The Phoenix Art Museum has received a significant gift from Kelly and Steve Ellman, former Board Trustees and longtime Museum supporters. This generous contribution will allow the Museum to expand its fashion galleries and showcase the history and art of fashion. The new Kelly Ellman Fashion Galleries will open on October 9, 2024, featuring the first exhibition in a three-part series that explores the Museum’s fashion holdings. The exhibition, The Collection: Greatest Fits (Vol. 1): The Art of Archiving Fashion, will display over 80 garments and accessories exclusively from the PhxArt fashion collection. The exhibition will trace the formation of the Museum’s collection, demonstrate the impact of the Arizona Costume Institute on its expansion, and showcase the collection’s breadth and depth. It will include iconic silhouettes from the 18th century to the present and vignettes illustrating significant themes and historical moments in fashion.
In addition to the expanded gallery space and inaugural exhibition, the Ellman gift will support fashion-related acquisitions, publications, and the early phases of a significant collection digitization project.
The Museum’s Sybil Harrington Director and CEO, Jeremy Mikolajczak, expressed profound gratitude to the Ellman family for their longstanding support of the Phoenix Art Museum’s fashion collection. The Ellmans’ contributions have played a crucial role in upholding excellence in this collecting area and making fashion accessible to a broad audience.
Phoenix Art Museum is among the few institutions in the United States that actively collects, preserves, and exhibits fashion works. The Museum began collecting fashion in 1966 when the Arizona Costume Institute was founded to support the acquisition and preservation of historically and aesthetically significant garments and accessories. The PhxArt fashion collection now houses over 9,000 objects of women’s, men’s, and children’s dress spanning the 18th century. Additionally, it is home to three exceptional archives: the Geoffrey Beene Archive, the Emphatics Archive, and the Ann Bonfoey Taylor Archive.
The Ellman family has supported the Museum’s fashion collection since 1986, including a previous significant gift that endowed the first iteration of the Ellman Fashion Design Gallery. This recent gift strengthens the Museum’s commitment to increasing dedicated gallery space for the fashion collection, which will now include the entire mid-level floor of the Museum’s south wing. The Ellmans’ gift will also support future fashion exhibitions through the Kelly Ellman Fashion Endowment Fund and the establishment of the Ellman Fashion Program Fellow position.
The inaugural exhibition, Greatest Fits (Vol. 1): The Art of Archiving Fashion, will open on October 9, 2024. It will showcase highlights, including the founding of the Museum’s fashion collection, notable supporters like the Ellman family, a display of significant all-black silhouettes, and vignettes of key fashion themes and moments.
The PHOENIX ART MUSEUM is located at:
1625 North Central Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85004
602.257.1880
General Admission
TICKETS: $25 Adults | $22 Seniors | $20 Students (with valid ID) | $15 Youth (6-17) | Free for Museum Members, and youth 5 and under
for more information, visit phxart.org
