honorees include: Ernesto Neto (2014), Teresita Fernandez (2013), Tom Sachs (2012), Roni Horn (2011), Marilyn Minter (2010), Fred Tomaselli, Ed Ruscha (2008), Jim Hodges(2007), Tony Feher (2006), and Richard Tuttle (2005).[20]

The Now: A Dinner Dance

The Now is the Aspen Art Museum's annual winter benefit event held each year on December 28.

Membership

The AAM is a member institution in the North American Reciprocal Museum (NARM) membership program, which offers membership privileges at nearly 400 participating museums. Effective January 1, 2010, additional reciprocal privileges are also in the Modern/Contemporary (Mod/Co) reciprocal member program of 39 internationally recognized institutions.

Aspen Art Press

Through the Aspen Art Press, the AAM publishes artist catalogues and monographs, archiving the AAM’s exhibitions and artist projects.

Aspen Art Museum Shop

The Aspen Art Museum shop sells contemporary art publications, artist-designed products, jewelry, institutional items and children’s toys.