Gorman Museum of Native American Art opens expanded gallery at UC Davis

This week a major new addition at UC Davis will be unveiled to the public. 

The newly expanded Gorman Museum of Native American Art — which is celebrating its 50th year in operation — is one of only a small number of museums in the United States that is focused on telling the story of Native Americans through art. Along with a grand opening ceremony Saturday from noon to 4 p.m., there will be music, dance and other performances, along with works by 20 artists who are all members of California tribes. 

CapRadio Insight host Vicki Gonzalez spoke with Veronica Passalacqua, museum executive director and curator, and Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, museum director and professor in the Department of Native American Studies about the expansion and celebration. 

Interview Highlights

This Q&A has been edited for length, clarity and flow.

On the importance and significance of the new gallery expansion

Tsinhnahjinnie: The Gorman started from humble beginnings, but it's always been strong in what we like to term “visual sovereignty.” And visual sovereignty is basically taking control of one's own image. That's a very important part of the Gorman Museum, that artists are free to express themselves and to explain themselves, rather than being interpreted by someone who has no idea about their tribe, or where they come from.

On how long the museum has been looking to expand

Passalacqua: Pretty much from the beginning, we had our eyes on a larger space. But really, it was 10 years ago, at our 40th anniversary party, that donors and sponsors really started pushing the university leadership to help us to get to this place where we are now. With COVID and everything, we've been under construction and planning for a solid five years, really, to get the build. The gallery space is about four times as large. The whole building, though, is about 11,000 square feet. So it was really exciting that not only do we have space to present more works, and more galleries, but that we could move all the collections and everything we have into the building.

On how it feels to finally have the grand opening this weekend

Passalacqua: Exhausting (laughing). No, we are so excited, because you know, just being able to show these shows with contemporary work, with the collections, and having it really being able to expand our narrative on what we're able to share with our visitors. We're going to have a shop as well that we're very excited about. We're partnering with the arboretum on the campus and we even have parking. So all of this is a very exciting time. 

On what people can expect this weekend

Passalacqua: When they arrive, certainly from Saturday, for our big party day, they're going to be met with all kinds of things outside the building before they even get inside. So we're really excited to have a huge festival that includes artists, vendors and artist-led activities. We have five California Native artists that our visitors can sit down and create with and make things. So Saturday is going to be a big day. 

When you come in the museum, the shop will have a number of very contemporary, fun, native sourced materials. Then of course, you walk in the museum. And the first thing you'll see is the contemporary California Native American show. We have about 20 artists in that exhibition, with pieces that are in the collection or on loan from the artists or on loan from some private collections.