WINTER 2007


Artist Kim Jung Hwa demonstrated textile dying with natural plant dyes at her lecture on July 8, 2007. Photo: Karen Kienzle

Welcome to the 2007/2008 academic year! I hope your summer was restful and rejuvenating. We have had a very active summer at the Museum with the exhibition Variations of Grass, Light, and the Wind: The Plant Dye Art of Kim Jung Hwa. Yeongcheon, Korea-based artist Kim Jung Hwa provided our visitors with a rich experience of abstract, landscape, and figural textiles dyed with natural dye processes in the first exhibition of her work in the United States. We were proud to have worked with Site Creations in Menlo Park on this landmark exhibition.

    In April the Museum was awarded a grant of $44,045 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) for permanent collection conservation support. This grant will be used for a detailed conservation survey of the Museum’s 5,045-object works on paper collection. One of the Museum’s strongest collections, it includes prints from the Renaissance period to the present. Santa Clara-based paper conservator Kathleen Orlenko is performing the two-year survey, identifying the extent of any deterioration and recommending treatments and priorities. With detailed condition reports and treatment proposals in hand, the Museum can move forward in seeking funding for conservation of works on paper significant to the permanent collection.

    The Museum embarked on another important two-year project this summer: reaccreditation by the American Association of Museums (AAM). All accredited museums must undergo reviews within ten years of their last accreditation. The Museum has been accredited by the AAM since 1979, and our last accreditation was awarded in 1999. In July we began a rigorous year-long self-study that will culminate in a comprehensive report to the AAM and a site visit by their reviewers. While the process is challenging, involving a significant investment of time and resources from all of the Museum’s staff, the rewards are great. Accreditation by the AAM is a widely respected recognition of an institution’s commitment to excellence, accountability, high professional standards, and continued improvement. We will keep you posted on our progress as we move through the reaccreditation process.

    As our members know, membership renewals were sent out at the end of July. If summer activities have kept you too busy to renew your membership, fall would be a great time to renew your support for the Museum. You now have the option to join or renew online. I extend a heartfelt thank you to all members who have already renewed!

    Finally, I would like to introduce you to our new preparator, Ernest Jolly. Ernest has worked as a preparator at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the Brooklyn Museum, Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, History San Jose, Mills College Art Museum, Oakland Museum of California, and Zeum. We have enjoyed working with him since June—welcome, Ernest!

Rebecca M. Schapp
Director