MUSEUM WORTHY
What’s known today as the Fresno Art Museum (FAM) has undergone a few name changes since its inception. Nevertheless, this year it celebrates its 75th anniversary. In the late 1940s, a group of local artists formed the Fresno Art League to provide a facility to display and critique each other’s work. This shared enthusiasm, coupled with community support, led to the formation of the Fresno Arts Center in 1949. After years of planning, the Fresno Arts Center building was erected in Radio Park, at the corner of Fresno’s First Street and Clinton Avenue, in 1960. The Board of Trustees changed the Center’s name to Fresno Art Center & Museum in 1985, and it was finally updated to its current name in 1988.
In 1973, FAM received accreditation from the American Association of Museums (now the American Alliance of Museums) due to the non-profit’s extensive study of its organization, finances, staff expertise, programs, care, storage of the permanent collection, and physical facilities. It was during the late 1980s’ reaccreditation process that the American Association of Museums suggested changing the name to its current styling. Over the years, the Fresno Art Museum has maintained its accreditation, with the last renewal taking place in 2016 and the next scheduled for 2025.
The Fresno Art Museum displays both permanent and visiting collections. More than 3,600 works are preserved and protected in its permanent collection, which focuses on modern and contemporary artworks, including paintings, sculptures, prints, photographs, and other media from the 20th and 21st centuries. It also includes Mesoamerican works from Mexico and the Andes, as well as Mexican-origin modern and folk art. Twice a year, new installations display the works of various artists, hand-selected by Michele Ellis Pracy, Executive Director & Chief Curator, and her close-knit team at FAM.
“We don’t rotate shows every three months like a lot of museums do,” shares Michele. “We have two six-month-long seasons: Winter/Spring and Summer/Fall.” Each season includes two to four new exhibits, but there can be as many as six. “Usually, we work three years in advance,” Michele elaborates. “Our schedule is set through 2026 and into 2027.” Michele collaborates with FAM Curator Sarah Vargas to schedule and conceptualize the exhibit ideas they believe are most viable. The pair conducts all the research and label copywriting as well as programming to supplement the exhibits alongside the program committee and their special events coordinator. “We do it all,” including the actual installations. “There are six of us,” she reveals. “We also raise all the money for our shows.”
“The Museum has also hosted exhibitions that have included a wide range of visual arts media from local, as well as national and international, artists encompassing painting, sculpture, graphics, photography, fine crafts (fiber arts, ceramics, jewelry, glass), to cultural artifacts, all borrowed from private, corporate, and other museum collections,” explains Michele. “Since 1988, the Museum has annually honored an internationally recognized woman artist with a Distinguished Woman Artist Award and exhibition through its Council of 100.”
“The Council of 100 is an auxiliary organization of the Fresno Art Museum” that honors Distinguished Women Artists annually with a special installation. “We’re the only museum, that we know of, that dedicates a solo exhibition with a catalog, a lecture, and a luncheon to a woman artist over the age of 60 who lives 100 miles outside of Fresno, and has a national and international reputation,” says Michele. “So, this is a competitive honor.” The Council of 100 selection committee meets once a year. Each person on the committee presents an artist, then the committee votes, and the person with the most votes gets the honor. Furniture maker, artist, and educator Wendy Maruyama is the 2024 and 35th honoree. Her show, A SCULPTURAL SURVEY: Craft, Material, Process 1972–2024, can be viewed through early January 2025.
Art education has long been a crucial component of FAM’s mission. “In addition to lectures, trips to other museums, extensive label copy, docent tours, and classes in the visual arts, FAM hosts nearly 8,000 schoolchildren annually for gallery tours and art experiences,” Michele proudly shares. “We’re the only visual art they have in kindergarten through seventh grade,” noting that the subject was removed from the Fresno Unified School District curriculum. “We teach them museum etiquette, how to look at art, and then they make art.” Schoolchildren visit the museum every week, Monday through Friday, from 9:00AM to 1:00PM when school is in session.
There’s even a space dedicated solely to children’s art. “The Museum has a partnership with the Office of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools through the Kennedy Center’s Partners in Education program (since 2020) and the Any Given Child initiative (since 2013). In support of those programs, an exhibition featuring children’s book illustrators has been curated annually since 2013.” Right now, Art of the Word: Once Upon A Book, featuring illustrations by Grace Lin, is on display.
“With every season, we try to do at least three programs related to one of the exhibitions we’re featuring.” For example, during last season’s Japanese woodblock printing exhibition, the Fresno Art Museum hosted a Japanese Culture Day. “We had Japanese tea and cookies. The Shinzen Garden came over and did a bonsai trimming and history presentation,” Michele speaks of FAM’s efforts to engage with the community and sister institutions, which is a means of cross-promotion and enrichment that showcases what else is available in Fresno. “We believe in the arts-and-culture fabric of the city, and we try to make sure it’s woven well.”
The other two exhibitions currently on display beautifully demonstrate this celebration of Fresno’s role in the world of art, culture, and history. Glorious & Triumphant: Byzantine Icons from the A. & P. Stephanopoulos Collection features early Christian church icon paintings on wood panels and is presented in commemoration of the centennial anniversary of St. George Greek Orthodox Church, FAM’s neighbor to the west. This year also marks the 80th birthday of noted conceptual artist and former professor of art at California State University, Fresno—Charles Gaines: The Fresno Years displays works created during his tenure there. All pieces are pulled from FAM’s permanent collection, and this is the artist’s first solo exhibition at FAM.
There’s a misconception surrounding the Fresno Art Museum, “That because we are in a ‘bad’ neighborhood, we are not worthy of a visit,” but that simply isn’t the case, Michele insists, and there’s good reason to believe that proximity to Radio Park won’t be an issue for much longer. “The City of Fresno has an over $6 million grant from the State, and the Museum is instrumental in working with them on the renovation of Radio Park,” she professes. “It should start in the next two years, and once that’s completed, this will be a whole other ballgame right here.” Fencing, a bandstand, sculpture—there are so many facets that’ll be game-changing. “We are very, very excited about that, and we have worked with the City Department of Parks and their landscape architect on how they will transform this park right up against our walls.”
Membership is the easiest way to support the Fresno Art Museum. Individuals can join for a mere $50, and a family membership is just $75. Levels then increase up to $1,000 annually. With offerings like the Summer Art Academy for kids, bus excursions, lectures, panel discussions, films and performances, free admission FAMily Days, exhibition openings, partnered and special events, there are many ways to be involved in FAM. Chief among them will be this November’s Black & Gold Gala, which will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Fresno Art Museum.
There’s a resurrection on the horizon. For 75 years, “Our mission has always been to be acknowledged as the ‘community’s museum.’ We have always been and always shall be an exhibiting institution that offers a dynamic experience for appreciating art,” Michele proudly states. “Our goals are to increase our membership, continue excellent exhibitions and enrichment programs, ensure FAM is a destination for Fresnans and outside visitors, and remain solvent.” Some 30,000 patrons visit the museum annually. The organization is also getting a brand-new website. With such improvements, “The next 75 years will be a whole new situation,” Michele assures. “The legacy and longevity of the Fresno Art Museum are intrinsic to a fulfilled life for the population in our city.”
Editorial Director Lauren Barisic
Photographer Don Dizon
