MTA Visits 2 Major Art Collections!

Welcome to the latest news from the Museum Trustee Association, The Network for Informing, Advising and Inspiring Museum Trustees. We want to share our monthly newsletter with all your museum trustees. If we don't have a current roster for your institution, please email it to president@mta-hq.org . MTA keeps these names and email addresses confidential of course.

Mary Baily Wieler Elected MTA Board Chair

At the MTA board meeting in Seattle on May 1, 2010, Mary Baily Wieler of Baltimore who has served as the MTA First Vice-Chair was elected by the board to the Chair position succeeding Aaron Milrad of Toronto, Canada.

Mary Baily Wieler has an active role in many Baltimore non-profit organizations. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Walters Art Museum, The Enoch Pratt Free Library and The Greater Baltimore Medical Center. She served as President of The Board of Directors of The Association of Baltimore Area Grant-makers from 1999-2005. Nationally, she is Chair of The Museum Trustee Association-Washington, D.C. and a member of the advisory board of The Center for Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College. She holds a B.S. from the Edmund T. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She and her husband, Scott, have 2 children.

Gary Vikan, Director of the Walters Art Museum, said about MTA and Mary, "Connecting trustees to trustees is intuitively so right and doesn't happen often enough. Being ultimately responsible for the public trust, trustees sharing insights with each other is so critical and learning about museum best practices is invaluable to the success of the trustee/director/staff partnership"

"Mary is an ideal trustee partner. She is an informed, articulate and participatory member of the Walters board. From her first MTA meeting six years ago, she has drawn on the expertise of her North American trustee colleagues and brought new perspectives back to our board. I know MTA will continue to thrive under her leadership"

We thank Aaron Milrad for his service to MTA the past three years as Chair and are pleased that he will continue to serve as an MTA Board member.

MTA Board and Patrons Visit Two World Class Art Collections in Seattle

Entrance to the Ebsworth home and art collection

While attending the Trustee/Director Forum in Seattle the MTA Board and Patrons had the opportunity to visit two outstanding art collections in the private homes of the collectors.

The first was the collection of Virginia and Bagley Wright. In the 1950s, Wright and his wife Virginia (Jinny), who studied art at Barnard College, began collecting art with paintings by Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, and Barnett Newman. The Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection, grew to more than 200 works, becoming the most extensive collection of modern and contemporary art in the Pacific Northwest.

The Wrights have made a point of collecting the art of their time, adding works by Helen Frankenthaler, David Smith, Kenneth Noland, Anthony Caro, Donald Judd, Carl Andre, Claes Oldenburg, Ellsworth Kelly, Tony Smith, Ed Ruscha, John Chamberlain, Mark Di Suvero, David Salle, Julian Schnabel, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, David Hammons, Robert Gober, Kiki Smith, John Currin, Maurizio Cattelan and Roxy Paine. Some of the collection was featured in a special exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum, where Wright once served as acting director. In 2007 the Wrights pledged their collection to the Seattle Art Museum and the Olympic Sculpture Park.

Our second visit was to the home of Barney Ebsworth. ArtNews has named Mr. Ebsworth one of the top 200 art collectors in the world in the past.

Mr. Ebsworths collection includes a wide-ranging and exciting cross-section of American painting from the World War I era through the 1960s. Collected by Barney A. Ebsworth, the works include masterpieces by Alexander Calder, Willem de Kooning, Arthur Dove, David Hockney, Edward Hopper and Georgia O'Keeffe.

The opportunity to visit these two private collections was a very special opportunity. Our thanks to the Wright's and Mr. Ebsworth.

MTA Patrons are invited to join the MTA Board on our private collection tours. Patrons contribute $1000.00 or more a year to MTA. If you are interested in supporting our work as a Patron donor please contact us at president@mta-hq.org. Our next private collection tour will be in Boston in September.

MTA Holds Successful Trustee/Director Forum in Seattle

MTA held a very successful Forum for museum trustees and senior staff at the Seattle Art Museum on April 30, 2010. Over 25 museums were represented and topics covered included maximizing income by using the new social media tools, increasing museum gift shop sales, maximizing food and event rental sales, and tips on how to recruit, train, and engage your museums trustees.

After the Forum we were given a special tour of the Seattle Art Museum by their new Director Derrick Cartwright, formerly Director at the San Diego Art Museum, which included a sneak peek at their newest exhibit, Kurt.

The benefits of our forums are the networking with fellow trustees and senior staff and the sharing of ideas to solve common challenges. We hope many of you will be able to attend our next Trustee/Director Forum in Boston, MA on September 24, 2010. Details and registration information will be in the June MTA E-Newsletter.

If your museum is a current member of MTA we can provide you with PowerPoint presentations from the Seattle Forum speakers. Email MTA President Jim McCreight at president@mta-hq.org

to receive the information by email.

Become an MTA PATRON

In addition to continuing your museums membership in the Musteum Trustee Association, as an individual Trustee or Director, YOU can assist MTA by:

Joining MTA as a Patron ($1,000 or more per year) - receive special event invitations to private collection tours, behind the scenes museum tours, and special dinners with other patrons and trustees.

Attend a Forum or Program - attend the Trustee Forum in Boston, September 24, 2010 at no charge.

Become a sponsor - your company can become a sponsor and receive special benefits and reach over 5,000 museum decision makers. For a list of MTA sponsorship opportunities contact us at president@mta-hq.org.

MTA Membership

Thanks to the following museums who have renewed their MTA Membership during the past few weeks.

Your continued support is appreciated!

Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

Japanese Friendship Garden of San Diego

The National World World II Museum