LOUISVILLE, KY.- In a transformative addition to its collection, the Speed Art Museum has received a monumental bequest of 177 works of contemporary art from the private collection of the late Alfred R. Shands III (1928-2021) and Mary Norton Shands (1930-2009). Ranging from paintings, prints, and works on paper to ceramics and large-scale sculptures, the Mary and Alfred Shands Art Collection features notable works by artists including Petah Coyne, Tony Cragg, Olafur Eliasson, Zaha Hadid, Alfredo Jaar, Anish Kapoor, Sol LeWitt, Maya Lin, Odili Donald Odita, Kiki Smith, Ursula von Rydingsvard, and Betty Woodman. With significant additions by a range of major twentieth-century figures including works by female artists, artists of color, and leading Kentucky artists, the landmark gift brings greater depth and breadth to the Speed’s contemporary art holdings and expands the range of stories the Museum can tell through its collection.

Alfred and Mary Shands were longtime civic leaders and supporters of the arts in Kentucky, as well as avid collectors with a keen aesthetic sensibility, who always intended for their collection to be dispersed to museums across Kentucky. Many of the works gifted to the Speed, as well as some promised to other museums throughout the state, will be presented in a major exhibition, Rounding the Circle: The Mary and Alfred Shands Collection, on view at the Speed from March 24 to August 6, 2023. Curated by Julien Robson—former curator of contemporary art at the Speed and a close friend and personal curator to the Shands family for more than 20 years, who helped develop the collection and now serves as director of the Great Meadows Foundation—the exhibition will mark the next chapter of the collection’s life, placing the works in a dynamic and contemplative conversation that invites reflection, dialogue, and inspiration. Celebrating the enormity of the gift and creating opportunities to experience the collection in multiple contexts throughout the Museum, Rounding the Circle will be installed primarily in the Speed’s special exhibition space, with additional works, including those by Louisville artists, in the Loft Gallery.

“The Speed Art Museum is immensely grateful to welcome these extraordinary works into our collection, making them available as a priceless public resource for the community,” said Museum Director Raphaela Platow. “Al and Mary Shands were longtime supporters of the Speed and tireless champions of the region’s artists, and this historic gift will spark inspiration and insight for generations of visitors to come.”

“Al and Mary Shands’ generosity is a testament to their legacy and emblematic of the long history of community support that has built the Speed’s collection over the past century,” said Lopa Mehrotra, Chair-Elect of the Speed’s Board of Trustees. “Their bequest—a deeply personal, thoughtfully curated, and diverse array of works—will be a mainstay for the Museum as we look toward the future.”




“The magnitude of this gift represents a major step forward in our vision for expanding the Speed’s contemporary collection,” said Curator of Contemporary Art Tyler Blackwell. “Bringing these works into the civic sphere presents a rich array of opportunities to place them in new contexts and explore
contemporary issues.”

Al Shands served on the Speed’s Board of Trustees for decades, and in 2016 established the Great Meadows Foundation, strengthening the visual arts community in Kentucky by providing grants and support for the region’s artists to research, connect, and participate more actively in the broader contemporary art world. Mary Shands helped found the Kentucky Art and Craft Foundation, which grew to become the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft (KMAC). In the 1980s, the couple began acquiring ceramics by local artists before progressing to large-scale sculptures of international acclaim, resulting in a renowned collection built through both acquisitions and commissions over four decades, with a focus in the later years on supporting innovative younger artists from both the Kentucky and New York contemporary art scenes.

“Al Shands would often remark that he wanted the collection to feel like a giant and welcoming dinner party, with works that present different ideas and can speak to each other in surprising and distinctive ways,” said Exhibition Curator Julien Robson. “As the art makes its way to a new home at the Speed, all are invited to reflect, connect, and bring their own perspectives to the table.”

Al and Mary Shands and the Great Meadows Foundation
Collecting for Al and Mary Shands began in earnest in the early 1980s when Mary was asked to head the Kentucky Art and Craft Foundation (now KMAC Museum). Starting with ceramics by local artists, the couple progressed to collecting artists with national reputations and eventually developed a focus on sculpture. By the middle of the decade, the collection—and the scale of the works they were acquiring— began to outgrow their home, leading the couple to build their home at Great Meadows in 1986.

Designed by David Morton, the house was intended not simply as a vessel for art, but to allow an integrative relationship to develop between the architecture, the art collection that was to grow within and around it, and the pastoral setting in Crestwood, Kentucky that they had chosen.

Established by Al Shands in 2016, the Great Meadows Foundation engages the visual arts in Kentucky through grant programs that directly support the region’s artists and visual arts professionals. Its mission is to critically strengthen and support visual art in Kentucky by empowering our community’s artists and other visual arts professionals to research, connect, and participate more actively in the broader contemporary art world. To date, the foundation has awarded more than $750,000 to more than 250 artists in the region—including many whose works became part of Shands’ collection and are included in this exhibition.