In 2025, we welcomed 5,873 guests to UNMAM, which includes 1,653 UNM students. Our public exhibition programs were paused for fall semester due to our Collections Year initiative.

– We hosted 21 events with 878 attendees. Three of those events were exhibition opening receptions with 283 attendees.

– A notable event was the AAMG opening reception in our building lobby, which saw a probable record of 344 attendees.

– We welcomed 282 guests to the museum to participate in tours and events related to our exhibits.

– More than 1,338 students and guests visited the Beaumont Newhall Study Room across 99 class and research visits, with 1,230 unique works of art pulled for the visits.

Each year, UNMAM stands out as an active campus educational partner. This year, the Beaumont Newhall Study Room hosted visits from UNM’s Departments of Art, Architecture, Comparative Global and Ethnic Studies, English, Film & Digital Arts, Latin American Studies, Museum Studies, Mathematics & Statistics, and Museum Studies. We continued to welcome students, faculty, collectors and researchers from several other institutions.

This year, UNMAM featured two continuing exhibitions and opened two new exhibitions, all drawing upon the strength and breadth of the museum’s permanent collection.  

Pelton & Jonson: The Transcendent 1930s ran June 2023 – March 15, 2025. The exhibition presented paintings, drawings and archival materials from the UNMAM collection to illustrate the friendship between Transcendentalist Painter Group members Agnes Pelton and Raymond Jonson. Mary Statzer, Curator of Prints and Photographs, curated the exhibition. 

Graphic Art and Revolution: Latin American Political Posters 1968-2000 ran November 8, 2024 – May 17, 2025. The exhibition combined Latin American political posters from two major repositories at UNM: the UNM Art Museum and the Sam L. Slick Collection of Latin American and Iberian Posters at the Center for Southwest Research. Angel Jiang, Curator of Collections and Study Room Initiatives, curated the exhibition. 

Push & Pull: The Prints of Helen Frankenthaler and Her Contemporaries ran January 31 – May 17, 2025. Push & Pull focused on the works of Helen Frankenthaler and Elaine de Kooning. Displayed alongside prints by their contemporaries, the exhibition demonstrated important collaborations with American publishers such as Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE), Tyler Graphics Ltd. and Tamarind Institute. Mary Statzer, Curator of Prints and Photographs, and Angel Jiang, Curator of Collections and Study Room Initiatives, curated the exhibition. Curatorial Research Assistant Hannah Cerne served as curatorial assistant for the exhibition and created the exhibition’s gallery guide.

The exhibition was made possible through a gift of 20 prints by Helen Frankenthaler as part of Phase II of the Frankenthaler Prints Initiative. As an awardee, UNMAM received a one-time grant from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation to develop a project or program for the study, presentation and interpretation of the print editions and proofs.  

In the spirit of supporting student education in the visual arts and art history, the exhibition included contributions from UNM graduate and undergraduate students.

Curators Mary Statzer and Angel Jiang worked with students in the UNM course “Abstraction on Paper: Curating Postwar American Prints and Drawings.” The exhibition also featured artworks by three UNM students who were selected through a campus-wide open call: Brianna Tadeo, Yoma Wilson and Adrian Ricca Lucci. 

High Five Hall of Fame: Highlights from the UNMAM Collection ran April 18 – May 17, 2025. Featuring highlights from the museum’s permanent collection, including paintings, works on paper, sculpture and an archived virtual seminar, High Five Hall of Fame centered on narratives of connection and explored the enduring influence that artists and exposure to their works inspire. It paired artworks with personal stories by alumni, artists and arts professionals. Director Arif Khan and Curatorial Assistant Lynne Maphies curated the exhibition. 

Featured artists included Ansel Adams, Roy De Forest, Frederick Hammersley, Nicola Lopez, Agnes Martin, Georgia O’Keeffe, Ed Ruscha, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Rose B. Simpson.  

