Phoenix Art Museum receives first major grant in nearly a decade from the National Endowment for the Humanities

Oct, 12, 2021

Exhibitions and Special InstallationsAmerican and Western American ArtMajor Gifts

Phoenix Art Museum receives first major grant in nearly a decade from the National Endowment for the Humanities

The grant supports the latest major exhibition of Western American art organized by Phoenix Art Museum

PHOENIX (October 12, 2021) – Phoenix Art Museum has been named the recipient of a $240,746 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the first in the institution’s recent history since 2012. The award provides vital support for the institution’s upcoming special-engagement exhibition Landscapes of Extraction: The Art of Mining in the American West, the first major exhibition of Western American art organized by the Museum since The West Select in 2014. The grant also supports an accompanying exhibition publication that adds contemporary voices to existing scholarship on mining-related art.

“Phoenix Art Museum is deeply grateful to the National Endowment for the Humanities for this generous grant—the largest the Museum has received from the NEH in our institution’s history,” said Mark Koenig, the Interim Sybil Harrington Director and CEO of Phoenix Art Museum. “With this funding, the Museum will be able to share with Arizona audiences a groundbreaking view on the history of the art of mining in our region through Landscapes of Extraction: The Art of Mining in the American West, which offers a nuanced view into how artists over the past 100 years have depicted mining scenes and reflected society’s evolving perspectives on the industry’s impact on western U.S. landscapes.”

Opening on November 7, 2021 in Steele Gallery, the premiere exhibition space at Phoenix Art Museum, Landscapes of Extraction explores the modern evolution of mining imagery through more than 65 paintings and prints, illuminating how artists have interpreted and conveyed these landscapes of enterprise from the 1910s to the present. The exhibition begins with works from the early- to mid-20th century, when artists such as Lew Davis, Philip C. Curtis, Paul Sample, and Louise Emerson Ronnebeck portrayed regional themes and industries in their work, inspired, in part, by New Deal programs during the 1930s and early 1940s. These historical paintings showcase images of open-pit mines and coal tipples, the towns that grew up around mines and were abandoned when they closed, and the miners and their families who lived, worked, and toiled in those environments. Contemporary works created into the 2010s stand in contrast by demonstrating how artists have, over time, become more attuned to the monumental impact that humans, technology, mining, and other industries have had on the natural world, with a number examining the ongoing legacy of pollution. Works by artists such as Edward Burtynsky, David Emitt Adams, Martin Stupich, and Robert Adams explore the environmental costs of our global reliance on mined materials, while a work by contemporary fine art photographer Cara Romero, an enrolled citizen of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, illuminates the experiences of Indigenous peoples globally who have been displaced from traditional lands for oil pipelines and other mining ventures. The exhibition is organized by Phoenix Art Museum and curated by Betsy Fahlman, PhD, the Museum’s adjunct curator of American art.

The $240,746 NEH grant was awarded to Phoenix Art Museum in support of the major exhibition as part of the American Rescue Plan that the U.S. Congress passed in March 2021. Since then, the NEH has been working to distribute the $135 million appropriated by Congress to cultural organizations and educational institutions adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

For more information on this recent NEH grant award, Phoenix Art Museum, and Landscapes of Extraction, contact the Communications Office of Phoenix Art Museum at 602.257.2105 or samantha.andreacchi@phxart.org.

About Phoenix Art Museum

Phoenix Art Museum has provided access to visual arts and educational programs in Arizona for nearly 60 years and is the largest art museum in the southwestern United States. Critically acclaimed national and international exhibitions are shown alongside the Museum’s permanent collection of more than 19,000 works of American, Asian, European, Latin American, modern and contemporary art, and fashion design. The Museum also presents festivals, a comprehensive film program, live performances, and educational programs designed to enlighten, entertain, and stimulate visitors of all ages. Visitors also enjoy vibrant photography exhibitions through the Museum’s landmark partnership with the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona. To learn more about Phoenix Art Museum, visit phxart.org or call 602.257.1880.

About the National Endowment for the Humanities

Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at neh.gov.