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How Nicola Lees Recentered the Aspen Art Museum Around Artists Instead of Objects

Since arriving at the museum in 2020, the artistic director and CEO has expanded its artist-led program through long-term commissions, experimental performances and partnerships designed to connect the region with the broader international art world.

Since her appointment as artistic director and CEO of the Aspen Art Museum in 2020, Nicola Lees has put the museum on the path to becoming one of the country’s most dynamic contemporary art institutions, anchored by an ambitious exhibition program and initiatives such as AIR, a 10-year “Artists in Relation” initiative supporting context-specific artists’ commissions and projects. Under her guidance, the museum has mounted major exhibitions and commissions involving artists including Precious Okoyomon, Andy Warhol, Nairy Baghramian, Hervé Télémaque, Allison Katz and Ryan Trecartin. Admission to the museum has remained free, supported by philanthropist art collectors Amy and John Phelan.

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ArtCrush is not only the museum’s largest fundraiser, supporting exhibitions and education programs, but also one of the most well-attended and successful fundraising events in the country, reportedly raising more than $4 million. Ahead of this year’s gala, the culminating moment of an increasingly expansive Aspen ArtWeek, Observer spoke with Lees to learn more about her initial vision, how it has evolved and how the museum’s achievements and improvements are being reflected in the local community and its increasingly attractive art scene, despite Aspen’s remote location and relative distance from major international art hubs.

Lees stepped into her role just as the pandemic began, and that period taught her how much a museum can hold during uncertain times. “As timelines shifted, we adopted a more fluid approach, supporting artists not only to present work but also to return, revise, and remain in dialogue,” she told Observer, pointing to Precious Okoyomon and Jonathan Berger’s recent interventions as examples of this expanded sense of time and presence.

Precious Okoyomon’s Every Earthly Morning the Sky’s Light touches Ur Life is Unprecedented in its Beauty was a constantly evolving eco-installation, a living ecosystem developed over roughly 18 months, with plants, sculptures, sound, performance and communal activity taking over the museum’s rooftop from June 2021 through September 2022.

Jonathan Berger’s The Store completely transformed the museum shop into a hybrid exhibition, archive, gathering place and functioning commercial space. Presented from December 2020 through March 2022, it featured more than 350 objects, ranging from contemporary art and design to jewelry, textiles, toys, furniture, fragrances, ceramics, folk art, household goods, found materials and mass-produced objects. Some were not for sale, while others ranged in price from free to $50,000, making art collecting accessible to all. The work was also an extensive collaborative platform, spotlighting and providing a new distribution channel for many local producers and creative entrepreneurs. BODE produced garments using hand-loomed textiles from Glenwood Springs Mountain Valley Weavers, perfumer Trygve Harris created a new collection using Enfleurage essential oils, Julie Tolentino designed a sculptural counter and Ramdasha produced a........

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