BY KAREN BOSSICK
The Sun Valley Museum of Art will celebrate its Golden Anniversary this weekend with a street party, tour of artwork created in its early years and a discussion of its beginnings featuring founder Glenn Janss.
- The free public conversation featuring Janss and Jim Belson, the organization’s first executive director, will take place at 5:30 tonight—Thursday, June 24, at the Sun Valley Community School auditorium. That’s exactly 50 days from the day the Sun Valley Center for the Arts was incorporated.
Advanced registration is required at svmoa.org or 208-726-9491 and all attendees will be required to wear face masks.
The discussion will also be Livestreamed via Crowdcast for those who wish to view the event remotely. Those who would like to attend the event virtually should pre-register to access the Crowdcast link.
- The street party will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, June 25, outside the Museum at Fifth and Washington streets in Ketchum.
Guests may enjoy refreshments donated by Warfield Distillery & Brewery, and listen to live music from Tibbles and Sword.
They also can tour the current exhibition, “Clay, Silver, Ink: Sun Valley Center at 50.” The exhibition features the works of about 60 artists who have taught at The Center since its inception. Many of them are nationally and internationally acclaimed.
“It’s remarkable to see this history compiled,” said SVMoA Artistic Director Kristin Poole. “The exhibition offers an opportunity to reflect on the role our organization played in launching the careers of dozens of artists and to trace the history of the organization itself, from a teaching institution to an accredited museum.”
Those who have not been vaccinated are asked to wear a face mask, per the instructions of the Centers for Disease Control.
The Sun Valley Center for the Arts, now the Sun Valley Museum of Art, was founded by Janss in 1971 in the belief that a community can only be made whole with vibrant arts and culture.
The Center originally operated out of a campus along Trail Creek—what now is the Sun Valley Community School Campus. Its workshops and classes brought students from across the country and around the world to learn ceramics, photography and printmaking.
In addition to the art workshops, the Center launched a humanities program called the Institute of the American West that brought writers to Sun Valley in the days before the Sun Valley Writers Conference.
Kristin Poole, the Museum’s artistic director, said organizing the 50th anniversary events has been a wonderful opportunity to reflect how the organization shaped the community and so many artists’ careers.
“It’s been a wonderful complement to this community. As a ceramicist, I knew the ceramics department was one of the best in the country. But I did not realize how incredibly deep the teaching staff was for other disciplines like photography,” she said. “Open up a book of 20th Century photographers and I bet at least 60 percent of them came through this organization. That’s remarkable for a tiny town in the middle of nowhere.”
THERE’S MORE TO COME!
Portland’s “little orchestra” Pink Martini will continue the 50th anniversary celebration with a concert at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 26 at the Sun Valley Pavilion and Pavilion Lawn. Tickets will be available for purchase for SVMoA members beginning July 6 at svmoa.org.
There will be a time for memories at the concert, along with birthday cupcakes. Attendees are asked to come dressed for a party.