NEWS RELEASE Media contact:
Colleen Schafroth, Executive Director
(509) 773-3733, colleen@maryhillmuseum.org
Maryhill Adjunct
Curator Mary Dodds Schlick Receives Award
from American Association for State and Local History
(GOLDENDALE, Wash.,
July 22,
2009) - Maryhill Museum of Art
today announced that Mary Dodds Schlick is the recipient of an Award of Merit
from the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) Leadership in
History Awards.
The award recognizes Schlick's pivotal role in expanding knowledge and raising
awareness of Columbia Plateau basketry. Over more than 30 years she has
conducted museum and field research, interviewed tribal elders and weavers to
document Plateau weaving methods and techniques, and authored numerous articles
and publications on the subject. In 1990 she was designated a master-weaver with
the Oregon Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program and, in partnership with the
Warm Springs Indian Reservation, took on two Wasco apprentices to help
in the revival of traditional Wasco weaving. Schlick has also worked tirelessly
to raise awareness of Native
American art and artists among museum directors, curators and the general
public, promoting and supporting the careers of many contemporary Native
American artists.
"Mary Schlick's life-long
work has contributed significantly to both the renaissance of Plateau basketry
as a living art form, and to the scholarship that serves as a basis for our
understanding of Plateau basketry and its historic and contemporary role in
Plateau culture today," says Colleen Schafroth, executive director of Maryhill
Museum of Art, where Schlick has worked as a volunteer and adjunct curator since
1991.
At Maryhill, Schlick also
serves on the Art Committee and has presented programs related to Lewis and Clark
and Native American Arts. She has curated several Maryhill exhibitions,
most notably Ancient Images of the Columbia River Gorge (1992), The Day The Columbia Ran Backward
(2007), and Festive Gatherings: Tribal Life on the Columbia Plateau,
1962-1957. Schlick was also instrumental in bringing to Maryhill a
3,000-slide collection of works by photographer J.W. Thompson. Schlick curated
an exhibit from the images of Indians of the Columbia Plateau, which subsequently
travelled throughout the Northwest. She also curated the Lewis and Clark
exhibit in the Native Peoples of North America Gallery at Maryhill, which is
still on view.
The AASLH Leadership in History Awards was initiated
in 1945 to establish and encourage standards of excellence in the collection,
preservation, and interpretation of state and local history throughout the
United States. The awards are the most prestigious recognition for achievement
in the preservation and interpretation of state and local history. In 2009 award winners represent 59
organizations and individuals from across the United States, who will be
honored at a special banquet during the AASLH Annual Meeting in Indianapolis,
Indiana, on Saturday, August 29, 2009.
###
ABOUT MARYHILL MUSEUM OF
ART:
Housed in a glorious Beaux Arts mansion on 5,300 acres high
above the Columbia River, Maryhill Museum of Art is one of the Pacific Northwest's most enchanting cultural destinations. Founded by
Northwest entrepreneur and visionary Sam Hill, Maryhill opened to the public in 1940; today the museum boasts a world-class permanent collection,
rotating exhibitions of the highest caliber, and dynamic educational programs that
provide
opportunities for further exploration by visitors of all ages.
The museum's collection includes more than 80 works by
Auguste Rodin, European and American paintings, objects d'art from the palaces of the Queen of Romania, Orthodox icons, unique chess sets, and the
renowned Théâtre de la Mode, featuring small-scale mannequins attired in
designer fashions of post-World War II France. Baskets of the indigenous people of North America were a collecting interest of Sam Hill;
today the museum's Native American collection represents nearly every tradition and style in North America, with works of art from
prehistoric through contemporary.
Maryhill's Outdoor Sculpture Garden features work
from the permanent collection by Tom Herrera, Mel Katz, Heath Krieger, Alisa Looney, Jill Torberson, Julian Voss-Andreae, Jeff Weitzel and Leon
White.
Each year the museum also hosts an Outdoor Sculpture Invitational showcasing artists of the Northwest. The Maryhill Overlook is a site-specific
sculpture by noted Portland architect Brad Cloepfil; nearby are Lewis and Clark interpretive panels. Four miles east of Maryhill is a life-sized
replica of Stonehenge, Stonehenge Memorial, which Sam Hill built to memorialize local men who perished in World War I. Nearby, the Klickitat County
War Memorial honors those who have died in service of their country since World War I.
The museum was placed on the National Register of
Historic Places in 1974. In 2001 the museum was listed as an official site of the National Historic Lewis and Clark Trail and in 2002 was accredited
by the American Association of Museums.
VISITOR
INFORMATION:
Maryhill Museum of Art is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
March 15 to November 15. Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for seniors and $2 for children age 6-16. Admission to the Stonehenge Memorial is free; it is
open from 7:00 a.m. to dusk daily.
Sandwiches, salads, espresso drinks, cold beverages, and freshly
baked desserts and pastries are available at Café Maryhill; the Museum Store features art and history books, jewelry, Native American crafts and
other mementos.
Maryhill is located off Highway 97, 12 miles south of
Goldendale, Washington. Drive times to the museum are 2 hours from Portland/Vancouver, 3.5 hours from Bend, 4 hours from Seattle, and 1.5 hours from
Yakima. For further information, visit www.maryhillmuseum.org.
Image above: Mary Schlick and
Francine Havercroft working with baskets from Maryhill Museum of Art's extensive Native
American Collection.
To request an
image, click here.
