University Museum of Contemporary Art to Celebrate 60th Anniversary with Opening Reception and Symposium on Sept. 29-30

AMHERST, Mass. – The University Museum of Contemporary Art (UMCA) will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its permanent art collection with a series of events, including an opening reception, daylong symposium and anniversary art exhibit on Sept. 29-30, and ongoing public programs and educational opportunities throughout the academic year.

The opening reception will take place on Thursday, Sept. 29, at 4:30 p.m., in the Bromery Center Lobby. It will include remarks by State Senator Jo Comerford.

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The symposium, “The Future of Collecting,” is Friday, Sept. 30, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Bowker Auditorium at Stockbridge Hall. Tricia Serio, provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, will deliver opening remarks. The day will also include a series of talks, panels and campus tours. A full schedule can be found on the UMCA website.

The anniversary exhibition, “60 Years of Collecting,” opens Friday, Sept. 30. It features 115 artworks from the museum’s growing collection of more than 3,600 prints, drawings, photographs, and multiples from masters of mid- and late-20th century art to work by the leading artists of our time. The collection began in 1962.

“The goal of this exhibition is to uncover new connections and to invite innovative
interpretations of the art in the collection,” says Loretta Yarlow, director of UMCA. “This has been our mantra since our beginning, and it will continue as our teaching museum becomes even more fully integrated into the fabric of our entire academic and local art communities.”

The exhibit reveals the museum’s most recent collecting strategy that prioritizes diversifying the collection. Recent acquisitions of works by women and by artists of color point to a renewed commitment to inclusion of artwork by emerging artists into this important UMass repository for study and research.

While the exhibition highlights the UMCA’s commitment to contemporary art as a catalyst for discussing the urgent contemporary issues, building community and creating empathy, it also celebrates the donors and artists who have made gifts to the museum’s collection.

To further commemorate UMCA’s 60th anniversary, it will offer a robust series of public programs and educational opportunities through the academic year, such as:

• Thematic guided tours, led by UMCA Student Educators;
• An audio tour of interviews with artists created by UMass Journalism students, available online and in the museum;
• A teacher’s guide for public schools, written and produced by art education graduate students from the UMass Department of Art;
• A Fine Arts Center Arts Walk and Dance Party on Friday, Oct. 14, at the museum;
• An “Artists on Artists” exhibition walk-through with artists Mary Ijichi and Olivia Bernard on Wednesday, Nov. 9, also at the museum;
• And a talk on “Collecting 101” on Nov. 16 at the Bromery Center for the Arts.

“60 Years of Collecting” and its related programs are supported by UMassFive College Federal Credit Union; Women for UMass; the Class of 1961 Artists Residency Fund; and The Massachusetts Review. It is a collaboration with several campus partners and colleagues, including assistant professor of journalism Kelsey Whipple and assistant professor of art Sohee Koo.

The UMCA is open during the academic year on Tuesday through Friday, from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.; and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month. Admission is free, and everyone is welcome.

For more information, visit: umass.edu/umca.