Gorman Museum of Native American Art is a museum focused on Native American and Indigenous artists, founded in 1973 at

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

(UC Davis) in

Davis, California Davis is the most populous city in Yolo County, California, United States. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 66,850 in 2020, not including the on-campus population of the University of ...

. It was formerly known as the Carl Nelson Gorman Museum, and the C.N. Gorman Museum.

History

The Gorman Museum of Native American Art was founded in 1973 by the Department of Native American Studies at UC Davis. The name of the museum is in honor of

Carl Nelson Gorman Carl Nelson Gorman (October 5, 1907 – January 29, 1998), also known as Kin-Ya-Onny-Beyeh, was a Navajo code talker, visual artist, painter, illustrator, and professor. He was on the faculty at the University of California, Davis, from 1950 until ...

, the Navajo code talker, artist, and a former faculty member at UC Davis.

Collection

As of 2015, the museum holds a collect of 860 objects by 250 artists. By 2018, the museum collection had grown to over 2,000 works, with one third of the collection coming directly from artist donations. Artists in the museum collection include

Frank LaPena Frank Raymond LaPena, also known as Frank LaPeña and by his Wintu name Tauhindauli (1937 – 2019), was a Nomtipom-Wintu American Indian painter, printmaker, ethnographer, professor, ceremonial dancer, poet, and writer. He taught at California Sta ...

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (January 15, 1940 – January 24, 2025) was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American visual artist and curator. She was an enrolled citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and was also of M� ...

, Melanie Yazzie,

Rick Bartow Richard Elmer "Rick" Bartow (December 16, 1946 – April 2, 2016) was a Native American artist and a member of the Mad River band of the Wiyot Tribe, who are indigenous to Humboldt County, California. He primarily created pastel, graphite, and m ...

, Benjamin Haldane, James Schoppert,

Dana Claxton Dana Claxton (born 1959) is a Hunkpapa, Hunkpapa Lakota filmmaker, photographer, and performance artist. Her work looks at stereotypes, historical context, and gender studies of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, specifically those of the First ...

Frank Tuttle Frank Wright Tuttle (August 6, 1892 – January 6, 1963) was a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film director and writer who directed films from 1922 (''The Cradle Buster'') to 1959 (''Island of Lost Women''). Biography Frank Tuttle was ...

, Garnet Pavatea, and many others.

Leadership

Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie presently serves as director of the museum, which started in 2004.

George Longfish George Chester Longfish (born August 22, 1942) is a First Nations in Canada, First Nations artist, professor, and museum director. His art work blends Pop art with Indigenous motifs, and often features Assemblage (art), assemblage. Many of his wor ...

served as the museum founding director and curator, from 1974 to 1996. Following Longfish, Theresa Harlan succeeded as director and curator, from 1996 to 2000.

Building

The museum lived at 1316

Hart Hall Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The colle ...

, from 1992 until 2020. In 2020–2021, the museum was in the process of expanding and relocating to the former Richard L. Nelson Gallery (which closed in 2015) in Nelson Hall on campus. In September 2023, the building is scheduled to reopened at 181 Old Davis Road.

References

{{Authority control Art museums and galleries in California University of California, Davis campus Art museums and galleries established in 1973 1973 establishments in California Native American museums in California

History

Collection

Leadership

Building

See also

References