Mission
The Gochman Family Collection consists of a private lending collection of contemporary art focusing on work by Indigenous and American artists.
A guiding principle of the collection is to support living artists with the intent to direct resources and power to those building a future through an Indigenous lens. The collection often highlights artwork that is anti-colonial and Indigenous-centered.
Beyond acquiring works of art, the Gochman Family Collection team works extensively to support and promote Indigenous leadership in the arts and beyond. The Gochman Family Collection team have worked towards this goal with multiple interconnected initiatives:
- Previous to the start of the collection, Becky Gochman and Zach Feuer co-founded Forge Project. Forge Project is a Native-led initiative centered on Indigenous art, decolonial education, and supporting leaders in culture, food security, and land justice. Located on the unceded homelands of the Moh-He-Con-Nuck in Upstate New York, Forge Project works to upend political and social systems formed through generations of settler colonialism. The activites of the Forge Project have inspired the formation and direction of the Gochman Family Collection.
- Gochman, Feuer, the Forge team, and colleagues at Bard College led the transformation of the American Studies department at Bard College into the “American and Indigenous Studies Department” with an ambitious hiring, programming, and scholarship plan with a $25M donation, matched by an additional $25M from George Soros.
- The creation of a robust and efficient lending program that allows institutions easy access to borrow works with a quick turnaround. Curators, writers, and academics are welcome to view the collection by appointment.
- The collection also works on a more intimate scale to support the individual career needs of artists who have work in the collection. This includes modest travel, exhibition, artist-in- residence opportunities, publishing support, connections to professional contacts, and various other forms of career management assistance.
To request loans, and tours or discuss exhibition opportunities, please contact [email protected].
Team:
Moonoka Begay (Ndéé + Diné), Curatorial associate
Audrey Lea Collins, Collection manager
Zach Feuer, Director
Becky Gochman, Custodian
Rachel Martin (Tlingit/Tsaagweidei, Killer Whale Clan, of the Yellow Cedar House (Xaai Hit’) Eagle Moiety), Artist in Residence, Curatorial advisor
Curatorial consultants:
Shándíín Brown (Diné)
Ginger Dunnill
Candice Hopkins (Carcross/Tagish First Nation)
Larissa Nez (Diné)