Forging connections:

Gift builds ties with Denver Art Museum

A $250,000 gift from philanthropists Frederic and Jane Hamilton will help strengthen the link between DU’s School of Art and Art History and the Denver Art Museum. By doing so, the gift will provide students firsthand experience in the process of installing a work at a major arts venue.

“This donation allowed us to establish a collaborative, visiting artist program at DU,” said M.E. Warlick, director of the School of Art and Art History. “Working in conjunction with faculty, the Denver Art Museum will select visiting artists who are coming to town either to create an installation at the museum or as part of a bigger group show. While here, the artists will spend two to three weeks working with our students in class projects and providing guest lectures, demonstrations and workshops as well.”

The Hamilton gift will fund two visiting artists per year for five years. The first two artists to come to campus were video artist Steina, whose work was featured at the museum as part of Blink! Light, Sound and the Moving Image, and ceramic artist Walter McConnell, professor and chair of the Division of Ceramic Art at New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in Alfred, N.Y. His work was featured in the museum’s Overthrown: Clay Without Limits.

“This is an excellent opportunity for students to receive critiques on their projects and to work closely with those at their top of their field,” Warlick said. “It’s a very organic way of linking our students to artists who have earned national and international reputations in a variety of mediums.”

Frederic Hamilton is chair of the board at the Denver Art Museum, and Jane Hamilton is a member of DU’s Board of Trustees.