Purdue Galleries to Create Digital Access to Art Collections Through a Grant from the Henry Luce Foundation

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A $150,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation will make more than 5,000 artworks from the Purdue Galleries accessible online to researchers and art lovers around the world. 

Purdue Galleries received this pivotal grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to support Purdue Galleries: Accessing the Collection, a two-year project to digitize and publish its permanent collection. The grant will support a full-time curator for the duration of the project who, with the help of interns, will research, catalog, and photograph, and digitize the collection of over 5,000 artworks ranging from ancient to contemporary pieces and including sculptures, textiles, prints, paintings, photographs, drawings, and ceramics.

Erika Kvam, Director & Head Curator of Purdue Galleries says "Funding through the Luce Foundation Grant will allow us to thoroughly research document, and photograph our extensive collection of American and Native American art.  We are excited that our collection will soon be available to a global audience and easily accessible to students, faculty, and the public, which is a key element in the mission of Purdue Galleries and Purdue University."

 The Purdue Galleries' collection is unique in that it has a substantial amount of American and Native American art as well as other discrete collections, including a collection of small-scale prints by American artists. The impact of research, cataloguing, digitizing, and publicizing this collection reaches beyond Purdue and will benefit classrooms and art researchers around the world.

Purdue Galleries has assembled a vast, diverse collection of artworks that has been underutilized due to lack of physical and digital access. In fall of 2020, the collection was moved to a new location on campus, doubling the storage space and adding office and conference space, which was a barrier to physical access of the collection. The digital access is the next step toward making the artworks accessible online for people worldwide.

About the Luce Foundation:

The Henry Luce Foundation seeks to enrich public discourse by promoting innovative scholarship, cultivating new leaders, and fostering international understanding. The Foundation advances its mission through grantmaking and leadership programs in the fields of Asia, higher education, religion and theology, art, and public policy.

About the Galleries:

All Purdue Galleries exhibitions and events are free and open to the public. For class and group visits, contact Erika Kvam at Purdue Galleries at 765-494-3061. For more information, visit the website or follow @PurdueGalleries on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

August 2022