Samstag Museum facts for kids
The Samstag Museum of Art is a cool art museum in Adelaide, Australia. It's part of the University of South Australia (UniSA). The museum is named after two amazing people, Anne and Gordon Samstag. They were American art lovers who helped Australian artists study overseas.
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About the Samstag Museum
The Samstag Museum of Art is located in the Hawke Building at UniSA's City West campus. It officially opened in October 2007. Before that, the museum had different names and locations, starting as a gallery around 1977. In 1991, it became the University of South Australia Art Museum. It moved to its current spot in 1998.
The museum shows many different kinds of art. You can see modern art and older art that is still important today. The museum also looks after UniSA's own art collection.
Who were Anne and Gordon Samstag?
The museum is named after Anne and Gordon Samstag. They were very generous people from America who loved Australian art. They left money to help Australian artists travel and study art in other countries.
Gordon Samstag was an artist himself. He taught art in South Australia from 1961 to 1970. He was born in New York in 1906. His art is shown in many places in the United States. The Samstags moved to Florida in 1976. Anne passed away in 1987, and Gordon in 1990.
Exciting Art Exhibitions
The Samstag Museum often has new and interesting art shows.
Adelaide//International Series
The museum has hosted special art shows called the Adelaide International. These shows happened between 2010 and 2014, working with the Adelaide Festival of Arts.
Later, the Samstag started a new series called "Adelaide//International" for the Adelaide Festivals in 2019, 2020, and 2021.
2019 Exhibition
The 2019 Adelaide//International show featured art by four artists: Brook Andrew and Eugenia Lim from Australia, Lisa Reihana from New Zealand, and Ming Wong from Singapore. Their art explored how colonisation affected indigenous culture.
2020 Exhibition
The 2020 exhibition included a special art setup called Somewhere Other. This was created by John Wardle Architects and Natasha Johns-Messenger. It was Australia's entry in a big architecture event in Venice in 2018. This show also featured art by other artists like David Claerbout and Brad Darkson. The exhibition ran from February to June 2020 but closed early because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.
Other Special Exhibitions
2013: Laurie Anderson
In 2013, the museum had a special show called Laurie Anderson: Language of the Future, selected works 1971-2013. It showed art by Laurie Anderson, who is a famous artist. She even performed outside the museum on the opening night.
2019: Anzac Day Shows
On Anzac Day in 2019, two exhibitions opened at the Samstag. One was For Country, For Nation, which looked at the experiences of Indigenous Australians during World War I. The other show was Reality in flames: modern Australian art and the Second World War. It featured art by modern artists like Nora Heysen and Sidney Nolan, showing their feelings about World War II.
2024: Archie Moore
An art setup called Dwelling (Adelaide Issue) by Archie Moore was shown at the museum. Archie Moore's art was also featured at a big art event in Venice in 2024. This exhibition was created with filmmaker Molly Reynolds. It ran from October to November 2024 and was based on memories of Moore's childhood bedroom.
Samstag Scholarships
The Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarships were started in 1991. These scholarships help Australian artists study art overseas for a year. The scholarship gives them money for living costs, travel, and school fees. Many talented artists have received these scholarships over the years.
Some past scholarship winners include Megan Walch (1994), John Kelly (1995), and Darren Siwes (2002). Other artists who have received the scholarship are Ruth Marshall, Rozalind Drummond, Susan Fereday, Kathy Temin, Julie Gough, Nicholas Folland, Shaun Gladwell, Monte Masi, and Sasha Grbich.
