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In 1973, Gambaro and her husband purchased a townhouse in Washington, D.C.'s historic Capitol Hill district with the goal of converting its two-story 19th century carriage house into a studio and gallery.<ref name=":2" /> Gambaro envisioned filling a void in the art world by creating the first gallery in the U.S. capital dedicated to works by contemporary Native American artists.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Dennis |first=Yvonne Wakim |title=Indigenous firsts: a history of Native American achievements and events |last2=Hirschfelder |first2=Arlene B. |last3=Molin |first3=Paulette Fairbanks |date=2023 |publisher=Visible Ink Press |isbn=978-1-57859-712-3 |location=Canton, MI}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Via Gambaro Gallery opened in 1976 and became a hub for highlighting and promoting Native American art and artists.<ref name=":7" />
In 1973, Gambaro and her husband purchased a townhouse in Washington, D.C.'s historic Capitol Hill district with the goal of converting its two-story 19th century carriage house into a studio and gallery.<ref name=":2" /> Gambaro envisioned filling a void in the art world by creating the first gallery in the U.S. capital dedicated to works by contemporary Native American artists.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Dennis |first=Yvonne Wakim |title=Indigenous firsts: a history of Native American achievements and events |last2=Hirschfelder |first2=Arlene B. |last3=Molin |first3=Paulette Fairbanks |date=2023 |publisher=Visible Ink Press |isbn=978-1-57859-712-3 |location=Canton, MI}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Via Gambaro Gallery opened in 1976 and became a hub for highlighting and promoting Native American art and artists.<ref name=":7" />


Exhibitions at the Via Gambaro Gallery highlighted contemporary Native American artists using modern techniques and materials with a goal of undermining stereotypes.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" /> Under Gambaro's leadership and in conjunction with her husband Stephen Gambaro a photographer known for portraits of Native Americans, Via Gambaro Gallery showcased the work of many contemporary Native American artists. In 1977, Via Gambaro Gallery curated and hosted "Indian Artists, 1977" with the American Indian Society of Washington, D.C. featuring works by [[Arthur Amiotte]], Benjamin Buffalo, [[Karita Coffey]], [[Allan Houser|Allen Houser,]] Neil Parsons, [[Kevin Red Star]], and Daniel Nicholas along with works by Gambaro.<ref name=":2" /> The gallery's "Indian Artists, 1978" exhibition included works by seven faculty members of the Santa Fe [[Institute of American Indian Arts]]. Featured artists included Lawrence Ahvakana, Henry Gobin and Larry Desjarlais. The gallery's 1980 show featured works by Native American women including [[Nadema Agard]], Pegie Ahvakana, [[Diane Burns|Diane M. Burns]], [[Karita Coffey]], [[Helen Hardin]], [[Joan Hill]], [[Linda Lomahaftewa]], Jean McCarty Mauldin, Carol Soatikee, Alice Souligny, Dorothy Strait, and Christine C. Zuni along with works by Gambaro.<ref name=":4" />
Exhibitions at the Via Gambaro Gallery highlighted contemporary Native American artists using modern techniques and materials with a goal of undermining stereotypes.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" /> Under Gambaro's leadership and in conjunction with her husband Stephen Gambaro a photographer known for portraits of Native Americans, Via Gambaro Gallery showcased the work of many contemporary Native American artists.
In 1977, Via Gambaro Gallery curated and hosted "Indian Artists, 1977" with the American Indian Society of Washington, D.C. featuring works by [[Arthur Amiotte]], Benjamin Buffalo, [[Karita Coffey]], [[Allan Houser|Allen Houser,]] Neil Parsons, [[Kevin Red Star]], and Daniel Nicholas along with works by Gambaro.<ref name=":2" /> The gallery's "Indian Artists, 1978" exhibition included works by seven faculty members of the Santa Fe [[Institute of American Indian Arts]]. Featured artists included Lawrence Ahvakana, Henry Gobin and Larry Desjarlais. The gallery's 1980 show featured works by Native American women including [[Nadema Agard]], Pegie Ahvakana, [[Diane Burns|Diane M. Burns]], [[Karita Coffey]], [[Helen Hardin]], [[Joan Hill]], [[Linda Lomahaftewa]], Jean McCarty Mauldin, Carol Soatikee, Alice Souligny, Dorothy Strait, and Christine C. Zuni along with works by Gambaro.<ref name=":4" />


=== National Museum of the American Indian ===
=== National Museum of the American Indian ===
As president of the Amerindian Circle of the Smithsonian Institution in 1982, Gambaro chaired a gala event, Night of the First Americans, at the Kennedy Center that launched the fundraising campaign to create the National Museum of the American Indian.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":7" />
As president of the Amerindian Circle of the Smithsonian Institution in 1982, Gambaro organized an exhibition featuring 120 Native American artists.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":8">{{Cite news |last=Gamarekian |first=Barbara |date=March 5, 1982 |title=A Gala in Washington for American Indian Group |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/05/style/a-gala-in-washington-for-american-indian-group.html |access-date=April 17, 2024 |work=The New York Times |pages=B6}}</ref> The exhibition was featured at the Kennedy Center in conjunction with a star-studded gala event, Night of the First Americans, to launch the fundraising campaign for the National Museum of the American Indian.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":8" /> After the event, the exhibition moved to the Smithsonian Institution.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":8" />


== References ==
== References ==

Revision as of 20:35, 17 April 2024

Retha Walden Gambaro (December 9, 1917- September 9, 2013) was an American sculptor and gallery owner. She is known both for her own works that bridge traditional and contemporary Indigenous American themes as well as for bringing attention to many of the most notable contemporary Native American artists of the 20th and 21st century. Gambaro advocated for and helped to raise funds to establish the National Museum of the American Indian.