We extend our sincere gratitude to our exhibition contributors: 

Nancy Abbott Baker Planned Giving Consultant, Santa Fe 

Marjorie Devon Tamarind Director Emerita, 1985 – 2015 

Miguel Gandert Photographer and Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Communication and Journalism, University of New Mexico 

Sarah Greenough Senior Curator of Photographs, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC 

Brian A. Gross Brian Gross Fine Art, Santa Fe 

Charlotte Grey Jackson Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe 

Marie Watkins Professor Emerita, Art History, Forman University Greenville, South Carolina 

April Watson Senior Curator, Photography, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri 

UNMAM paused exhibitions and public programs for the 2025–26 academic year to organize, digitize and strengthen our permanent collection. We have transformed exhibition galleries into shared workspaces to focus on collections care, stewardship practices and future exhibition programming. 

Collections Year, which kicked off May 19, 2025, was conceived of as a necessary opportunity last year after various donors offered gifts of approximately 200 artworks to UNMAM. These objects must be cataloged, accessioned and properly housed despite the museum’s art storage space being at capacity. Public exhibitions will resume in fall semester 2026.

These significant gifts coincided with UNMAM plans to transfer its database into a new system that provides public online access to its collection — the largest art collection in New Mexico, with more than 30,000 artworks. 

Investing time now to ensure future access  

“Our decision to pivot to a year focused on our collection reflects our belief that improving our collection and access to it will make an enduring impact on the museum and our university community,” says UNMAM Director Arif Khan.  

He adds that UNMAM is already engaged in reimagining the role of a university art museum. In the case of Collections Year, that vision means taking a step back from exhibitions to move the collection forward and to continue inspiring future generations for decades to come.  

Collections Year underscores UNMAM’s mission to provide a range of experiences, including educational and behind-the-scenes opportunities that cannot take place in a traditional gallery or exhibition setting. Select UNM students have been hired as Collections Apprentices, assisting with all aspects of the collections care initiative, gaining hands-on experience they may never receive elsewhere. Several staff members’ job activities have been modified to allow them to fully participate in the initiative; all staff members have taken part in collections management training. 

We’re pleased to share that the Collections Year timeline is on track. Our collections team and Collections Apprentices have met their major goals for the year, with additional progress to come next semester. 

Highlights include: 

– From July to December, our collections team members inventoried, relocated or reorganized 1,068 objects from our collection. 

– Completed an inventory of 336 framed artworks. 

– Completed condition reporting on all acquisitions from 2025, including major gifts from the Lannan Foundation and from Los Angeles-based collectors Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser. These gifts comprise more than 200 objects. 

– Sorted, renamed and cross-referenced nearly 5,000 digital image files. 

– Relocated an archive internally, moving approximately 930 books and 1,305 file folders, and created a searchable finding aid of titles, descriptions and locations. 

– Inventoried 2,000 folders from one archive. 

– Inventoried more than 1,000 prints from one collection. 

– Crafted 80 custom-fit book enclosures to protect delicate volumes. 

– Started the data transfer process to digitize our collections, a process that will publicly share the entire UNMAM collection online for the first time through TMS Collections and eMuseum, a leading web-based collections management system and online publishing tool from Gallery Systems.

– Trained our Collections Apprentices in collections management activities at a day-long in-house retreat. 

Collections Apprentices

In conjunction with Collections Year, UNMAM launched a new Collections Apprentice program. 

Collections Apprentices are select UNM students who UNMAM has trained in art handling to participate in Collections Year activities based on their interests, such as cataloguing, curatorial research or hands-on work in the print vault.  

The Collections Apprentice program builds on foundational values of equity, access and trust, and stems from a commitment to create early-career pathways for students who might not otherwise have such professional experiences.   

Apprentices are empowered to take leadership roles within Collections Year and beyond. Being a Collections Apprentice is a privileged role, and one with real job expectations and responsibilities, while preparing students for work in the field after graduation.   

