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Community Corner

Local Collector Joins Board of Prestigious Craft Museum

Courtenay McGowen, a fixture on Coronado's art scene, is making a splash across the bay.

It’s only been a few months since Courtenay McGowen joined the board of directors at Balboa Park's Mingei International Museum, but she feels right at home. 

“The whole concept of housing objects that are beautiful, used in everyday life and are collected from all over the globe is right up my alley,” she said of her new role at the celebrated folk art and craft museum.

The museum is thrilled to have McGowen.

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“With her degrees in art history (a bachelor's and masters from Columbia University), she brings a real knowledge to bear,” said Rob Sidner, Mingei's director. “She also has a passion for the arts of daily life.” 

It can be seen in her own collection, which includes fabrics and body ornaments from Central Asia and Northern India, snuff bottles from China, arrowheads from the American Southwest and Viennese miniatures, bequeathed to her by a great-aunt.

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“Once in a while my mother would let me take them out to play with,” McGowen said.

McGowen's hobby is an extension of her love of travel. “Collecting is about life,” she said. “It’s where you’ve traveled, what you’ve learned, who you’ve met.” 

She began seeing the world in her youth. Her father was a physician who taught obstetrics and gynecology at Johns Hopkins University. “We spent summers in Europe,” she recalled.

The continent no longer holds any allure for her; Asia on the other never fails to fascinate. She’s traveled to Cambodia and Thailand; some places, including China and India, she's seen multiple times.

She is also a member of the Asian Arts Council at the San Diego Museum of Art. 

Her collections are significant enough to have been exhibited. Mingei International in Escondido and UCLA’s Fowler Museum have shown her Turkman fabrics. 

Art collectors with a sharp eye are rare enough, but McGowen brings more to the table. She knows how “to get things done,” said Doug St. Denis, who, along with McGowen was a founding member of the Coronado public arts subcommittee 12 years ago.

“For years she practically single-handedly produced and the Arts Ball to raise funds for it,” St. Denis added.

Now in its seventh year, the event has grown from a one-day show on Park Place and Star Park Circle to a two-day event at the Ferry Landing that features more than 100 artists.

She also knows how to raise funds, a skill McGowen honed as a member of the Nevada State Assembly. “I spent eight years raising money for my campaigns,” she said. “Everything else pales in comparison."

Aside from her service on the Historic Resources Commission and the board of the , she also is a committed gardener and jewelry maker who is well known for her love of animals. 

Not everything in her home is a well-guarded collectible. When visitors notice frayed upholstery, she simply tells them “I love my cats more than I do my furniture.”

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