Annual report 2009 - Currier Museum of Art

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FROM TOP: Girls Inc. students participate
in an Art Afterschool program project.
Young visitors dance to the music of the
Toe Jam Puppet Band at the Art Center’s
“Family Day to Play” Fundraiser.
YogaBalance instructors lead a yoga class
outside on the Currier’s front lawn.
As the Art Center prepared to celebrate its 70th anniversary in
calendar year 2009, more than 1,472 students were enrolled in
semester-long classes, workshops, and vacation camps – one
of the highest enrollments in recent years. Another 650 students
participated in off-site, school-based programs led by Art Center
faculty. The Currier’s first on-line auction, combined with a Family
Day to Play fundraiser, raised almost $20,000 to support the Art
Center’s diverse studio programs.
The Currier received an extraordinary bequest from studio potters
Mary and Ed Scheier, who lived in New Hampshire from 1940
to 1968, when they became nationally known for their ceramic
vessels. During their lifetimes, Ed and Mary gave the Currier their
personal collection of their own ceramics, paintings, weavings
and sculpture, their personal library, as well as works of art
by many friends. They designated that three-quarters of their
bequest form an endowment for the purchase of art with the
balance going to endowment to support operations. With these
funds, the Currier will strengthen its growing collections of craft,
a world in which Ed and Mary Scheier were major participants
and mentors to many younger artists.
The collections of art grew with some remarkable acquisitions,
especially in the area of ceramics and photography this year.
Toshiko Takaezu, an internationally renowned potter, gave the
Currier sixteen pieces, including a group of her closed forms
which are signature works of her mature period. The museum
purchased a ceramic piece by David Shaner, a distinguished
teacher at Alfred University and ceramic artist, as well as a
dynamic early stack by Peter Voulkos, who challenged the
traditional notion of pottery as primarily functional.
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Dear Members and Friends