Wish List
Your gift is a wish come true
Your gift is a wish come true
Are you passionate about a specific collection or program at Maryhill Museum of Art? Perhaps you have the opportunity to share more of your blessings at year’s end? Consider giving toward one or more of our museum wish list items.
Scroll down to learn about our current wish list items and click the button of your choice to make a gift online. You may also mail a check to Maryhill Museum of Art with your designation in the memo, or email Amy Behrens, Executive Director at amy@maryhillmuseum.org if you would like to make a gift of stock or Qualified Charitable Distribution.
JUMP TO: MUSEUM ACQUISITIONS | CONSERVATION | EXHIBITIONS | EDUCATION PROGRAMS | ACCESS PROGRAMS | CAPITAL PROJECTS
Museum Acquisitions
Museum Acquisitions
SEMINOLE MEN’S BIG SHIRTS
During winter 2026, several alcoves in the Indigenous Peoples of North America Gallery will be upgraded. The targeted cases represent the Great Plains/Great Lakes, the Northeast/Southeast, and the Great Basin.
Wish: $10,000 to purchase 1-2 early 20th century Seminole Big Shirts, such as the example pictured, for the Northeast/Southeast display case.
Seminole Man’s Big Shirt from Trotta-Bono
ECCLESIASTICAL ART
During 2026, the museum will show five Russian icons that were received from Queen Marie of Romania during her 1926 visit and a small collection of contemporary bultos and retablos that are the work of prominent New Mexican santeros (makers of religious imagery).
The addition of contemporary icons from working iconographers is a priority in the museum’s Collecting Plan and it is reasonable to expand the collection to include Catholic art from Mexico and New Mexico, such as the works on display in 2026 made possible by a 2025 gift toward such acquisition purchases. For comparative purposes, acquisitions may also allow for the addition of Oriental Orthodox items from Africa (Egypt and Ethiopia).
Wish: $8,000–$10,000 to purchase more contemporary New Mexican bultos and retablos
$5,000–$6,000 to purchase more Mexican ex votos and retablos
$5,000–$6,000 to purchase new icons
Charles M. Carrillo (American, b. 1956), Our Lady of Guadalupe retablo, 2025, painted wood, 21½” x 11”; Collection of Maryhill Museum of Art
MOLA BLOUSES
In 2027, the exhibition Balkan Style: Rhapsody in Thread will feature highlights from the 60+ Balkan bridal and festival outfits acquired within the past two years. It will be exhibited alongside Trajes de Gala de Tehuana, Huipiles de Guatemala, an exhibition of Oaxacan Gala outfits, Guatemalan huipiles, and Panamanian Guna mola blouses and mola panels. Thanks to donor support, approximately 80 items have been acquired for this and future exhibitions.
Wish: $2,000 to purchase additional mola blouses.
Guna blouse (two mola panels), San Blas Islands, Panama, 1996, 23″ x 35″ (cuff to cuff); museum purchase with funds provided by Karel and Edward Moersfelder.
Conservation
Conservation
KIOWA CRADLEBOARD CONSERVATION
During winter 2026, several alcoves in the Indigenous Peoples of North America Gallery will be upgraded. The targeted cases represent the Great Plains/Great Lakes, the Northeast/Southeast, and the Great Basin.
Wish: $12,000 to cover the cost of conserving a beaded antique Kiowa cradleboard. The cradle is one of the most important objects in the museum’s Indigenous collection. Prior to display, it will be cleaned, conserved, and have a special mount built.
Exhibitions
Exhibitions
AMERICAN CLASSICAL REALISM LOANS
Maryhill Museum of Art is home to what is arguably the largest collection of American Classical Realist paintings held by any public institution. In 2026, the museum will present American Classical Realism, an exhibition featuring almost 40 paintings by multiple generations of artists including several individuals who are active today.
Wish: $14,000 to cover the cost of crating/packing and shipping seven paintings from contemporary artists whose work will be loaned to the exhibition, and $4,000 to cover the cost of cleaning and/or conserving two paintings from the museum’s collection for this exhibition.
