Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History

Last updated
Santa Cruz Museum
of Art and History
Santa Cruz (California) Museum of Art and History logo, with text.png
Santa Cruz (California) MAH facade.png
USA California location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within California
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (the United States)
Established1996
Location705 Front Street
Santa Cruz, California
Coordinates 36°58′28″N122°01′32″W / 36.974476°N 122.025451°W / 36.974476; -122.025451
TypeArt and history
DirectorRob Woulfe
Website santacruzmah.org

The Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (MAH) is a nonprofit educational institution and museum founded in 1996 and located in Santa Cruz, California, at the downtown McPherson Center. Its mission is to ignite shared experiences and unexpected connections, using art and history to build a stronger, more connected community. [1]

Contents

About

The art collection is successor to the Santa Cruz County Museum of Art (founded in 1982). The history collection of the museum is successor to the Santa Cruz Historical Society (founded in 1954). History holdings include a permanent local Monterey Bay Area history gallery, research library and archive. The history collection has over 7,000 items, with collection guides viewable online. [2]

The Museum includes a history publications arm, established by the Fred D. McPherson Jr. Publications Fund. [3] Publications include periodic issues of the Santa Cruz County History Journal (eight issues as of January, 2016), other local history books, and an Online History Journal. [4]

The Museum operates the Abbott Square community plaza, and three historical structures/sites including Evergreen Cemetery, Davenport Jail, and the Octagon Building. [5] [6] [7] [8] Many community programs are designed by, with, and for community members in Santa Cruz County. [6]

Directors

In February 2020, the MAH appointed Rob Woulfe the executive director. [9] He was preceded by Nina Simon, who served from 2012 until June 2019. [9] [10]

Related Research Articles

University of California, Santa Cruz Public university in Santa Cruz, California

The University of California, Santa Cruz is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge of the coastal community of Santa Cruz, the campus lies on 2,001 acres (810 ha) of rolling, forested hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

San Jose Museum of Art Contemporary art museum est. 1969

The San José Museum of Art (SJMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum in downtown San Jose, California, United States. Founded in 1969, the museum holds a permanent collection with an emphasis on West Coast artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. It is located at Circle of Palms Plaza, beside Plaza de César Chávez. A member of North American Reciprocal Museums, SJMA has received several awards from the American Alliance of Museums.

Richard E. DeVore, also written as Richard De Vore was an American ceramicist, professor. He was known for stoneware. He was faculty at Cranbrook Academy of Art’s Ceramics Department, from 1966 to 1978.

Santa Cruz Surfing Museum Museum in Santa Cruz, California

The Santa Cruz Surfing Museum is a museum which was established in May 1986 to document the history of surfing. With collections dating back to the earliest years of surfing on mainland United States, the museum houses a historical account of surfing in Santa Cruz, California.

Inuit art Art created by Inuit of the Arctic

Inuit art, also known as Eskimo art, refers to artwork produced by the Inuit, that is, the people of the Arctic previously known as Eskimos, a term that is now often considered offensive. Historically, their preferred medium was walrus ivory, but since the establishment of southern markets for Inuit art in 1945, prints and figurative works carved in relatively soft stone such as soapstone, serpentinite, or argillite have also become popular.

José Bedia Valdés Cuban painter

José Braulio Bedia Valdés is a Cuban painter currently residing in Florida.

Octagon Building (Santa Cruz, California) United States historic place

Known informally as the Octagon Building, the redbrick octagonal building at 118 Cooper Street in Santa Cruz, California was built in 1882, adjacent to the first (1866) County Court House, to serve as the County Hall of Records. In 1894, a major fire destroyed most of the nearby buildings, including the adjacent courthouse, but the brick Octagon survived.

Philippe Cramer Swiss and American designer

Philippe Cramer is a Swiss and American artist whose work focuses on bridging fine art with functional art.

Joe Funk

Joseph T. Funk (c.1914–1981) was an American artist, printmaker, and educator. He was a sculptor, lithographer, and muralist. Funk worked as a master printmaker at Tamarind Lithography Workshop, Kanthos Press, and Joseph Press.

Wende Museum Cultural Museum in Culver City, CA

The Wende Museum is an art museum, historical archive of the Cold War, and center for creative community engagement in Culver City, California.

