Annual Report 2016 | From the Chair of the Board of Advisors
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From the Chair of the Board of Advisors

This past year brought many milestones to thrill us at the Nasher Museum!

 

We spent an exhilarating year commemorating Nasher10, the celebration of a decade and beyond. In the spring, my husband David Haemisegger and I were very pleased to be part of the exciting art exhibitions A Material Legacy: The Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Collection of Contemporary Art, which opened at Duke and traveled to the Princeton University Art Museum. The exhibition featured some of the best examples from the contemporary collection that David and I have built over the past decade.

 

Through A Material Legacy, David and I have been honored to continue the legacy of patronage that began with the founding benefactors of the Nasher Museum, my parents, Raymond and Patsy Nasher. In Dallas, they ensured educational art experiences for the public when establishing NorthPark Center (1965), which they filled with masterpieces from their collection over the years, and the Nasher Sculpture Center (2003), an art museum dedicated to sculpture. This was the 50th anniversary of NorthPark Center, which David and I more than doubled in size in 2005/6. David and I continue this philanthropic spirit through our ownership of NorthPark, oversight of the Nasher Sculpture Center and support of the Nasher Museum of Art.

Nancy A. Nasher, chair of the Nasher Museum Board of Advisors, visits the galleries with Marshall N. Price, Nancy Hanks Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. Photo by J Caldwell

A Material Legacy created beautiful connections between Dallas and Duke. The Nasher Museum’s Great Hall was transformed by three 15-foot-tall water tower sculptures by Chilean artist Iván Navarro, which were on view at NorthPark Center in Dallas before traveling to Duke for A Material Legacy. Another sculpture in the exhibition, a monumental bronze work by Thomas Houseago, was also on view at NorthPark. In June, the NorthPark Center fall photo shoot for The Art of Shopping catalogue took place in the galleries of  A Material Legacy at the Nasher Museum. It was amazing to watch our two models strike poses among large-scale sculptures by Huma Bhabha, Tony Cragg, Anish Kapoor, Sol LeWitt and Ursula von Rydingsvard, along with paintings and drawings by Richard Serra, Mark di Suvero, Damian Hirst, KAWS, Kerry James Marshall and Julian Schnabel, among others.

 

Two artists from the exhibition, Alfredo Jaar and Elliott Hundley, visited the Nasher Museum last spring and gave outstanding public talks. The exhibition was complemented by many other free programs, including free Family Day events, sketching in the gallery, a teacher workshop and more.

 

The next wonderful decade cannot be possible without the support of a great many individuals, groups and constituencies. Outgoing Duke University President Richard H. Brodhead with his wife Cindy have created a legacy and set the gold standard for university support of the Nasher Museum. Our beloved director Sarah Schroth continues to push the staff and supporters to new aspirations. Important to the museum’s success is the dedicated staff, including the knowledgeable and visionary curators led by Chief Curator Trevor Schoonmaker, Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Curator of Contemporary Art. I wish to especially thank Marshall N. Price, Nancy Hanks Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, who organized A Material Legacy  and edited the beautiful and prize-winning 90-page exhibition catalogue.

 

Our Board of Advisors had a most productive and creative year, with their gifts of art, time and expertise.  We are surrounded and buoyed by friends, alumni, students, faculty and the Durham community. We share and applaud their commitment to and love for the Nasher Museum, for this is everyone’s museum!

 

Nancy A. Nasher

Chair, Nasher Museum Board of Advisor