Dear Friends,
Last Saturday Judd Foundation celebrated two milestones with the opening of the Ranch Office. The first, is that we are here because of one artist, Donald Judd, who understood the possibilities of how art could affect all fields and thought. Judd Foundation exists to care for his work and to continue his thinking. The second, is that we inaugurated a land acknowledgement which extends our respect and understanding to the ancestral stewards of this land.
We are grateful for the contributions to the opening programs by Dr. Koyana Flotte, visiting professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, who wrote and presented the land acknowledgement; Erin Schneider, our archivist at Judd Foundation, for engaging with the history of Marfa and its buildings, and Tim Gibbs, archeologist at Big Bend Ranch State Park, for sharing his archaeological knowledge of the Big Bend region. We are also thankful to our friends at Eugene Binder Gallery for hosting the program and Tim Johnson and Riley O’Bryan for their tech support.
A special thank you to Scott Bell, Aedan Brundrett, Beaumont Buck, Jesse Dominguez, Jess Garrett, Jonathan Lujan, Natalie Melendez, Shelby Rogers, Rico Roman, Randy Sanchez, Diana Simard, and Peter Stanley along with all of the Judd Foundation team that care for the building and opened it to the public. We thank you all for joining us for the talks, open hours, and tailgate celebration. Thank you to Monika Bernstein for event support and Cactus Liquors and Lone Star for their in-kind support.
Acknowledging the land on which we stand and the indigenous peoples who are bound to it is a small step towards justice. It is necessary in order to resist those that would have us refrain from protecting the Chihuahuan Desert—its flora, fauna, communities, and towns. As Don said: leave the land alone or return it to its natural state. United with our Rio Bravo/Rio Grande communities against the wall!
Rainer Judd
President, Judd Foundation