Ogden Museum of Southern Art announces Louisiana Contemporary prizewinners
NEW ORLEANS—Juried this year by recently promoted Whitney Museum director of curatorial initiatives David Breslin, the Louisiana Contemporary prize is awarded to four artists in the state annually. Artist Jessica Strahan received the designation Best in Show and a five-thousand-dollar prize for her paintings focused on the African Diaspora in New Orleans, alongside fellow awardees Sarrah Danziger, Thomas Deaton, and Rachel David.
Community arts nonprofit WonderRoot announces closure
ATLANTA—Following a series of events including the release of an open letter earlier this year leveling accusations of financial mismanagement and inappropriate workplace behavior against WonderRoot’s co-founder and former director, his resignation, and a subsequent investigation into those accusations, the board of the embattled Atlanta arts nonprofit announced its closure last Thursday. A note posted on WonderRoot’s website reads, in part, “Regrettably, since the departure of WonderRoot’s founder, Chris Appleton, the organization has not been able to reestablish the financial support needed in order to continue. We are collaborating with the community to find permanent homes for the projects and programs of WonderRoot. We firmly believe in the need for the work that we began and we look forward to supporting the work of organizations who pick up where we left off.”
MIAMI—Los Angeles-based collector Gordon W. Bailey announced this week a gift of forty-six artworks by self-taught artists from the American South to the Perez Art Museum Miami, the second gift he’s made to the museum. PAMM director Franklin Sirmans, told ARTnews over email, “These great artists… are still underrepresented in our nation’s museums, and have so much to offer in the understanding of the human impulse to create. Here in Miami this gift will further elucidate the work of our region and highlight one of our city’s greatest artists, in Purvis Young, who has been part of the collection since 2005.”
Georgia Museum of Art names Jeffrey Richmond-Moll as curator of American art
ATHENS, GA—The Georgia Museum of Art has named Dr. Jeffrey Richmond-Moll as its new curator of American art. Earlier this year, Richmond-Moll defended his doctoral dissertation at the University of Delaware, which focused on “religion and modern mobility” in early twentieth-century American art. Dr. Richmond-Moll served as curatorial research associate on the exhibition Nature’s Nation: American Art and Environment, which originated at the Princeton University Art Museum and traveled to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, and to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, where it is currently on view.
High Museum of Art announces new board chair Robin Howell
ATLANTA—Robin Howell has been appointed High Museum of Art board chair, succeeding Charles Abney III, who will continue to serve on the board for the next two years. A longtime art patron in the city, she previously served as co-chair of the High’s Directors Circle and supported several acquisitions for the museum. Director Rand Suffolk said, “We are thrilled to expand her leadership role and bring on our new board members as we continue to grow our audiences, extend our impact in the region and bring diverse perspectives and voices to the museum.”
Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans names George Scheer as new director
NEW ORLEANS—George Scheer, the former executive director and cofounder of Elsewhere, an art museum, residency, and educational laboratory in North Carolina, has been appointed the new executive director of Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans. In a press release, Scheer said, “The CAC emerged from an artistic impulse forty-two years ago into a multi-disciplinary arts center… Today, it is poised to be a touchstone for contemporary art in New Orleans, a critical partner in a national dialogue around art and equity, and an asset to the city’s artist community. It is an honor to be welcomed into New Orleans’ cultural community, to champion the importance of this place and its artists, and to work alongside the CAC’s staff and community to grow the organization’s creative and critical vision.”
Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Florida’s Rollins University receives Henry Luce grant
WINTER PARK, FL—The Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins University in Winter Park, Florida, has received a three-year grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to research, digitize, and install its collection of American art. In a press release, the museum said, “The project is a multi-year effort with the twin goals of aligning CFAM with current standards of excellence for teaching museums and fully integrating the collection with contemporary efforts to widen the definition of American art to encompass works from throughout the Americas, including indigenous and diasporic art.”
Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art announces new executive director
GREENSBORO—The Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art has announced Barbara Richter as the new executive director of the fifty-year-old organization. Richter comes to North Carolina after serving as director of strategic planning for Ingenuity Cleveland, an annual arts festival, and leading her own consultancy firm. In a statement, Richter said, “I am deeply honored to be selected as the next Executive Director of Green Hill… I am excited to expand the organization’s future impact further together with the Board, our dedicated staff, funders and community partners.”