“Collections Apprentices are contributing to the stewardship of the largest art collection in New Mexico.” — Andrea Perez-Martinez, UNMAM Collections Manager 

2025 Collections Apprentices

• Hannah Cerne
• Christina Cook  
• Cruz Davis-Martinez   
• Rymer Hewitt            
• Bre Kappel  
• Arykah Melton         
• Ariel Montano  
• Idris Parker        
• Gianna Ramirez  
• Adrian Ricca Lucci
• Rebecca Shalliker 
• Misti Starkey

2025 Association of Academic Museums and Galleries Conference 

In June, the University of New Mexico Art Museum (UNMAM) proudly welcomed the 2025 Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (AAMG) Annual Conference — a historic first for both New Mexico and the Southwest.  

It was also the largest AAMG conference ever, with a record 424 registrants. Attendees came primarily from academic institutions throughout the country.   

Conference attendees gathered at UNM and at sites in Albuquerque and Santa Fe June 24-27 for three days of learning, connection and creativity, centered on the theme “Belonging: Storytelling Across Campus and Community.”  

The conference underscored and celebrated the vital role that academic museums and galleries play; they shape inclusive narratives, expand representation and serve as creative, intellectual and cultural centers on their campuses.   

For UNMAM, the opportunity to host was a proud milestone — showcasing not just our own educational mission and innovative exhibitions and programs, but the region’s rich cultural traditions, along with partnerships with world-class New Mexican museums and businesses. 

The AAMG Annual Conference is the largest professional gathering for academic museum and gallery staff, educators, curators, and students in the United States. 

UNMAM’s staff and the AAMG planning committee worked for more than a year to design a conference that combined professional excellence with a true sense of place. The schedule featured more than 150 presenters, hands-on workshops, lively panel discussions, a multidisciplinary keynote evening and unique networking events reflecting the distinctive character of Albuquerque and New Mexico.   

– Attendees received custom designed tote bags and water bottles by UNMAM Study Room Assistant Hannah Cerne.  

– The conference opened with an unforgettable evening at UNM’s Popejoy Hall, where former U.S. Secretary of the Interior and UNM alumna Deb Haaland gave the keynote address emphasizing the lasting power and impact of stories. Haaland is a historic public servant, 35th-generation New Mexican and member of the Pueblo of Laguna.

“Belonging is about more than representation. It’s about power. It’s about who gets to decide which stories are told, how they’re told, and who they’re told by. For too long, our stories — Indigenous stories, immigrant stories, stories of struggle and survival — have been told by others, about us, without us,” Haaland told the audience.  

“You have the power to change that. In your galleries and your museums, you’re creating space for communities to tell their own stories. You’re making sure that when people walk through your doors, they don’t just see art or artifacts. They see themselves.”  
 

– That same evening, the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company (DTSBDC) — led by nationally acclaimed choreographer and UNM alumnus Dana Tai Soon Burgess — premiered Sudden Snow, inspired by Helen Frankenthaler’s print of the same name that was included in UNMAM’s spring exhibition, Push & Pull: The Prints of Helen Frankenthaler and her Contemporaries.

UNMAM commissioned the 30-minute piece, which embodied Frankenthaler’s expressive abstraction and showcased the interdisciplinary spirit at the heart of UNMAM. Dancers’ costumes were designed by Icelandic designer Sigrid Johannesdöttir from fabric by Taos Pueblo designer Patricia Michaels. The performance was accompanied by DTSBDC’s collaborative pianist Dana Nichole Scott, and noted local musicians violinist David Felberg and cellist Melinda Mack. 

“Being invited to premiere my new dance Sudden Snow at the University of New Mexico’s AAMG Conference was a wonderful full-circle moment. I feel deep pride as a UNM alumnus and am thankful to UNMAM Director Arif Khan and his marvelous team for their efforts in making the 2025 AAMG Conference a resounding success,” Burgess said.  “It was an honor to have my work experienced by museum directors, curators and staff from around the country. It is inspiring to know that the UNM Art Museum is leading the way to ensuring that the voices and legacies of artists are represented and shared with the public across the nation. The work of the UNM Art Museum is vital.” 

All AAMG photos by Stefan Jennings Batista.

