25 Things We're Grateful for in the Art World

It's a weird time to be grateful. Over the past year, President Trump rolled back protections for Native lands and sovereignty while attempting to erase entire chapters from American history; namely, the ones where White people commit unspeakable injustices. As we recoil at the return of monuments honoring figures better left forgotten, we find solace in the members of our art community who, against all odds, are trying to do the right thing. This Thanksgiving, we're celebrating 25 things that bring us joy, great and small: gorgeous sculptures by Jeffrey Gibson at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, long-awaited repatriations, no-strings-attached grants for artists, gallery dogs, and more. —Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor

• Jeffrey Gibson’s Met Museum facade: Animated by ancestral joy and wisdom, this is easily one of the best art installations of the year. The surprise I felt when I first saw this regal quartet of animals — deer, coyote, hawk, and squirrel — won't leave me any time soon. —Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief
• University museums: Untethered to the forces of the market, they produce some of the most thoughtful and well-researched exhibitions. They’ve been going through a rough time under Trump, and deserve every bit of support and encouragement. —HB
• Indigenous curators: Native, First Nations, and Indigenous curators around the world are continuing to break the mold: April Phillips (Wiradjuri-Scottish of the Galari/Kalari peoples) at the National Portrait Gallery of Australia, Candice Hopkins (Carcross/Tagish First Nation) at the Forge Project, Sháńdíín Brown (Diné), Patricia Marroquin Norby (Purépecha) at The Met, Darienne Turner (Yurok Tribe of California) at the Brooklyn Museum, and so many others organized shows that are shifting the field, both in and out of the museum. —Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor
• Repatriations: The past year has seen some truly historic artwork returns, not all of them by major institutions that should have undertaken these efforts long ago. The Santa Ana Pueblo’s entirely Native-led repatriation of a trove of artifacts stolen four decades ago, including culturally relevant pottery, clothing, baskets, and more, is one moving example. —VD
• Local art publications: We salute the dedication of our colleagues at publications such as Carla in Los Angeles, Variable West in Portland, Oregon, Burnaway in Atlanta, and BmoreArt in Baltimore, and many others. Keep up the good work. —HB

• Thoughtful collection rehangs: Some museums periodically scramble their collection items and throw them all back out there like they’re pressing the shuffle button on a playlist. Others invest time and resources to curate and strategize a wholly new visitor experience (see: The Met's reimagined Arts of Oceania galleries and the Brooklyn Museum’s American wing). I’m personally looking forward to the Chazen Museum of Art's forthcoming reinstallation, where each space will feature a "focus object" from which other pieces radiate and deepen the conversation. —VD
• Artists who don’t make art just to sell: You are the real deal! —HB
• Friendly gallerinas: My impression of a gallery is always more favorable when I’m greeted with a smile. It’s a way to show the public that your space is open to all visitors, not just those with deep pockets, and it really does make a difference. —VD
• Thomas J Price's “Grounded in the Stars”: For reiterating that Black women do not need to fit any particular gaze, have a laundry list of awards and achievements, or be otherwise to be celebrated and positively represented. —Rhea Nayyar, staff writer
• Frenchette at The Whitney: In a world where museum food options are most often overpriced restaurants and mediocre cafes, The Whitney’s small outpost of Tribeca’s sublime Frenchette Bakery is worth celebrating. I’d visit the museum just to get the Tarte à la Rhubarbe and Tarte au Citron. —Natalie Haddad, reviews editor
• New York City: Call me a romantic, but this city never ceases to amaze and inspire me. It’s not the easiest place to live, but the rewards are worth the struggles. —HB

