With Gratitude, Steve Grafe
With the 2026 exhibitions now installed, Steven L. Grafe, Ph.D., Curator of Art at Maryhill Museum of Art since 2009, has chosen to retire.
Prior to joining Maryhill Museum of Art, Steve served for six years as Curator of American Indian Art at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. A graduate of Oregon State University, Steve earned his master’s and Ph.D. in Art History (Native American Art) at the University of New Mexico.
Among the many exhibitions that Steve curated at Maryhill, he remembers a handful most fondly: Comics at the Crossroads: Art of the Graphic Novel (2010); A Kaleidoscope of Color: American Indian Trade Blankets (2016); West Coast Woodcut: Contemporary Relief Prints by Regional Artists (2019); Northwest/Southwest: Indigenous Art After 1980 (2022); and The Columbia River: Wallula to the Sea (2024). Comics at the Crossroads appeared at Boise Art Museum in 2011. A Kaleidoscope of Color traveled to Tamástslikt Cultural Institute in Pendleton in 2017. Past exhibitions profiling the work of important regional artists included Eanger Irving Couse on the Columbia River (2013) and James Lee Hansen: Sculpture (2014), both of which were accompanied by publications.
Oregon City Woolen Mills (Oregon City, OR, 1864–1932), Happy Hunting Ground blanket (detail), c. 1920s, wool with cotton warp, 71½” x 54½”; Collection of Mark Pigott. From the exhibition A Kaleidoscope of Color: American Indian Trade Blankets, curated by Steven L. Grafe, Ph.D., Maryhill Museum of Art, Goldendale, 2016.
Erik Sandgren (American, b. 1952), Wallula to the Sea (polyptych), 2023, acrylic on panel, 48” x 96” (48” x 24” each). From the exhibition The Columbia River: Wallula to the Sea featuring works by Thomas Jefferson Kitts and Erik Sandgren, curated by Steven L. Grafe, Ph.D., Maryhill Museum of Art, Goldendale, 2024.
All the contemporary Indigenous art in the museum collection was acquired during Steve’s tenure. In 2013, he began upgrading alcoves in the Indigenous Peoples of North America Gallery. This was a logical extension of the success he had securing historic and traditional Indigenous art. Half of the gallery is now filled with items received since Steve’s arrival—including notable additions of Columbia River Plateau baskets and beadwork, California and Northwest Coast baskets, and items from Western Alaska.
Steve has also been responsible for acquiring hundreds of items that are part of Maryhill’s fashion collections, including Balkan folk clothing from Romania, Macedonia, and elsewhere; two separate mid-20th-century miniature collections; an extensive array of 20th-century European and American fashion hats; and vintage folk clothing from Oaxaca, Guatemala, and Panama. His fondness for Orthodox icons was heightened by recent additions of New World religious art.
In addition to managing temporary and permanent exhibitions, Steve coordinated the Pacific Northwest Plein Air in the Columbia River Gorge event for ten consecutive years. This allowed him the opportunity to work with dozens of skilled contemporary landscape painters.
Steve is particularly pleased that a beaded gauntlet from the Maryhill Museum collection will appear on the cover of the forthcoming book, Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, a text to which he contributed three essays.
Emily Zaiden, ed. Handwork: Handcrafted Objects that Made America (New York: Monacelli, 2026)
Now that he is retired, Steve and his wife, Christina, will remain in Goldendale. Future activities include literary projects and research endeavors. His Maryhill-related studies will include ongoing examinations of Eastern Orthodox and New World religious imagery, Indigenous art (especially Columbia River Plateau beadwork), and the Théâtre de la Mode.
Steve’s impact at Maryhill has been profound and enduring. We extend deep gratitude to Steve for shaping Maryhill into a museum its visitors consistently underestimate—and remember.
“My goal as curator has been to provide sophisticated displays that are contrary to what our visitors may expect. Maryhill is a small museum with an eclectic collection. I hope that people will complete their experiences here with the impression that the exhibitions are polished and educational. The building is situated in a unique and spectacular landscape. My intention has been that visitors will transition from our remarkable exterior into an art space that is equally unique and memorable.” ––Steve Grafe
Please consider making a gift in tribute to Steven L. Grafe, Ph.D. To commemorate his impact, your tribute gift will be designated to support acquisitions to the museum collection.