FAC Collection Spotlight

The ambitious reinstallation of the museum’s superb collection signals a bold new era for the Fine Arts Center. In these galleries, we celebrate our unrivaled collections of American, Native American, and Hispanic art. For the first time in the history of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center all areas of the permanent collection—much of it unseen for years—are exhibited. These splendid galleries were specifically designed to both highlight a collection that is already considered one of the finest in the country, and to accommodate our commitment to the development and growth of the collection.

The new permanent collection galleries are a milestone in an unprecedented project to build anew within the framework of our historic building, to honor the past while enhancing it with novel design ideas, and to encourage our visitors to look at all the artistic expressions of the Americas in a new way. Numerous works previously in storage, many of them collected in the earliest years after the Museum’s founding in 1936, are now installed in state-of-the-art, spacious new galleries.

In an exciting museum journey through six pocket thematic exhibitions, visitors will have the opportunity to explore the different collecting areas of the Fine Arts Center. This is only the beginning of many thought-provoking and beautiful exhibitions that will educate, entertain and inspire our public for years to come. The opportunities for exciting exhibitions highlighting such a superb collection are endless.

A brief history of our world-class permanent collection
The Fine Arts Center’s permanent collection encompasses art of all media produced in the Americas, specifically in the United States of North America, Central America, Mexico, South America and the Caribbean. With over 20,000 objects in its collection, the Fine Arts Center holds one of the strongest American, Latin American and American Indian collections in the United States, containing diverse artistic Latin American works from the 19^th through the 21^st century such as santos from the Southwestern United States and the Caribbean, Mexican sculptures and works on paper, South American paintings, and Guatemalan textiles, among others. The American Indian collection comprises Southwestern Native American artifacts and jewelry, including Navajo weavings and Pueblo pottery, as well as 20th century paintings and works on paper. The American art collection includes modern works from the Broadmoor Academy, and paintings and photographs by some of the foremost exponents of the main stylistic periods in modern art. The Fine Arts Center is also noted for its outstanding collection of Dale Chihuly glass, one of the largest in the world, which includes the historic nine-foot Orange Hornet Chandelier.

A new approach to the permanent collection
At this moment of dramatic growth, the Fine Arts Center is taking the opportunity to reexamine its permanent collection within a global perspective. The goal is to revitalize the collection and capture a greater share of the museum-going public locally, regionally, and nationally. This new approach will allow for the strengthening of the well-known collections of Hispanic and Native American arts of the American Southwest, and fine art of all media created in the United States beginning in the late 19^th century to the present, as well as a focused new interest in Latin American art and photography of the 19^th century to today.

Submitting Work for Review & Inclusion in the Artists Archives of the Taylor Museum >>