• Artist-run galleries: They wipe the floors, touch up the walls, and hang all the works by themselves, usually without making a single penny out of it. These spaces embody the truest essence of the term “art community.” —HB
• The Earth Room: Walter De Maria’s New York Earth Room, maintained by the Dia Foundation since 1980, is almost mystical. Though visitors can’t enter the room itself, in a large Soho loft space, the experience of silently seeing and smelling the soil that fills it to window level is at once meditative, soothing, and grounding. —NH
• Glare-free exhibition lighting: For an art journalist, there’s virtually no disappointment quite as painful as visiting a marvelous show with terrible lighting. Thank you to every exhibition designer who allowed us to enjoy artworks under protective glass and photograph them without that pesky glare! —LA
• Nice gallery bathrooms: We’ve all been there: You’re out gallery hopping in Chelsea or Tribeca, and you’ve got to go (and I don’t mean leave). So much — too much — has been made of Maurizio Cattelan’s gold toilet, so give a shout-out to the actually hard-working toilets of the world. Props to the Flag Art Foundation — that’s a nice bathroom, and you can’t beat those views — and to museums that offer all-gender options. —Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor
• Open studios: They are the ultimate act of creative generosity, a chance to peek behind the curtain into the necessarily messy and complex process of making art. Thank you to all of the artists who welcomed us into your space — including Jon Bunge (Gowanus Open Studios) and the Cuban Art Space collective (Dumbo Open Studios). —LA

• Moomins: The year of our Lord 2025 must be remembered as, among other things, that of the Moomin-aissance. The beloved characters created by Swedish-Finnish author Tove Jansson, a queer badass of illustration and literature, recently turned 80, to much fanfare, including a show at the Brooklyn Public Library and exhibitions across Scandinavia. These adorable storybook companions model friendship, conflict resolution, curiosity, and growth from their communal home, whose door always remains open. —LA
• Galleries and institutions that highlight trans artists: Even as the Trump administration continues its attack on trans people, some art institutions in recent months have stepped up their trans and nonbinary representation, highlighting such artists as Nayland Blake at Matthew Marks, P. Staff at David Zwirner, and the late Chloe Dzubilo at Participant Inc., along with the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art’s excellent exhibition Dueñas de la Noche: Trans Lives and Dreams in 1980s Caracas. —NH
• MoMA's gallery dedicated to Ruth Asawa’s arts education work: Controversial from an art publication, I know, but we in the art world focus too much on objects. That’s why I loved that MoMA — in a show of absolutely gorgeous objects — dedicated a whole room to Asawa’s endeavors in art education in San Francisco, including her statement of purpose and letters to other volunteer parents. An artist’s legacy lives on in more than her works. —LYZ

• Free local museums: My recent visits to Manhattan’s Drawing Center and Pennsylvania’s Westmoreland Museum of American Art stayed with me long after they ended. With art museum prices as prohibitive as ever (I’m looking at you, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art $42 KAWS show), let’s be sure to give small museums with free entry their flowers. —LA
• Pay-What-You-Wish admission (and transparency): On that note, if you’re a museum or cultural institution that offers donation-based admission, thank you. If you make that super clear by including it in big bold letters on a sign near the ticket desk, instead of hoping visitors will be none the wiser, double thank you. —VD
• Gallery dogs: There’s truly nothing better than ducking into a gallery and being greeted by the clicking and clacking of the canine manager reporting for duty. Like icing on a cake for me, gallery dogs are a wonderful tactile outlet for when I can’t touch the exhibits, but best of all, they really do bring life to even the stuffiest of art fairs. — RN

• “No-Strings-Attached” Grants: According to recent research, artists can barely afford to pay for a studio or healthcare. When they finally get some extra cash from one of the few (and incredibly competitive) grantmaking programs, they shouldn’t be expected to turn in a final project at the end as if it were an MFA thesis. Shoutout to Anonymous Was a Woman, the Trellis Art Fund, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, and all the other organizations providing unrestricted funding! —VD
• Artist Noah Fischer’s Relational Aesthetics costume: Your participatory purple squares at Hyperallergic's Halloween party taught me everything I need to know about the movement. —IF
• Airport art: Fighting for your overweight bag at the United Airlines kiosk is exponentially improved when Karyn Olivier's "Approach" (2022) hangs behind you at Newark Liberty International Airport's Terminal A. Bonus points go to the digital artworks at the terminal’s security checkpoints for drowning out Kristi Noem’s Department of Homeland Security videos. —Isa Farfan, staff writer

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