About the Honorees

Based in Brooklyn, Ganesh studied Art-Semiotics and Comparative Literature at Brown University, attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and received her MFA in Visual Arts from Columbia University.

Ganesh is the recipient of numerous awards, including from the Ford Foundation, Anonymous Was a Woman Award, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in the Creative Arts, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University, Pollock Krasner Foundation, the Art Matters Foundation, and many others.

Her series of 27 woodcuts, Sultana's Dream, published by Durham Press, was included in 2023–24 Whitney Museum of American Art exhibition Inheritance, and has been transformed into an architectural installation currently on view at the 2024 Biennale of Sydney. In addition, her first monograph will be published this summer by Distanz Press. Ganesh is currently preparing a large commission for Amtrak Penn Station and Moynihan Hall in NYC, which will open in July. This September, she will be featured in a solo show at San Francisco's Gallery Wendi Norris. 

Ganesh's work is represented in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Whitney Museum of American Art; The Brooklyn Museum The Art Institute of Chicago; Smithsonian American Art Museum; the Kiran Nadar Museum in New Delhi, India; the Ishara Foundation in Dubai; and the SunPride Foundation in Hong Kong; among others. She is on the Board of Governors of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and recently joined the board of the Joan Mitchell Foundation.

Ganesh is also well represented in the SJMA collection including the recently acquired work She the Question, a suite of 25 works generously donated to the Museum by Brook Hartzell and Tad Freese. Melancolia (Sorrows Refrain), 2010 was featured in the 2023 exhibition A Point Stretched: Views on Time, and Sultana's Dream, 2018, a suite of 27 prints was included in SJMA's 2021 exhibition North South East West: Works from the Permanent Collection.

These global and Bay Area exhibitions have forged strong connections between Ganesh and SJMA audiences, and a fanbase for the ways her work combines literature, science fiction, history, and mythic texts with the contemporary aesthetics of vintage comics, anime, and film posters.

SJMA Visionary Award Winner

When Glenda Dorchak began dating husband Gary over forty years ago, he wanted to know what her ideal retirement would look like. She said "I want to travel the world and buy art"… quite a declaration for someone who had never traveled beyond North America. But Glenda has achieved her goal and then some, with a remarkable career leading global organizations and satisfying her passion for the arts in a twenty-year relationship with the San José Museum of Art.

Glenda's career began in the IBM accounting department but through her technical aptitude, strategic approach to business transformation, and fierce work ethic she quickly moved on to executive positions, running national and then global teams. The experience of running e-businesses led Glenda to join e-retailer Value America (VA), initially as president, and later becoming CEO—one of the few women public chief executives at the time. With a focus on scaling the business she forged alliances with the IBM PC group and Intel, becoming the largest e-retailer of Intel-based PCs at the time. That partnership led to several meetings with Andy Grove and, in 2001, after VA was acquired, she joined Intel as COO of the new Communications Group, and it launched a career in the semiconductor industry that has been extraordinary—including two more turns as CEO before moving fully to the boardroom as an independent director with ten technology companies including Mellanox, Quantenna, Wolfspeed, Ansys, and Global Foundries.

Glenda's commitment to the San José Museum of Art is rooted in relationships and community. Shortly after she arrived in the Bay Area, Glenda and Mike Nevens met professionally which led to a deep friendship with Mike and Yvonne who introduced them to the San José Museum of Art and hosted them at the 2004 gala where Glenda first learned about the Museum's exceptional work in arts education. Their membership grew over the years as they enjoyed many amazing exhibitions, Council of 100 dinners, and group art trips—all the while forming close and lasting connections with the incredible people involved with the Museum.

SJMA supporters for over twenty years, Glenda and Gary Dorchak have made generous contributions to Sowing Creativity; as Council of 100, Director's Council, and Founder's Society members; and also have sponsored a number of important exhibitions, including Rina Banerjee: Make Me a Summary of the World (October 30, 2020–April 25, 2021); Barring Freedom (October 30, 2020–April 25, 2021); and South East North West: New Works from the Collection (October 30, 2020–October 3, 2021). Barring Freedom and South East North West opened during one of the most challenging periods in SJMA history, and yet each was able to accelerate the Museum's overarching goal of borderlessness with a rapid shift to virtual delivery of our programs and flourishing community partnerships for the benefit of all.

Glenda brought her expertise in the boardroom to SJMA becoming a trustee in 2014, becoming an active member of the Finance and Planning committee. In 2018 she joined the executive committee as vice-president and two years later, with the pandemic weighing heavily on every institution, particularly non-profits, Glenda took on the role of Board President, stewarding the organization over the next three years. Under her leadership SJMA not only survived, but emerged stronger financially, operationally, and strategically.