About the Aspen Art Museum
Mission
Founded by artists in 1979 as a non-collecting institution, Aspen Art Museum is committed to advancing contemporary art and driving cultural change through exhibitions, critical dialogues, and community engagement. Inspired by our alpine landscape and Aspen’s history of experimentation and exchange, we embrace the creative possibilities that emerge when artists are invited to leave their imprint on our institution.
Vision
We envision a world in which contemporary artists are recognized as leaders whose ideas expand our consciousness. As an ever-evolving destination for artist-centered programming and interdisciplinary exchange, we engage local and global communities by exploring art’s power to advance new ways of thinking, process complexity, and foster human connection.
Values
Inquiry
We invest in artists and thinkers who pursue fresh, challenging ideas and in fostering vibrant, fearless discourse between bold thinkers from within and outside of the art world. As we expand and evolve, our commitment to self-reflection and curiosity remains unwavering.
Imagination
We champion artistic imagination as a vital force for challenging conventional thinking, revealing important truths, and creating shared human experiences.
Connection
We believe in the power of human connection—with art, with artists and other bold thinkers, and with community—to awaken new perspectives and expand both our individual and collective consciousnesses.
Early History
In 1976, a City of Aspen vote led to the acquisition and development of an out-of-use building at 590 North Mill Street that became the Aspen Art Museum’s first home until 2014. Built in 1888, the Hunter Creek Power Plant first served the city’s silver mining operations while also enabling Aspen to be the first city west of the Mississippi to have streetlights powered by hydroelectric energy. Supporting a recommendation that an art space would offer the most creative and adaptive community service, the City assisted efforts to rehabilitate the disused structure. By November 1977, the Aspen Center for the Visual Arts (ACVA) was incorporated within the state of Colorado, and in August 1978, the ACVA board selected its first director, Philip Yenawine.
On June 16, 1979, the ACVA opened to the public with the inaugural exhibition American Portraits of the Sixties and Seventies, featuring works by Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Chuck Close, Willem de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Mapplethorpe, Claes Oldenburg, and Andy Warhol, among others.
The first year three years of programming featured a wide range of exhibitions, including one-person shows by artists such as Robert Rauschenberg. In 1984, the board approved a name change to the Aspen Art Museum (AAM) to better reflect its curatorial scope, established its AAM National Council, and became a nationally accredited institution through the American Association of Museums (now American Alliance of Museums).