Rooted in Generosity: The Foundation Gallery at the Museum of Friends

The Museum of Friends didn’t begin with a grand lobby or sweeping staircase. It began on the second floor of an old department store with a long mercantile history. In 2006, when New York artists Brendt Berger and Maria Cocchiarelli opened the doors of their vision, the ground floor of the Roof & Dick Building was still occupied by Duckwalls, the kind of five-and-dime that once anchored small-town America. The museum’s story started one flight up, where steep stairs carried visitors away from the bustle of Duckwalls below. At the top of the stairs, after rounding the corner, you're greeted by a huge Dean Fleming painting that covers the entire wall. Then, a narrow hallway opens into a broad exhibit hall, light spilling across the floor. An open doorway two doors to the right reveals a gallery alive with paintings, prints, and sculptures; all works given by artist friends as gifts of trust and kinship. That room is now known as The Foundation Gallery -- the place where MoF first took root and where its heart still beats today.

The second floor galleries at MoF welcome visitors with a vibrant display of diverse art pieces adorning the walls, creating an inviting and immersive artistic atmosphere.

From the beginning, the museum was different. Recognized by Art in America as the first counterculture museum in the United States, MoF was founded on an idea as radical as it was simple: that art could be given freely, traded among friends, and rooted in a rural community rather than a metropolitan center. It was designed to be egalitarian, open to all, free from the gatekeeping and insider hierarchies so common in big-city art worlds. The collection itself began with 600 works -- about 300 gifted to Maria and 300 to Brendt. They had spent years exchanging art with fellow artists: one painting traded for another, a print given in return for a sculpture. Each exchange carried a gesture of friendship and trust. Over time, those trades became a collection. Today, the Museum of Friends holds more than 4,000 works, but The Foundation Gallery preserves the essence of its origins.

Step inside, and the walls speak with many voices. A swirling acrylic by Ben Eagle pulls the viewer into its hypnotic motion, textured brushwork that feels as much like sound as sight. Not far away, Linda Fleming’s bright blue and green abstractions hum with energy, their rhythmic lines recalling her years at Libre, one of the communes that grew out of the Drop City experiment. Across the room, Jan Wurm’s family group portrait captures a quieter moment of everyday intimacy, reminding us that counterculture was not only about radical living but also about reimagining community and home. Works by Dean Fleming and Robert Sussman extend that legacy, linking the ideals of experimental art and communal living to larger cultural movements. Nearby, pieces by Criss-Cross artist Dee Shapiro, Richard Kalweit, Jason Crum, Charles DiJulio, and Arnold Weschler expand the conversation even further. Together, they form a visual chorus that bridges the communal experiments of Southern Colorado with wider contemporary artist networks across the country.

A vibrant display of eclectic art and photography lines the walls of The Foundation Gallery, showcasing a diverse array of styles and themes.

And then, history itself announces its presence: a bold graphic poster commemorating the 50th anniversary of Drop City, its patchwork dome glowing in vivid colors, a symbol of the utopian experiment that began just thirty miles north of Walsenburg. Out of that first commune grew others: Libre, Triple A (Anonymous Artists of America), Red Rockers, Ortivez Farm, Archulettaville, Upper Meadow: all of which left their mark on Huerfano County. The Foundation Gallery gathers those echoes into one space, preserving the lineage of a movement that insisted art and life are inseparable.

A display of historical photographs and articles capturing the unique geodesic domes of Drop City, an iconic 1960s counterculture commune, showcases the innovative architectural designs and creative spirit of the era.

That same spirit of exchange carried forward in MoF’s residencies. In 2012, UK-based photographer Zoe Childerley came to study the area, resulting in Where’s Walsenburg?. As part of her residency, she invited townspeople to sit for portraits, led photography workshops, and asked questions about identity, place, and belonging. The resulting exhibition paired her portraits with Eudora Welty’s Portraits from the Heart, sparking dialogue across time and rural geography. Today, Childerley’s photographs are on loan to the 3rd Judicial Center, now titled Who's Walsenburg?, extending their role as witnesses to community life. Her project later grew into the film Land of Milk and Honey, proof that stories seeded at MoF continue to travel outward.

Two years later, the Mirage Project brought four Polish artists, led by Sebastian Cichocki of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, to use MoF as a base while researching counterculture across seventeen states. With support from the CEC ArtsLink Independent Project Award, the group interviewed local artists, filmed in historic locations, and collaborated with the Center for Land Use Interpretation in Los Angeles. Their work, part research, part art, part cultural exchange, found its anchor in The Foundation Gallery and MoF’s network of artists, linking rural Colorado to global discourse.

Meanwhile, the building itself was changing. Duckwalls eventually closed, and MoF expanded into the main floor. The museum grew to fill the Roof & Dick Building, but its heartbeat remained upstairs, in The Foundation Gallery, the room where it all began. Visitors often describe the Foundation as intimate, even surprising, as though they’ve entered a circle of old friends. And in a way, they have. Every work is a voice, every gift a gesture of trust. The Foundation shows that the Museum of Friends didn't begin with walls or architecture; In actuality, it began with the spirit of generosity. And here in Walsenburg, that generosity continues to shape a living story of art, counterculture, and community at MoF.

A diverse collection of artwork on display in The Foundation, showcasing a range of styles and subjects including abstract pieces, landscapes, and geometric designs. Even an old Huerfano poster, a play written by Sidney Goldfarb who founded the University of Colorado - Boulder Creative Writing Program in 1975.