First American Art Magazine No. 25, Winter 2020 (Jan–Mar) | Page 12

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
MUSEUMS
The Mashantucket Pequot Museum
and Research Center in Ledyard,
Connecticut, selected Joe Baker
(Delaware Tribe) as its new executive
director. A curator and beadwork artist,
Baker previously served as executive
director of the Palos Verdes Art Center
in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.
The Autry Museum of the American
West in Los Angeles hired Joe Horse
Capture (A’aninin) to serve as vice pres-
ident and curator. Horse Capture was the
director of American Indian initiatives
at the Minnesota Historical Society, a
curator at the Smithsonian Institution’s
National Museum of the American
Indian, and curator of Native American
arts at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
chose Lisa Qiluqqi Koperqualuk (Inuk)
to fill its newly created position of curator
and mediator of Inuit art. Koperqualuk,
an anthropologist and curator from
Puvirnituq, Nunavik, will oversee the
museum’s Inuit collections, curate exhi-
bitions, create educational programming,
and strengthen collaborative relation-
ships between the museum and Northern
communities.
above, top Joe Baker (Delaware
Tribe), new executive director
of the Mashantucket Pequot
Museum and Research Center.
above, bot tom Joe Horse
Capture (A’aninin), new vice
president and curator of the
Autry Museum of the American
West.
The Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of
the University of California, Berkeley,
appointed Carolyn Jean Fernald as its
new executive director. Fernald, who
earned her doctoral degree in Native
American art history from the University
of Oklahoma, previously served as the
executive director of the Millicent Rogers
Museum in El Prado, New Mexico.
The Detroit Institute of Arts named
Denene De Quintal as its assistant curator
of Native American art, a position that
had been vacant for a decade. Previously
serving as an Andrew W. Mellon Post-
Doctoral Curatorial Fellow in Native
Arts at the Denver Art Museum, De
Quintal earned her bachelor’s degree at
Cornell University and her MA and PhD
degrees in cultural anthropology from
the University of Chicago.
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The Burke Museum celebrated its new
113,000-square-foot location on the
campus of the University of Washington
with opening festivities on October 12,
2019, Indigenous People’s Day. Seattle-
based Olson Kundig Architects designed
the new building, which allows more
visibility for collections and research
activities. The museum consulted with 29
different tribes to follow the best possible
practices and create an inviting, open
space for both employees and the public.
The Denver Art Museum (DAM) has
reinstalled its massive Kaigani Haida
poles in its Northwest Coast and Alaska
Native gallery as the first step toward a
total redesign of the gallery. Reopening
in June 2020, this gallery is part of the
first phase of a $150 million renovation
and construction project that will be
completed in 2021, on the 50th anniver-
sary of the building’s initial construction.
The American Indian Museum and
Cultural Center in Oklahoma has
changed its name to First Americans
Museum (FAM). Chickasaw Nation
Governor Bill Anoatubby stated that
“FAM will carry forward tribal stories
and culture for the benefit of all
Americans today and into the future.”
The museum will open in May 2021.
ARCHITECTURE
The Heiltsuk Nation built its first Big
House in 120 years, after the prior
structure was destroyed in suspicious
circumstances. Marilyn Slett, chief
councilor of the Heiltsuk Nation,
officiated the opening of the new big
house, which will serve as a locus for
the community.
ART MARKETS
Rhonda Holy Bear (Cheyenne River
Lakota) won Best of Show at the Autry
Museum of the American West’s
American Indian Arts Marketplace in
Los Angeles. Susan Hudson (Navajo) and
Corey Stein (Tlingit) both won Jackie
Autry Purchase Awards. Classification
winners were Don Johnston (Qagan
Tayagungin Unangax̂), basketry; Rhonda
Holy Bear, beadwork and quillwork;