UNMAM’s innovative Collections Year project

The University of New Mexico's Art Museum (UNMAM) is in the middle of its Collections Year. An unusual undertaking you don't often see at art museums. In fact, you may never have heard of such a thing; that's because this innovative project was born from the need for space to process, restore, and preserve gifts and acquisitions bestowed to the museum during the last year.

During this yearlong pause from public exhibition, UNMAM will be able to complete the intake process necessary to care for its artwork.

UNM's Art Museum is located inside the Center for the Arts building, just off the main lobby on the first floor. It features exhibition galleries on three floors, with offices on the second floor reserved for administrative staff, including nine full-time employees and 12 student apprentices who are integral to the yearlong project.

Collections Year kicked off in May and will run through the summer of 2026. The museum will resume public exhibitions in the fall of 2026.

UNMAM faces a unique challenge as its storage space is at capacity, and generous gifts from donors over the past year include nearly 200 artworks that must be cataloged, documented as part of the museum's collection and properly housed despite this challenge.

Exhibition galleries have been transformed into hands-on areas for UNMAM staff and students who have been trained as Collections Apprentices. With the galleries as temporary storage and work areas, the staff and apprentices are carrying out collections management activities, including reorganizing vaults, cataloging, accessioning, photographing and assessing the condition of artworks.

UNMAM's collections include the archive of UNM's Tamarind Institute, the country's leading traditional lithography print institute. The museum's print and photography collections are widely considered the best among academic museums nationwide.

"We conceived of Collections Year as a need and opportunity last year when significant gifts coincided with our plans to transfer our database into a new system that provides public access to our collection," said UNMAM Director Arif Khan. "Our decision to pivot to a year focused on our collection reflects our belief that improving our collection and access to it will make an enduring impact on the museum and our university community."

Andrea Perez-Martinez, UNMAM's collections manager, has managed and coordinated this effort to care for the museum's artwork collections.

"Collections Year is allowing us to see what needs to be done and the scope of our collections. We can look to the future with this project," said Perez-Martinez."What we have started and continue to work on during this year is an innovative project with detailed tasks that need to be tracked and assigned."

Perez-Martinez shared that collections management activities will continue after public exhibitions reopen, as collections care is fundamental to a museum's daily operations.

Even though the museum has paused public exhibitions during this period, Perez-Martinez wants everyone to know it is not closed. UNMAM is first and foremost a part of an educational institution, and the administrative team takes that seriously.

The museum's Beaumont Newhall Study Room remains open by appointment for UNM community members. Five open-hour sessions have been scheduled on various Friday mornings throughout the fall semester. Additionally, Collections Apprentices will continue to work throughout the year and beyond.

The museum's apprenticeships provide students with the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in collections management activities aligned with their interests, such as art handling and condition reporting. Throughout this year, UNMAM's commitment to its students' education has remained strong.

Perez-Martinez shared, "That apprentices are supported and empowered, functioning as essential team members who participate in all aspects of Collections Year."

Management is committed to providing the training apprentices need, relying on them as valuable contributors to the initiative. A notable example of the kind of training apprentices would not otherwise receive was an Oct. book enclosure workshop led by Collections Assistant Joseph McKee, a full-time staff member. They conducted a training session with apprentices on this industry-standard best practice, which resulted in custom-sized book enclosures for delicate volumes in the UNMAM collection.

"It is nice to see students making connections and continuing to learn," Perez-Martinez said.

To learn more about UNM's Art Museum, visit their website.

To learn how you can support them, visit the support webpage.