We celebrate UNMAM’s staff and students contributing expertise throughout the conference, as follows:  

– UNMAM Director Arif Khan co-chaired the AAMG Conference Committee. 

– Devin E. Geraci, Associate Director of Operations, served on the committee and played a critical role in planning and on-site coordination. 

– Museum Assistants Rymer Hewitt and Lynne Maphies saw to innumerable, invaluable details in planning and executing the conference. 

– The conference schedule was developed by museum colleagues throughout the state and by a panel of reviewers, including many of our UNMAM staff: Ethan Aronson, Devin E. Geraci, Angel Jiang, Arif Khan and Joseph McKee.  

Several UNMAM staff members and students were selected to present at the AAMG conference, as follows: 

– Karalynn Christian, UNMAM accessibility intern: “The Art of Alt Text: How to Improve Museum Accessibility through Image Descriptions.” Karalynn guided attendees through learning how to write and implement image descriptions and why they are critical to a museum’s success. 

– Angel Jiang, UNMAM Curator of Collections & Study Room Initiatives, led a panel discussion, “Teaching with/in the Study Room,” with UNM Associate Professor of Art History Susanne Anderson-Riedel and University of Kansas Assistant Professor of Art History Emily Monty. They discussed the design, implementation, goals and results of teaching in academic museum study rooms. 

– Joseph McKee, UNMAM Coordinator of Student Engagement & Technology, led a workshop, “How To: Student Empowerment and Collection Accessibility,” with UNMAM student employees Hannah Cerne and Bre Kappel and UNM student Christina Cook. Participants learned about the UNMAM Student Advisory Council (SAC) and brainstormed strategies on how to involve students in museum collections, developing ideas on how to create student-centered resources at their own institutions. 

– Mary Statzer, UNMAM Curator of Prints and Photographs, facilitated a roundtable discussion, “Academic Museums and the Frankenthaler Prints Initiative.” UNMAM was among two groups of 10 academic museums in the U.S. selected to take part in the Frankenthaler Prints Initiative (HFI). Participants reflected on the HFI’s opportunities as they considered the process and what it means for academic museums to work with artist’s estates and foundations. 

At UNMAM, we emphasize the value of integrating students in all aspects of our week. Throughout the year, we offered events that enriched student learning and others that showcased our collaborative spirit. 

– During spring semester, UNMAM Student Advisory Council (SAC) members created a student-centered how-to guide for the Beaumont Newhall Study Room to simplify the appointment process and clarify how the space supports research, teaching and creative work. They also curated a themed pull list around the concept of “Lines,” as a foundational and entry-level theme that can be connected to multiple disciplines. The SAC is a group of undergraduate and graduate students from across the university dedicated to promoting an inclusive, accessible and welcoming UNMAM space for students.  

– UNMAM Programs Assistant Justine Witkowski led three clay workshops in spring semester, with approximately 40 students participating. The workshops included participatory demonstrations on various clay techniques, including pinch pots and coils. 

– Collections Manager Andrea Perez-Martinez led a student workshop on April 10, teaching participants how to create a book enclosure. A four-flap enclosure is a simple yet effective way to protect objects such as books, pamphlets, manuscripts and other printed materials and to ensure the long-term care of delicate materials. Participants created custom enclosures for small books selected from UNMAM’s Raymond Jonson Archive. 

– UNMAM hosted an exciting interdisciplinary XR Performance Hackathon Showcase on April 19 in the UNMAM Clinton Adams gallery. The immersive, experimental XR (eXtended reality) showcase was the result of a collaboration between the Departments of Art and Film & Digital Arts, with support from the XR Lab in Film & Digital Arts. The event featured student-led projects that blended movement, digital environments and virtual reality, pushing the boundaries of performance, technology and storytelling.

– Although public exhibition programs were paused for Collections Year starting in fall semester, the Beaumont Newhall Study Room remained open by appointment. In addition, five fall semester  open hours sessions were scheduled so UNM students, faculty and staff members could drop in and learn more about UNMAM’s collection. Artworks were pulled around themes including highlights and requests, student picks, staff picks, Halloween and Dia de los Muertos, and winter. 