Nina Simon is an American exhibition curator, writer, educator, and museum director. She is the founder of the non-profit organization OF/BY/FOR ALL. Simon previously was the Executive Director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, from 2012 until June 2019. She is the author of two books: The Participatory Museum, and The Art of Relevance.

Jean H. Langenheim was an American plant ecologist and ethnobotanist, highly respected as an eminent scholar and a pioneer for women in the field. She has done field research in arctic, tropical, and alpine environments across five continents, with interdisciplinary research that spans across the fields of chemistry, geology, and botany. Her early research helped determine the plant origins of amber and led to her career-long work investigating the chemical ecology of resin-producing trees, including the role of plant resins for plant defense and the evolution of several resin-producing trees in the tropics. She wrote what is regarded as the authoritative reference on the topic: Plant Resins: Chemistry, Evolution, Ecology, and Ethnobotany, published in 2003.

Ada McPherson Morley American author, suffragist and rancher

Ada McPherson Morley was an American author, suffragist and rancher. Early in her time in New Mexico, she and her husband edited a newspaper and took on the Santa Fe Ring both in print and in business matters. Morley became involved with the New Mexico chapter of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and later served as president. She was also involved in women's suffrage in New Mexico and helped recruit women into the Congressional Union (CU) later in her life. Morley owned a ranch in the Datil Mountains where she raised cattle and was able to host meetings.

Sanchez Art Center Cultural center in Pacifica, California

The Sanchez Art Center is a nonprofit arts organization located in Pacifica, California. It was formed in 1996 by local artists and community members.

Lisa Bulawsky Printmaker

Lisa Bulawsky is a contemporary artist known for her works on paper, temporary public art, and printmaking.

Hannah Paul Solomon American activist

Hannah Paul Solomon was an American community leader and artist. She was the first female mayor of Fort Yukon, Alaska, helped organize the Fairbanks Native Association, and was inducted into the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame in 2012. Her traditional beadwork is in the collections of several museums.

Jan Stussy (1921–1990) was an American artist, film producer, and professor. He was a professor emeritus from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), he taught there for 42 years. He was awarded an Academy Award for the documentary film, Gravity Is My Enemy (1977). Stussy was a prolific painter and printmaker.

Ruth Horsting

Ruth Horsting, also known as Ma Renu was an American sculptor, professor, author, community organizer, philanthropist, and a student of Ashtanga Yoga. She is known for her bronze and steel sculptures, and taught at the University of California, Davis from 1959 to 1971. Horsting was the first female sculptor hired in the entire University of California system.

Evergreen Cemetery (Santa Cruz, California) Cemetery in Santa Cruz, California

Evergreen Cemetery is a public cemetery located on Evergreen Street in Santa Cruz, California and was established in the 1850s. Since 2008, the Evergreen Cemetery is under the management of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (MAH).

Paz de la Calzada is an interdisciplinary artist based in San Francisco, CA, working in drawing, sculpture, and installation. The relationship of nature to human life is a major theme in her work. De la Calzada was born and raised in Spain, which largely informs her art practice.

References

  1. "MAH: About us" . Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  2. History Collection Guides
  3. History Publications
  4. Online History Journal
  5. Historic Sites
  6. 1 2 "Sleepovers? Feminist tours? Custom beer? Museums get creative to engage new audiences". Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  7. "Santa Cruz's buzzy new Abbott Square". The Mercury News. 2018-08-05. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  8. Isaacson, Joel (December 28, 2008). "Old Holy Cross Cemetery suffers from vandalism". Santa Cruz Sentinel .
  9. 1 2 3 Ingalls, Elaine (2020-02-18). "MAH welcomes new director Robb Woulfe". Santa Cruz Sentinel. Retrieved 2020-06-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. 1 2 Dunn, Geoffrey (2019-06-05). "How Nina Simon Reinvented Santa Cruz Art". Good Times Santa Cruz. Retrieved 2021-10-09.
  11. "As We See It" . Newspapers.com. Santa Cruz Sentinel. 9 Jun 2003. p. 11. Retrieved 2021-10-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. "Charles Noel Hilger Obituary (1938 - 2020) Santa Cruz Sentinel". Legacy.com. Santa Cruz Sentinel. Retrieved 2021-10-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)