$1 million gift will help bring major art exhibitions to Oregon

Editors Note: University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer will host dedication ceremonies for the Coeta (coh EE tuh) and Donald Barker Gallery at 4:30 p.m. Friday, May 2, in the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, 1430 Johnson Lane. The event precedes the opening reception for "OPEN/END MFA 2008," an exhibition of works by master of fine arts graduates in the UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts.

EUGENE, Ore.-- (May 2, 2008) -- Oregon's arts and cultural scene will be enriched by a $1 million gift from the Coeta and Donald Barker Foundation to the University of Oregon's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (JSMA).

The gift enables the museum to host major traveling exhibitions, beginning with the West Coast premiere of "Cuba Avant-Garde" Oct. 4 through Jan. 4, 2009, in the Coeta and Donald Barker Gallery. The diverse exhibit, on loan from the Farber Collection, showcases contemporary works by 42 artists.

UO President Dave Frohnmayer says the university has named the museum's 4,000-square-foot changing exhibition gallery in honor of the Barkers, who supported many UO academic and athletic programs during their lives.

The gallery will be dedicated Friday, May 2, in anticipation of the museum's yearlong 75th anniversary celebration, which begins June 15.

"Coeta and Don have been among the University of Oregon's best friends," Frohnmayer said. "Their foundation's gift means our museum now has the financial ability to bring wonderful traveling art exhibits to the people of Oregon."

Nancy Harris, chair of the Barker Foundation, says the gift is in keeping with wishes expressed by Coeta Barker shortly before her death in 2005.

"What a wonderful tribute," Harris said. "Eugene is where the foundation began, and the University of Oregon has been a major recipient of the foundation's grants from the start. This endowment gift will carry on the name and spirit of Coeta and Don and honor them into perpetuity."

Donald Barker '42 owned several Eugene-based companies. He grew up in Portland, Ore., and studied law at the UO. He and Coeta lived in Eugene, where they established the Donald R. Barker Foundation in 1977. After he died in 1980, the trustees renamed the foundation and Coeta moved to California, where she had homes in Rancho Mirage and Santa Barbara.

The Barker endowment will generate approximately $40,000 per year toward the costs of mounting major traveling exhibitions and curating in-house changing exhibits, says Robert Z. Melnick, interim executive director of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.

"Gifts like this one from the Barker foundation allow the museum to serve both on- and off-campus communities, introduce people to other cultures and explore global issues," Melnick said.  "Few campuses possess museums as large and well equipped as the University of Oregon's. Now we need to build an endowment to provide ongoing, stable funding on par with our peers."

From May 3 to June 15, the Coeta and Donald Barker Gallery will feature "OPEN/END MFA 2008," an exhibit of works by this year's master of fine arts graduates in the UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts.

On June 26, the gallery will open "Edward Burtynsky: The China Series," a traveling exhibition of the Canadian photographer's work documenting the grand scale of commerce in which China is now investing. The exhibit will run through Sept. 7.

For directions, admission information and gallery maps, visit http://jsma.uoregon.edu.

About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of 62 of the leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. Membership in the AAU is by invitation only. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.

Contact: Julie Brown, director, media relations; 541-346-3185, julbrown@uoregon.edu

Source: Erick Hoffman, JSMA director of communications, 541-346-3162, erickh@uroegon.edu

Images:
Coeta Barker, http://tinyurl.com/4trrk5
Donald Barker, http://tinyurl.com/4nst5n
"Cuba Avant-Garde", http://tinyurl.com/6kbgl6
"Edward Burtynsky: The China Series", http://tinyurl.com/6p6wfs

Links: Quick Facts about the Barker gift, http://tinyurl.com/5zc4nz
Fact Sheet, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, http://tinyurl.com/65ldpa
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, http://jsma.uoregon.edu
"Cuba Avant-Garde," http://www.cuba-avantgarde.com/

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