– On March 7, UNMAM hosted a panel discussion, “Frontier Energy: Feminism, Women Artists, and the Southwest” with Amy Von Lintel, Professor of Art History and Director of Gender Studies at West Texas A&M University, writer and activist Lucy Lippard, and social activist Margaret Randall. In addition to discussing the works featured in Push & Pull: The Prints of Helen Frankenthaler and Her Contemporaries, panelists discussed their careers and changing attitudes toward feminism in the art world.   The discussion was held in memory of Walter Kleweno, Jr. (1929-2024), a dedicated supporter and longtime friend of UNMAM. In 2008, Walter and his spouse Allene established The Allene H. And Walter P. Kleweno Lecture Series Fund at the UNM Art Museum, with the goal of enhancing exhibitions by offering scholarly insights, new perspectives, and overall enlightenment and enjoyment.

– Poet, photographer and social activist Margaret Randall lectured April 11 on “Graphic Art and Revolution: One Women’s Experience.” In the lecture, Randall reflected on her journey in photography and spotlighted the work of Nicaraguan women photographers featured in Graphic Art and Revolution: Latin American Political Posters 1960-2000, while discussing the broader landscape of photography during the era. 

UNMAM staff members are active leaders in and beyond the museum. In 2025, staff members took part in or were selected for professional, nationally recognized conferences and workshops, and had additional updates, as follows: 

– Director Arif Khan — Served as Co-Chair of the Conference Committee for the 2025 Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (AAMG) Annual Conference. He also serves as a National Board Member for AAMG.

– Associate Director of Operations Devin E. Geraci — Began volunteering as an Ambassador for the New Mexico Creative Industries Division and started the doctoral program in UNM’s Organization, Information & Learning Sciences program.

– Collections Manager Andrea Perez-Martinez — Presenter, American Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting 

– Curator of Collections and Study Room Initiatives Angel Jiang — Participant, Getty “Making, Collecting, And Conserving Prints” seminar 

– Curator of Prints and Photographs Mary Statzer — Participant, ORACLE Pasadena: “The Intersection of Art, Science, and Entertainment” 

– Manager of Visitor Experience Ethan Aronson — Graduated in spring with a Bachelor of Arts in History and a minor in Museum Studies. He is also working as a Collections Technician during Collections Year. 

– Collections Assistant Joseph McKee — Changed positions to Collections Assistant. Previously, they were Coordinator of Student Engagement and Technology. 

– Communications and Outreach Specialist Kathy Freise — Hired at UNMAM in April 2025.

Two UNMAM staff members taught semester-long courses, reaffirming the museum’s position as a vital educational partner within the university. 

– Devin E. Geraci, Associate Director of Operations, taught “The Business of Being an Artist (ALBS 2110)” in both spring and fall semesters. A core requirement for UNM’s Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts, the course equipped students with the professional skills they need to thrive in a broad spectrum of for-profit and non-profit arts, creative and innovation industries.   

– Angel Jiang, Curator of Collections and Study Room Initiatives, taught “The History of Prints II: 1800 to Today (AHIS 421/521)” in spring semester. The course traced two centuries of printmaking—from Goya to contemporary collaborative publishers — and examined how prints have served as tools for artistic innovation, political critique and social commentary. With 25 students enrolled, including the current cohort of Tamarind Institute’s Professional Printer Training Program, the course explored the evolution of printmaking, with field trips to Tamarind and close study sessions in the Beaumont Newhall Study Room.  

Our fantastic UNMAM assistants are accomplished in so many ways;  we’ve featured some of their highlights from this year below. We are so grateful for their work and dedication, and for being invaluable to all we do! Assistants work with UNMAM staff members in every area of museum operations. 

Thank you to all of our student assistants: 

Spring 2025 — Shirah Arnold, Hannah Cerne, Cruz Davis-Martinez, Alayah Fierro, Rymer Hewitt, Misti Jones, Bre Kappel, Cassandra Kaplan, Lynne Maphies, Arykah Melton, Idris Parker, Gianna Ramirez, Adrian Ricca Lucci, Gabriel Sidebottom, Nina Syaheda, Skyler Test, Justine Witkowski. 

