Downtown Insider: Laura Pendleton Miller

Creating More Than a Gallery: Laura Pendleton-Miller's Mission to Amplify Black Artists

The Georgetown-educated higher education administrator turned financial consultant, Laura Pendleton Miller, didn't set out to run an art gallery. As an avid collector who moved to Tucson in 1980 and spent decades as a civic volunteer, she served on what's now the Southern Arizona Arts Foundation. It wasn’t until a 2022 happy hour conversation about Black artists' lack of visibility in Tucson that she set foot on a different path.

She invited six friends to her house to talk about the issue. That informal gathering grew fast. So quickly that by the next meeting, word had spread and those not invited were calling to ask why they'd been left out. By spring, the group, with connections to the city’s existing institutions,  Tucson Museum of Art, the University of Arizona Museum of Art, MOCA Tucson, and the African American Museum of History and Culture, decided to stop waiting for the existing establishments to act and build something themselves.

A meeting with local philanthropist Mike Kasser, arranged through local freelance curator Joanne Stuhr, led to a donated downtown space, formerly a dance studio, with hand-me-down lighting from a shuttered gallery and legal work handled by volunteer attorneys. By March 2023, the all-volunteer, donation-funded organization had mounted its first show, an eight-artist group exhibition that drew crowds so large that visitors told friends they didn't need an address, just follow the people on the street. Today, Laura Pendleton Miller serves as President of the Board of Blue Lotus Artists' Collective, Tucson's first gallery space dedicated specifically to Black artists. A philanthropist and dedicated collector, Miller answers eight questions about why downtown Tucson is home. 

Why did you choose downtown Tucson for your gallery, and what keeps you here?

I just thought it would be important to be downtown. The energy, the excitement, the concentration of arts activity going on here, that's the right place to be, and I would have opportunities to walk to things. I remember working down here in the early '80s when nothing was happening. Watching it come back to life, I wanted to be part of that.

What's something people still get wrong about downtown Tucson?

I hear it all the time: that it's not user-friendly, that it's hard to get to, that it's confusing. I tell people who are nervous about it, if you're worried about the one-way streets and the parking, come to my place in the Mercado. We'll take the streetcar in together. A lot of people just find that less scary than trying to figure it out on their own.

What does downtown Tucson offer that people might not find elsewhere in the city?

It's the energy of a walkable space where there's a lot going on. The theaters, the live music, all the restaurants you can walk to. I can't think of anywhere else in this city where you get that kind of socialization.

How would you describe downtown Tucson to someone visiting for the first time?

Energetic, with a lot to do. You have to figure out what you want to prioritize because you won't have time to do everything.

Was there a moment when you realized downtown Tucson was really changing?

There were a lot of false starts. Downtown Saturday Night in the late '80s and early '90s brought people in for a while, but it never quite got traction. I felt it really start to shift around 2012, with what Rio Nuevo was putting in place to help businesses get started and all the activity at Hotel Congress, the Rialto, the Fox and Arizona Theatre Company. That's around when I decided to move out of the Foothills, because everything I loved doing was actually down here."

Do you use public transportation?

I do, a lot. I live over in the Mercado, so most of the time I'll just walk to the gallery if I have the time; that's my exercise for the day. If I have something small to carry, I'll take the streetcar. I try to use my car as little as possible. The only time I have to be careful is Sunday nights, because the streetcar stops earlier.

What other downtown businesses do you love supporting?

Arizona Theatre Company, MOCA Tucson and the Tucson Museum of Art. I love the jazz at the Century Room. There are other galleries here too, like Etherton, and so many restaurants. There's just so much to take in.

What do you hope to see downtown five years from now?

More infill, buildings that still need to be refurbished and occupied. I'm always looking for diversity, so I'd hope to see more minority-owned businesses, specifically Black-owned businesses, find space downtown. Just continue what we've been doing and keep filling in.