Boise Art Museum
The Boise Art Museum (BAM) is the sole
accredited art museum in the state of Idaho and opened in 1931 as
the Boise Art Association when a large number of interested citizens
got together to promote art in the city and state. They met to
organized the association whose duties would be to obtain and
preserve a proper gallery, with traveling exhibits and the promotion
of fine art in the city. The first exhibition that was done was held
at the Hotel Boise, where the group originally met. By 1937, the
early goals were attained when a partnership that included the
association, the city and the federal WPA was formed and the new
Boise Gallery of Art was constructed in Julia Davis Park, that sat
in the heart of the city's downtown area. The association, occupying
some 3000 square feet and was managed by volunteers, inside the new
art deco styled building that held two galleries and a small lobby
and office. The gallery didn't attempt to collect any works at this
stage, but rather showcased the local and regional artworks, as well
as helping the community grow collectively. The association was
incorporated in 1961 and became the Boise Gallery of Art, and during
the mid 1960s, hired their first professional staff, which in turn
started the ambitious project moving forward at a more impressive
pace. Soon enough that became apparent as the gallery moved into a
temporary facility in 1972, while they waited for the new 10,000
square foot additions were completed. This expansion made the
galleries more roomy, installed a vault, studio space, lobby and
gift shop; with room for the permanent collections, educational
agendas, a docent program, display practices and the foundation for
a more permanent and meaningful art museum. By 1986, the facility
went through another expansion, which was completed in 1988, and
renamed once more to the Boise Art Museum, focusing more so on their
permanent collection developments, expanding their educational
programs and improving their changing and traveling exhibits. Today,
the permanent collection contains 2300 works that concentrate on the
20th century American art, with special emphasis on the artists of
the Pacific northwest, ceramics and American realism. It does also
include some non-Western and European artworks that complement the
collection and help showcase its outstanding qualities. As they
continue to gain more works of art, the museum has just acquired
some really exciting and beautiful art from James Lavadour, part
Walla Walla Indian that grew up on a reservation for the Umatilla
tribe that is outside of Pendleton, Oregon and does spectacular
landscapes, but only after he had walked the area that he plans on
painting. This special and unusual technique has helped him to more
fully understand the concepts that lay beneath the surface and
magnify his resulting works so much so that he is an outstanding
artist to be watched and enjoyed. Another is the works of Robert
Colescott, who is one of the best artists that had lived and taught
in the northwest. He was a Portland State University art professor,
and the first African American artist that was chosen to create a
solo exhibit at the 47th Venice Biennale in 1997. His works are
provocative and colorful, almost a modern Dali, but more distinctive
and certainly more African American in the sense of incorporating
his heritage into his magnificent art. The last addition was the
works of Pablo Picasso, who needs no introduction or explanation,
his works have been world famous for many years and always in
constant demand and certainly appreciated. These are just some of
the new acquisitions that the museum strives to obtain and showcases
the examples of art that they are searching for to add to their
excellent collections.
Museum of Mining & Geology
The
Idaho Museum of Mining and Geology is located right next to the Old
Penitentiary that sits in the state's historical district in Boise,
Idaho that has the best examples of displays and educational
materials that pertain to the state's outstanding geologic history
and their fantastic mining heritage. Their impressive exhibits
include minerals, maps, stories, photographs, rocks, fossils
historical relics and much more to encourage your perusal of the
state's mining and geologic museum. One of their special exhibits is
the mysterious deep time room that houses; rock types and the cycle
of rocks, plate tectonics processes, an immense map of the west and
the enormous regional geology stories, an outstanding 2005 geology
of the North America map, rocks from space stories and specimens,
the role of fossils in geology and the story of the earth's history,
all 4.6 billion years of it. In the earth minerals room you can
explore the many examples of minerals that are in our lives today,
samples of every class of strange and magnificent minerals and the
exciting stories of how the minerals of the earth were created. The
mining history room has relics and stories from the state's Lode &
Placer mining history; mineral and ore samples that have come here
from the state's historic mining districts and a unique but historic
mining camp that includes its own tunnel. The Idaho geology gallery
contains the state's igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks as
well as the tales behind them, the state's numerous headline stories
about the ancient Lake Idaho, Batholith, the Snake River plain and
many others that are sure to mesmerize you for hours. In the special
exhibit room you can visualize rocks that glow in the dark, the
stories and minerals of the old time miners and what makes this
state the gem state. This incredible museum is involved in many
marvelous community ventures that are extremely exciting and
interesting to the visitors here, as well as the community and
include; earthquake tracking, rock parties, field trips, lectures,
the geo store, youth learning tours, scout programs and the
geo-workshops.