Education Programs
Education Programs
WA’PAAS BASKET WEAVING WORKSHOP
The Wa’paas Basket Weaving Workshop is a monthly educational program facilitated by Chestina Dominguez, an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of Yakama Nation and descendant of the Warm Springs tribe. Chestina uses contemporary materials to teach basket weaving using the ancient techniques of her ancestors.
Wish: $8,120 to cover the annual cost of materials, facilitator, and hospitality, and to provide complimentary museum admission to every participant so that barriers to this learning and gathering program are reduced.
K-12 FIELD TRIP SUBSIDIES
Maryhill Museum of Art facilitates K-12 field trips throughout its public season, prioritizing Title 1 public schools in the region. One of its cornerstone sub-programs in Fourth Grade Museum Week for neighboring schools.
To reduce the challenges experienced by many public schools funding offsite enrichment activities for their students, Maryhill Museum of Art heavily subsidizes ticket sales for students, educators, and parent/driver chaperones, and provides additional ticket subsidies and bussing subsidies upon request.
Wish: $12,375 to subsize tickets for students, educators, and chaperones on K-12 field trips in the 2026 season.
Access Programs
Access Programs
LIBRARY PASSES
Maryhill Museum of Art partners with regional library partners spanning 22 counties in Washington and Oregon to provide complimentary museum passes for checkout from the library. This access program enables guests in all economic situations to enjoy Maryhill’s exhibitions, collections, and programs. In 2026, library cardholders redeemed $12, 972 in ticket value. Just 15% of the revenue foregone by the museum is underwritten by our library partners.
Wish: $10,000 to underwrite the remaining foregone revenue so Maryhill Museum of Art can continue to participate in this major museum access program.
BLUE STAR MUSEUMS
Blue Star Museums is a program that activates museums to offer complimentary admission to active-duty military service members and accompanying family members between Memorial Day and Labor Day annually. In 2026, our military visitors redeemed $1,541 in ticket value.
Wish: $1,550 to underwrite the foregone revenue so that Maryhill Museum of Art can continue to participate in this museum access program for those who are actively serving our country.
EDUCATOR ACCESS
Maryhill Museum of Art provides complimentary museum admission for school educators during the Artists as Educators annual exhibition, Slow Art Day, and the Educators Free Weeks program, which is a cumulative month of complimentary admission and includes access to educational tours and teaching resources.
Wish: $850 to underwrite complimentary admission for educators during these programs so that we provide access and resources for teaching art, history, and creative/critical thinking skills in the classroom.
Capital Projects
Capital Projects
HVAC SYSTEM LOAN
Between 2021 and 2023, Maryhill Museum of Art made major updates to the museum’s heating and cooling system. A capital campaign funded the replacement of a 1938 boiler in the historic wing. Then, an emergency occurred when the museum’s aging heating and cooling system failed in late 2022. To protect the safety of our museum collections (which must be stored in climate-controlled facilities to prevent deterioration), to provide the facility conditions required by incoming loans for upcoming exhibitions, and to maintain our accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums, the museum made the needed replacements and repairs for its HVAC system immediately. Because of the urgency, the museum was obligated to take out a loan of $699,352 from the State of Washington.
Wish: Gifts to help us eliminate our debt, currently in repayment.
STONEHENGE MEMORIAL CONSERVATION PROJECT
As Stonehenge Memorial Monument approaches the100th anniversary of its completion (1929-2029), acute and preventative treatment is needed to remove spalling concrete from the tops of the monument’s lintels and apply caps with custom mortar and high-performance waterproof sealant. This major conservation effort, a total of $1,500,000, will steward long-term structural integrity for Stonehenge, which is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places as the premier WWI monument in the United States of America.
Wish: Gifts toward the acute remediation portion of the project, currently estimated at $750,000.
PUBLIC ART & SEATING ON THE MUSEUM CAMPUS
Maryhill Museum of Art provides complimentary museum admission for school educators during the Artists as Educators annual exhibition, Slow Art Day, and the Educators Free Weeks program, which is a cumulative month of complimentary admission and includes access to educational tours and teaching resources.
Wish: Two gifts of $2,000 to sponsor two public artworks on the museum campus for a two-year period; Five gifts of $1,000 to sponsor replacement picnic benches.
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