Community Day 2012
The Chinati Foundation and Judd Foundation warmly invite everyone to Community Day, a free, annual celebration with West Texas friends and neighbors on Sunday, April 29, 2012.
The day will begin with the grand opening of Chinati’s community garden, located on the museum grounds next to the Arena courtyard. The garden is a new project at the museum, started this spring, which will be used for educational programming and events and offer everyone hands-on activities having to do with art, land, food, and area resources.
On Sunday, from 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM, the entire community is invited to visit the garden and enjoy local food and music, as well as join the Chinati staff and volunteers as they transplant young vegetables and herbs into the prepared beds. The seedlings were started in hand-made pots made of recycled newspaper by students during Chinati’s spring break art classes, held in mid-March. A selection of those seedlings, including varieties of tomatoes, peppers, and basil, will also be available for purchase during the grand opening, with proceeds going to support Chinati’s summer art program for area students.
For those new to gardening, volunteers will be on hand to answer questions and provide advice. Marfa businesses LindleyCorp, Maiya’s Restaurant, and MarfaMaid Dairy will provide refreshments, including fresh bread, greens, and a selection of goat cheese. Area musicians will also join in the festivities, playing at the garden throughout the morning.
A number of Judd Foundation and Chinati exhibition spaces will be open free of charge from 1 – 5:00 PM. Community Day visitors will be able to explore the grounds and experience the buildings and artwork at their own pace during the open viewing hours. At Judd Foundation, La Mansana de Chinati “The Block” will be featured.
Chinati will swing open the doors to Donald Judd’s 100 works in mill aluminum and 15 works in concrete, the John Chamberlain building (located in downtown Marfa), and Dan Flavin’s light installation, as well as works by Richard Long, David Rabinowitch, and Claes Oldenburg and Coosje von Bruggen. Chinati’s special exhibitions, Jean Arp and Hiroshi Sugimoto, will also be open for leisurely viewing.
A selection of textile art by six Marfa High School students, made over the past month during a Shibori dye workshop at Chinati, will be on view throughout the day from 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM, in the Arena.
Talks by Chinati staff will take place at 2:00 and 4:00 PM on the museum grounds. Bettina Landgrebe, Chinati conservator, will discuss the ongoing restoration of Monument to the Last Horse, by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen at 2:00 PM. The talk will begin in the Chinati ArtLab with a slide presentation and then move to the sculpture for further conversation. At 4:00 PM Rob Weiner, Curator-at-Large, will speak on Roni Horn’s Things that Happen Again, in the exhibition space.
The day will close with a festive community BBQ dinner with live mariachi music, from 5 – 7:00 PM in the Arena. All events and activities are free and open to everyone.
Chinati staff will discuss Community Day on Marfa Public Radio’s Talk at Ten on Friday, April 29 at 10:30 AM. Tune in at 93.5 FM or online at www.marfapublicradio.org to hear the interview.
Community Day is supported with generous grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Elke and Wilhelm Hoppe Endowment, Texas Commission on the Arts, the George & Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation, the Carl B. & Florence E. King Foundation, Union Pacific Foundation, and the Trull Foundation. Chinati also acknowledges the generous financial and in-kind contributions of Robert & Valerie Arber, Ballroom Marfa, Big Bend Sentinel, exhibitions 2d, Charles Mary Kubricht & Ron Sommers, LindleyCorp, Livingston Insurance & Real Estate, Marfa Maid Dairy , Maiya’s Restaurant, Carolyn Pfeiffer, Victoria J. Welsh, and Pueblo Market Grocery Company.
For more information contact the museum at 432 729 4362 or information@chinati.org.