Special Spotlight Insert
Devon
studies Spanish to boost Tamarind outreach
By Megan
Bartolucci
As
director of the Tamarind Institute, Marjorie Devon provides
a common ground and a common language to people around the world:
art.
In 1970,
Devon moved from San Francisco to Albuquerque for what she thought
would be no longer than a year. It was good fortune, she said,
that led her to a position working with Clinton Adams, then
the director of Tamarind, and one year turned into 33.
Im
still here and Im loving it, she said.
During
her time at Tamarind Devon has worn many hats, including those
of a teacher and publications manager. Now as director, she
oversees all Tamarinds programs, often writing grants
to secure funding. The most rewarding and unique parts of her
job, she believes, are the special projects she organizes and
implements.
Im
studying Spanish to make my trips to South America easier,
she said, explaining that several of the projects require her
to travel to foreign countries.
One such
project involved hosting an artist from each of the six former
Yugoslav republics for a lithography workshop held at Tamarind.
In order to select the artists, Devon made trips to Kosovo and
Macedonia.
The potential
for conflict on all sides was high, but she said, (The
artists) were able to set aside ethnic and political perspectives
and work together. Art gave them a neutral space.
Now she
travels once again, accompanying Multiple Expressions,
an exhibit featuring Native American art created at Tamarind
between 1970 and 2000. Its first stop is Cochabamba, Bolivia,
where her studies will help her to explain the project in Spanish.
When she
isnt traveling abroad for special projects, she is organizing
them locally, supporting workshops in public high schools, and
sponsoring indigenous Sand People from Botswana, Africa, to
collaborate with the Pueblo artists of New Mexico.
Thirty-three
years in the same place is a long time for a person who loves
change, she said. But every day I feel so fortunate
to have this job it is always challenging and interesting
and exciting.
And though
her single year commitment to Albuquerque is now only a memory,
Devon said she would not trade her decades here for anything.
Somewhere
between the landscape and the climate, she said, There
is just an ease about living here.
Another
33 years from now, Devon said her only wish is to be living
a happy and productive life. I feel so fortunate to have
had so many opportunities - I love life.
Call the
Tamarind Institute at 277-3901 or visit Tamarinds Web
site at http://www.unm.edu/~tamarind.