Early and personal life

Gambaro was born in Lenna, Oklahoma to parents she identified as a Native American of Creek Indian descent from her mother and Cherokee-English from her father.[1] She grew up primarily in downtown Phoenix, Arizona where she and her family moved when she was young. She attended school through the 8th grade before leaving to support her family.[1] Gambaro worked a variety of jobs including maid, seamstress, and engineering draftsman.[2][1][3] She married Stephen Gambaro and worked to support him while he completed high school and college.[1] In 1969 after the youngest of her three children left home, Gambaro with newfound time and an empty nest began experimenting with art, first, and only briefly, painting and then discovered a passion for sculpting. She enrolled, at the age of 52, in sculpture class at the Corcoran Gallery where she studied with Berthold Schmutzhart until 1971.[1][4]

Career and legacy

Gambaro's career as an artist spanned late mid-life through old age. She first exhibited her sculpture in 1971 in her mid-fifties and continued sculpting until her mid-eighties.[2][4] Works by Gambaro in stone, clay, copper, wood and bronze often feature female figures, spirituality and reverence for nature.[5][6][7]

Her work has been exhibited at the U.S. National Arboretum, Folger Shakespeare Library, Discovery Park Museum in Seattle, the Suffolk Museum, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the Gilcrease Museum, the Kennedy Center and the Heard Museum.[6][2][3][1][5] In 2012, the Heard Museum exhibited a retrospective of Gambaro's work titled "Attitudes of Prayer" including Gambaro's self-portrait, "Acceptance" of a woman looking at a fallen leaf.[2][7]

Via Gambaro Gallery

In 1973, Gambaro and her husband purchased a townhouse in Washington, D.C.'s historic Capitol Hill district with the goal of converting its two-story 19th century carriage house into a studio and gallery.[4] Gambaro envisioned filling a void in the art world by creating the first gallery in the U.S. capital dedicated to works by contemporary Native American artists.[8][1] Via Gambaro Gallery opened in 1976 and became a hub for highlighting and promoting Native American art and artists.[8]

Exhibitions at the Via Gambaro Gallery highlighted contemporary Native American artists using modern techniques and materials with a goal of undermining stereotypes.[4][5] Under Gambaro's leadership and in conjunction with her husband Stephen Gambaro a photographer known for portraits of Native Americans, Via Gambaro Gallery showcased the work of many contemporary Native American artists.

In 1977, Via Gambaro Gallery curated and hosted "Indian Artists, 1977" with the American Indian Society of Washington, D.C. featuring works by Arthur Amiotte, Benjamin Buffalo, Karita Coffey, Allen Houser, Neil Parsons, Kevin Red Star, and Daniel Nicholas along with works by Gambaro.[4] The gallery's "Indian Artists, 1978" exhibition included works by seven faculty members of the Santa Fe Institute of American Indian Arts. Featured artists included Lawrence Ahvakana, Henry Gobin and Larry Desjarlais. The gallery's 1980 show featured works by Native American women including Nadema Agard, Pegie Ahvakana, Diane M. Burns, Karita Coffey, Helen Hardin, Joan Hill, Linda Lomahaftewa, Jean McCarty Mauldin, Carol Soatikee, Alice Souligny, Dorothy Strait, and Christine C. Zuni along with works by Gambaro.[5]

National Museum of the American Indian

As president of the Amerindian Circle of the Smithsonian Institution in 1982, Gambaro organized an exhibition featuring 120 Native American artists.[6][3][9] The exhibition was featured at the Kennedy Center in conjunction with a star-studded gala event, Night of the First Americans, to launch the fundraising campaign for the National Museum of the American Indian.[6][8][9] After the event, the exhibition moved to the Smithsonian Institution.[3][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "A Gallery Of Modern Indian Art". Washington Post. 2023-12-21. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-04-17.
  2. ^ a b c d Lacey, Marc (February 3, 2012). "After Promoting Others' Work, a Late-Blooming Sculptor Realizes Her Dream". The New York Times. Retrieved April 17, 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ a b c d Annas, Teresa (September 3, 1995). "Tapping the Spirit: Sculptor Shapes Images of her Indian Heritage". The Virginian-Pilot. pp. E1. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e Gonyea, Ray, et al. Indian Artists, 1977 : An Exhibition, June 12 - September 10, 1977, via Gambaro Gallery. Via Gambaro Gallery, 1977.
  5. ^ a b c d Bisgyer-Lauer, M (editor), National American Indian Women's Art Show: NAIWAS, August 3-September 30, 1980, Via Gambaro Gallery,1980
  6. ^ a b c d Dyer, Linda (January 2017). "Appraise It". Nashville Arts Magazine. p. 100. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
  7. ^ a b Parker, Tricia. "Retha Walden Gambaro's Sculpture Work Is Worth Facing the Elements on the Heard Museum's Patio". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved 2024-04-17.
  8. ^ a b c Dennis, Yvonne Wakim; Hirschfelder, Arlene B.; Molin, Paulette Fairbanks (2023). Indigenous firsts: a history of Native American achievements and events. Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press. ISBN 978-1-57859-712-3.
  9. ^ a b c Gamarekian, Barbara (March 5, 1982). "A Gala in Washington for American Indian Group". The New York Times. pp. B6. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
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