SEVERAL ART INSTITUTIONS announced notable new curatorial and leadership appointments over the past month, including newly created roles at the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Terra Foundation for American Art in Chicago:
T. Camille Martin-Thomsen is incoming dean of faculty and vice president of academic affairs at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. | Courtesy SAIC
T. Camille Martin-Thomsen (above) has been appointed dean of faculty and vice president of academic affairs at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). She will lead the school’s academic programs, research and professional practice activities, and faculty diversity and inclusion efforts. An architect and researcher, Martin-Thomsen was previously acting associate provost for academic affairs at Pratt Institute in New York, where she also taught in the departments of Interior Design and Art and Design Education. She joins SAIC on Sept. 1. | Art & Education
Taking on a newly created position, Amber Esseiva (right) joined the Studio Museum in Harlem as curator-at-Large. The announcement comes as the Studio Museum’s new building remains under construction on 125th Street. Esseiva will collaborate with the Studio Museum’s curatorial team and “advise on exhibitions and acquisitions, manage artist relationships, and participate in the Museum’s mission-related artist advocacy work, all while fortifying her ongoing research.” She accepted the Studio Museum appointment alongside her ongoing role at the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she is associate curator. Since joining ICA in 2016, Esseiva co-curated ICA’s inaugural exhibition “Declaration” (2018), organized the first solo museum exhibition of Los Angeles-based multidisciplinary artist Kandis Williams, and also presented solo shows of New York-based artist, composer, and performer Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste; South African multimedia artist Dineo Seshee Bopape; and Los Angeles-based conceptual artist Martine Syms. | More
The Board of Trustees of the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) in Ottawa, Ontario, named Angela Cassie interim director and CEO on June 20. Since January 2021, Cassie has been serving as chief strategy and inclusion officer at the museum. She succeeds director and CEO Sasha Suda, whose departure was announced earlier this month. At the time, NGC said it would begin recruiting a new CEO and appoint an interim leader. Cassie assumes her new role on July 10. | More
On June 17, the Terra Foundation for American Art announced the appointment of Turry M. Flucker (left) as vice president of collections and partnerships. He joins the foundation from Tougaloo College, an HBCU in Tougaloo, Miss., where he currently serves as director and curator of Tougaloo College Art Collections. In the newly created position at the Terra Foundation in Chicago, Flucker will preside over an American art collection of 750 objects. He officially starts Aug. 1. | More
The Terra Foundation for American Art in Chicago also announced four new board members at the end of April—Amina Dickerson, Eric T. McKissack, Ravi Saligram, and Amanda Williams, an artist and trained architect whose solo exhibition CANDYLADYBLACK is on view at Gagosian gallery in New York through July 8. | More
The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) selected Anthony L. Smith as the museum’s vice president for learning and audience engagement. A Detroit arts educator with more than 30 years of experience, Smith is joining the museum from the the Detroit Public Schools Community District where he is currently deputy executive director of fine and performing arts. In earlier roles, he taught fine and performing arts at the Detroit School of Arts, Cody High School, and Cass Technical High School. The news of Smith’s DIA appointment was announced on June 16. His tenure begins July 12. | ArtDaily
Maya Brooks has been serving as assistant curator of contemporary Art at the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) in Raleigh, N.C., and Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) since June 2. SECCA is an affiliate of NCMA and the North Carolina Department of Natural & Cultural Resources. Brooks took on the joint appointment after gaining two years of experience as the Mellon Foundation Assistant Curator at NCMA. | More
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IMAGES: Above, right, Amber Esseiva | Courtesy Studio Museum in Harlem; left, Turry M. Flucker. | Photo by Mark Geil
