Carter Announces Partnership with Art Bridges

The Amon Carter Museum of American Art (the Carter) is pleased to announce a partnership with three Texas museums made possible by a grant of over a quarter of a million dollars from the Art Bridges Foundation.

Part of the nationwide Art Bridges Cohort Program, this new partnership will bring a series of special exhibitions drawn in part from the Carter’s collection to three Texas museums: Amarillo Museum of Art (Amarillo), Art Museum of South Texas (Corpus Christi), and Ellen Noël Art Museum (Odessa). Over the next several years, each partner will present exhibitions that reframe and broaden traditional ideas about American art. This unprecedented partnership is centered on sharing collections and museum resources to establish a new model for accessible and inclusive community engagement. The exhibitions are the result of a multiyear-long exchange and collaboration among the staff of the institutions.

Paul R. Provost, Art Bridges Foundation CEO, stated, “Expanding access through collaboration and collection-sharing is at the heart of the Art Bridges Cohort Program, and we’re delighted to have the Amon Carter Museum of American Art leading a cohort with museums across Texas. Countless visitors will be introduced to the Carter’s collections through these exhibitions, and we’re confident the program will deepen engagement with their communities. We are proud to support this new Art Bridges Texas Cohort and we are eager to see the inspiring exhibitions and programs come to life.”

The Texas cohort’s inaugural exhibition, Native Impressions: In Our Own Words, launches this spring and will be on view April 21 through August 6, 2023 at the Art Museum of South Texas. Following the presentation there, Native Impressions is scheduled to travel to the Amarillo Museum of Art (December 16, 2023–March 17, 2024). Dates are subject to change, please visit the websites of each partner institution for the most up-to-date exhibition information. Ellen Noël Art Museum will host the exhibition following its re-opening in 2024.

Native Impressions features a portfolio of 26 vibrantly colored printed portraits by artists Daniel Heyman (b. 1963) and Lucy Ganje (b. 1949). These two artists collaborated in portraying present-day members of North Dakota Indian Nations, including those around Standing Rock. Heyman traveled to North Dakota in the summer of 2015 to begin work with Ganje on a project that chronicles the stories of individuals who live within the state’s various nations. The artists combined portraits and text from a range of people in the communities they visited including a former marine, two university presidents, and a grieving mother, among others. The exhibition features each sitter’s personal oral history in his or her own words, as told to the artist while sitting for a portrait, giving voice to those historically denied a voice. Recurring motifs include climate, energy, and the legacy of boarding schools to which elder relatives were sent during forced assimilation.

The second exhibition is slated for Winter–Fall 2024 and tells the story of American photographers’ efforts, from the late 19th century on, to explore and proclaim photography’s artfulness. Photography Is Art features a selection of work from the Carter’s expansive and renowned photography collection, and reveals how artists shaped their medium’s artistic language.

With this cohort partnership, the Carter is building on its long history of collaborating with the community to provide opportunities for people to explore the value of art and creativity beyond the walls of the Museum. Through its community partnerships, such as with Artes de la Rosa and Cook Children’s, the Carter creates experiences and opportunities in Fort Worth and beyond that foster creativity and make art accessible to all people in their own lives and spaces.