Welcome to our Press Page.

If you are a journalist who would like to do a story on The Awakening Museum, please contact Susanne Miller at 505-989-7636 (M-F) or via email at admin@theawakeningmuseum.org

Any press releases or flyers that are current will also be available here to read and/or download. Today is 11/21/2008 and these are the items available for download in our press gallery at this time:

Our Grand Opening/informational press release can also be read below:

Press Release
Contact: Susanne Miller
505-989-7636 (M-F) admin@theawakeningmuseum.org

THE AWAKENING MUSEUM

JEAN CLAUDE GAUGY'S TRANSCENDENT PAINTING IS THE CENTERPIECE OF SANTA FE'S NEWEST MUSEUM

Santa Fe, 25 April 2003-The power of art to uplift, inspire, and enlighten is at the heart of The Awakening Museum. In an historic building in downtown Santa Fe, the museum takes its place as a destination for visitors and local residents to experience the calm quietude of internationally-renowned artist Jean Claude Gaugy's magnificent artwork that fills more than 11,000 square feet of walls and soaring ceiling in the space.

With a contiguous meditation garden and gift shop, The Awakening Museum is located at 125 North Guadalupe, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Requested donation: Adults $3; Children and students free; Friday is free for New Mexico residents and seniors. Visiting the shop is free and open to the public during the museum's hours of operation (See page 3 for seasonal hours). For museum shop, directions and hours of operation the museum can be reached by telephone at: (505) 954-4025; administrative offices (programs and other information) can be reached by telephone at: (505) 989-7636.

Described by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer N. Scott Momaday as "a monumental work of art, . . . a profound expression of the artist's spirit, an epic of the soul, a prayer," The Awakening is as an expression of Gaugy's yearning for connection with the divine. The story of The Awakening, like all good stories, is a simple one: In 1985-at a crossroads in his life-Gaugy found himself filled with a reawakened sense of wonder and a heart afire with love. Inspired by these feelings, over the course of the next thirteen years he worked on this enormous artistic endeavor at his summer studio in the gymnasium of an abandoned West Virginia school. Carved and painted with dazzling shapes and colors on four hundred panels of wood, Gaugy reinstalled and reconfigured the painting for its historic space as a gift to the city of Santa Fe-a city rich in art and spiritual traditions

Born in the mountains of France to a family who has been artists and artisans for hundreds of years, Gaugy's training began with weekly drawing critiques at age five and work in the family foundry at age seven. Leaving home, his first show in Paris at age fifteen was sponsored by flamboyant Surrealist Salvador Dali. He went on to study sculpture in prestigious European schools-L'École des Beaux Arts in Paris, the School of Design in Rome, and the School of Sculpture in Moscow-and apprenticed with the incomparable sculptor, Henry Moore. Gaugy immigrated to America in 1966, and began to develop his signature style-Linear Expressionist-of works carved in wood. Gaugy first carves the wood from which the painting takes shape-creating bold compositions with textured line and luminous color that exhibit exceptional rhythm and depth.

"As an artist; indeed - as a person - my first duty is compassion," says Gaugy. Using the visual language of art, The Awakening Museum invites the visitor to have a direct, unmediated experience of the common threads that bind sacred traditions. While the creation of the work of art was a solitary endeavor, the intention of creating a museum around the painting was to inspire action. "The biggest problem in the world is apathy," says Gaugy. "We need to get over our tribal ideas and become passionate about the whole of human experience." Towards that end the museum hosts events that illustrate the ethos of "Awakening in Action". Developed through broad-based community participation, this intercultural, interfaith, interethnic collaborative effort provides a rare opportunity for people to come together to share cultural and sacred traditions; explore artistic and cultural expression; and contemplate the spiritual and ethical questions of our times.

Inherent in The Awakening's mission is an understanding of art as a visual language capable of conveying meaning and deepening the process of mutual understanding and responsibility. Serving the community, the museum's "Awakening in Action" programs include:

With love and transcendence as its central themes, The Awakening is a reminder of the formidable capacity of art to express universal motifs that transform and elevate our lives. Santa Fe's newest museum offers an unparalleled opportunity to experience a numinous work of art in a setting designed to foster contemplation, creativity, trust, and mutual understanding.

For slides, transparencies, and further information, please contact: Susanne Miller at: 505-989-7636 or email: admin@theawakeningmuseum.org