As the director of the University of Idaho Prichard Art Gallery, Roger Rowley takes pride in what he says is one of the best contemporary art galleries in the state of Idaho.
Rowley said it is rare for galleries in this area to focus on contemporary art, which makes the Prichard a unique and worthwhile stop for Moscow residents and visitors.
Director of the Prichard Art Gallery Roger Rowley observes works of art out for display. The Prichard is currently changing their exhbit for the CAA Faculty Exhbit opening March 1.
Saharah Chalupny | Argonaut
A native of Rochester, New York, Rowley came to UI after working as curator of exhibitions and collections manager at Washington State University’s Museum of Art for three years.
Rowley runs the Prichard alongside Assistant Director Sonja Ford. Rowley and Ford do all the work in the gallery themselves, from arranging future exhibits to cleaning the space.
“We have a fairly ambitious program but carried out by two people,” said Rowley. “I provide a fair amount of the brains, vision and strategic thinking related to what we should do — even to a certain extent how we should do it — but then because it’s not something where I go, ‘OK, team, carry this out’, we’re also the ones who do the work.”
Rowley said the gallery has faced funding issues from the university, with the gallery’s primary funding source being cut by nearly 80 percent over the years, with attempts to find funding a “constant scramble.”
“We do really quite well at what’s called soft fundraising: donations, grant writing, things like that,” Rowley said. “To make things better — and we’re not talking huge sums of money here — we need a base of solid, hard funding that I can count on that I know I’m going to get next year and the year after and the year after.”
Despite these setbacks, Rowley acknowledges a brighter future ahead. He said his conversations with UI have been more focused on finding ways to allow Rowley and the Prichard to accomplish their goals.
Rowley said he enjoys the connections the gallery makes between UI students and Moscow community members. Every UI student taking Art 100 on the Moscow campus visits the Prichard at least once with professor Val Carter. He also said some students volunteer their time to teach the community about topics related to the exhibits.
“For the wildfire exhibit we did last year, we were working with all the fire science professors,” Rowley said. “We weren’t able to do it for every tour, but we were for a few of them. They showed up in their whole gear — back pack, what’s called their Pulaski and the kids — the fifth graders, fourth graders — (loved it), this person fully outfitted.”
Rowley said all community members — from UI students, staff and faculty to local families and organizations — should donate to the Prichard. Membership and donations cover a significant portion of the costs of gallery programming.
According to the gallery’s website, membership levels range from $10 for students to $5,000 for Grand Benefactors with a variety of membership ranges in between.
Lex Miller can be reached at [email protected]