An anonymous gift of nearly $2.25 million will create the Hartz FUNd for Contemporary Art at the UO’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.

The largest endowment to date for the museum, it will transform the gallery’s ability to explore and support the work of local, national and international contemporary artists through exhibitions, acquisitions, publications and more.

“Such a generous gift from a long-time personal friend and champion of contemporary art across the country affirms the critical role of the JSMA as a teaching museum at a university dedicated to creating thoughtful and creative individuals who will work to make our world a better place,” said Jill Hartz, the museum’s executive director. “I am humbled and thrilled for the opportunities this gift makes possible, both for teaching purposes and for furthering the appreciation of the visual arts for all our visitors.”

“The arts at the University of Oregon are at the highest level, and recognized internationally,” says UO President Michael H. Schill. “A transformational gift like this affirms their value, and especially the important role the art museum plays in strengthening both our teaching and public mission,” he adds. “Its timeliness, during our current capital campaign, is especially meaningful.”

Often reflective of current events and provocative issues, contemporary art plays an important role in educating students of all ages. Hartz noted that this is especially important at a university, where young people are exploring their own identities in relation to what’s going on in the world today.

“Contemporary art often reflects those global issues and questions regarding identity back to us,” she said. “The subject matter is as diverse as the materials used and nothing is off limits.”

Hartz joined the museum in 2008 as executive director, and her passion for contemporary art has influenced the breadth and diversity of the museum’s collections, exhibitions and programs.

Recently proposed contemporary art acquisitions — only possible because of the FUNd — include a large ceramic “mihrab” by Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet, recently on view in “Sandow Birk’s American Qur’an,” and Stacey Steers’ “Night Hunter Cottage,” a video installation composed of more than 4,000 collages in which the silent film actress Lillian Gish is seamlessly appropriated and plunged into a new and haunting role. The museum previously showed a full-scale version of one of Steers’ earlier video-house installations.

These works will join previously purchased contemporary art, made possible only with private and foundation support, including “Acca Dacca Diptych,” Nina Katchadourian's humorous video self-portraits, which feature an audio track in which the artist lip-syncs an AC/DC song about trans-Atlantic travel; and numerous Cuban and Latin American pieces, selections of which are currently on view in “Cuba Ocho” and “Diálogos.”

Another new addition is  “Medusa Smack,” an immersive video installation by Portland artist Vanessa Renwick inspired by the Haruki Murakami quote, “What we see before us is just one tiny part of the world. We get into the habit of thinking, this is the world, but that’s not true at all. The real world is a much darker and deeper place than this, and much of it is occupied by jellyfish and things.”