Score one for the Denver Art Museum.
It has landed one of the country’s most respected scholars and curators, Peter Hassrick, as the new director of its 4-year-old Institute of Western American Art. He will begin in mid-June.
“It strikes me, hearing the news, that Denver has made a real, serious commitment to that, or he wouldn’t be there,” said Rick Stewart, director of the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.
DAM’s devotion to Western American art has grown substantially in the past five years. After largely ignoring the field for much of its history, the institution has given its holdings a prime spot in its $90.5 million addition, opening in fall 2006.
“When (director) Lew Sharp called me and invited me to take part in this, it seemed like a really exciting moment,” Hassrick said from Cody, Wyo.
After earning his master of fine arts degree from the University of Denver in 1969, he was a curator at the Amon Carter Museum before serving in 1976-1996 as director of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody.
“He brings support with him, because everybody respects him,” Stewart said. “All the collectors respect him, and he works with all the museums. I think he’s a great guy and really one of the top people you can get in a position like that.”
The veteran curator will replace Joan Carpenter Troccoli, who suffered complications from a foot ailment about two years ago and has been unable to devote full time to the post.
Sharp said he proposed that she shift to the newly created position of senior scholar, devoting herself to research and writing.
With Troccoli in that position, Hassrick at the helm and the respected Ann Daley as associate curator, the Institute of Western American Art has one of the strongest teams of any similar department in the country.
Hungry for architecture
Denver hardly qualifies as an architectural center, but you wouldn’t know it from the surprisingly strong turnout April 16-17 for the debut of Doors Open Denver, a kind of architectural open house.
The event, sponsored by Denver’s Office of Cultural Affairs, drew 31,362 visits to 82 sites – considerably more than the projected 10,000-20,000. And it wasn’t just the usual suspects.
“We were really looking for a diverse audience and not just your sort of museumgoing urbanites,” said project coordinator Ginger White. “We had people from all over the metro area and all over the region, actually.”
Top draw was the DAM, which added free admission during the two days. It drew 2,715 visitors, and 1,801 took advantage of a rare opportunity to venture onto the roof of the museum’s seven-story 1971 building.
Coming in second was the Brown Palace Hotel, an ornate 1892 landmark, with 1,850 visitors, and the governor’s residence, which drew 1,269 people, even though it was only open one of the event’s two days.
With the successful kickoff under their belt, Office of Cultural Affairs leaders are already planning next year’s follow-up, which White thinks will probably take place a little later – perhaps the beginning of May.
“We were really fortunate to have great weather that weekend, but just about every other weekend in April was pretty crummy,” she said.
It is likely the number of featured buildings will be reduced from 82 this year to about 60 to ease logistical challenges and cut the number of volunteers.
Fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan can be reached at 303-820-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