Fall 2025 — Hannah Cerne, Christina Cook, Cruz Davis-Martinez, Rymer Hewitt, Misti Starkey, Bre Kappel, Arykah Melton, Ariel Montano, Idris Parker, Gianna Ramirez, Adrian Ricca Lucci, Rebecca Shalliker.

UNMAM Collections Apprentices Highlights 

– Curatorial Research Assistant Hannah Cerne — Shared original scholarship in the UNMAM Journal with her article, “In the UNMAM Collection: Elaine de Kooning & Francisco Goya’s Depiction of the Bull and Bullfighting”, served as the Getty Paper Project Initiatives Intern at the Tamarind Institute, and successfully presented her work at the UNM Master of Arts in Art History Graduate Symposium. Her research reached a national audience through the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where her identification of Tamarind printers was published in “Ruth Asawa: A Retrospective“ and “Ruth Asawa: The Tamarind Prints.” Hannah received the New Mexico Graduate and Professional Student Association’s $5,000 High Priority Research Grant, supporting her double master’s projects.

– Collections Apprentice Cruz Davis-Martinez — Selected for a summer artist residency at Valles Caldera National Preserve. 

– Communications and Operations Assistant Rymer Hewitt — Served on the staff and the design committee for Scribendi Volume 39, the UNM Honors College literary magazine that won the prestigious Pacemaker Award, often called the “student Pulitzer,” for excellence in content, design, editing, and visual theming. He was also accepted into the Honors College’s “Write to Roam: Scotland“ study-abroad program, which examines place and creativity through writing and the ways a city’s design reflects a culture’s relationship to literature. 

– Marketing Assistant and Collections Apprentice Arykah Melton — A film major, Arykah was a content lead for UNMAM social media activities. Through hands-on work as a Collections Apprentice, she discovered the behind-the-scenes magic of museum care, creativity and cultural preservation. Her work at UNMAM deepened her passion for visual storytelling, fuel she’s excited to carry with her as she studies abroad in Tokyo, Japan in spring 2026.

– Marketing Assistant and Collections Apprentice Idris Parker — Had artwork published in the Antler Velvet Issue 5: Ekphrasis magazine. He served as UNMAM social media lead during the AAMG conference. As a Collections Apprentice, he is most proud of working on an inventorying project in which he and other staff members cataloged 327 framed works on paper in the course of two months. 

– Academic Engagement Assistant Adrian Ricca Lucci — Featured artist in the UNMAM spring exhibition, Push & Pull: The Prints of Helen Frankenthaler and Her Contemporaries. He created his first solo exhibition, Touch, and completed his UNM thesis, and had work included in SITE Santa Fe’s Young Curator’s Show. As an Academic Engagement Assistant, he developed learning materials detailing 17 of the Beaumont Newhall Study Room’s most-pulled objects in print and photography. 

– Collections Apprentice Misti Starkey — Accepted to summer Textile Conservation Workshop, Beloit College. 

We are proud to celebrate the student assistants who graduated from UNM each term. Congratulations! 

Spring 2025 

• Nina Syaheda graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Studio.  
• Alayah Fierro graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Studio. 
• Cassandra Kaplan graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Business Administration and a concentration in Marketing Management.  
• Justine Witkowski graduated with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Anthropology and Studio Art. 
• Bre Kappel graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts in Science. Communication and Museum Studies in May. She has continued her education at UNM, pursuing her Master of Arts in Museum Studies with a focus on Exhibition Design, as a Hibben Fellow. 

Fall 2025 

• Rymer Hewitt graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Communication, departmental honors and a Certificate in Honors Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts (HILA) from the UNM Honors College. 
• Adrian Ricca Lucci graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Studio, focused on Painting and Sculpture. 
• Lynne Maphies graduated with a Master of Arts degree in Art History.