Hillwood Announces New Executive Director Appointment

WASHINGTON, D.C..- Ellen MacNeile Charles, president of Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens, announced today the appointment of Kate Markert as executive director. Hillwood’s Search Committee was assisted by Opportunity Resources Inc. of New York City in the successful completion of the search. Currently the associate director at The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Markert will succeed Frederick J. Fisher, who has led Hillwood as executive director for over 20 years and has long planned to make 2010 his final year [...]

Yael Bartana Awarded the UK’s Largest Art Prize

CARDIFF.- The 4th Artes Mundi Prize for contemporary art of £40,000 was awarded to Yael Bartana from Israel at National Museum Cardiff on Wednesday 19 May. Artes Mundi 4 has demonstrated that artists of today can add new readings into global issues as well as particular country politics. Bartana was awarded the Prize for her work of the last five to eight years which has consistently stimulated thinking about the human condition and adds to our understanding of humanity. The [...]

From Boston to Singapore – A New Director for the Asian Civilisations Museum

BOSTON, MA.- The National Heritage Board (NHB) of Singapore welcomes Dr Alan Chong as the new Director of the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM), one of the five national museums of Singapore. The announcement concludes an intensive 12-month worldwide search since news of the retirement of Dr Kenson Kwok, the museum’s former Director, was announced in 2008. Currently the William and Lia Poorvu curator at the renowned Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Dr Alan Chong succeeds Dr Kenson Kwok who [...]

Art Fair Tokyo Announces Takahiro Kaneshima as New Executive Director

TOKYO.- The Art Fair Tokyo Executive Committee announces that Misa Shin, Executive Director of Art Fair Tokyo since 2005, will be stepping down at the end of May 2010. Shin has directed a total of four editions of Art Fair Tokyo, since her appointment as Executive Director in November 2005. During this time, her aims have been to encourage the development of an art market in Japan and to create a truly international art fair in Tokyo. Under each year [...]

Kirk Savage is Awarded the 22nd Annual Eldredge Prize

WASHINGTON, DC.- The Smithsonian American Art Museum has awarded the 2010 Charles C. Eldredge Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in American Art to Kirk Savage for his book Monument Wars: Washington, D.C., the National Mall, and the Transformation of the Memorial Landscape (University of California Press, 2009). It is recognized as a “beautifully written and cogently argued book that recounts the creation and re-creation of the memorial landscape of Washington, D.C., where generations of designers, engineers and artists have given concrete [...]

Columbia Museum of Art Contemporaries Announce Award Winner Joshua Drews 2010 Contemporaries’ Artist of the Year

COLUMBIA SC.- Joshua Drews from Columbia, SC was awarded the sixth annual Contemporaries’ Artist of the Year award during a soirée and silent auction hosted by the Contemporaries of the Columbia Museum of Art on Thursday, May 13. Drews’ watercolor, titled Eye on Sparrow, was selected as the winner based on the following criteria: originality of concept, technical execution, consistency, professionalism and the degree to which the work was aesthetically interesting. Jurors were Brownell McIntosh Graphic Design owner Laurie McIntosh, [...]

American Academy in Rome Awards 2010 McKim Medal to Miuccia Prada

ROME.- The American Academy in Rome announced that Miuccia Prada is the 2010 McKim Medal Laureate. The award is in recognition of Ms. Prada’s exceptional achievements in fashion and business, as well as for her contributions to the visual arts as co-founder of the Fondazione Prada. The Medal will be presented to Miuccia Prada on Wednesday, May 26th at the 6th annual McKim Medal Gala at the Villa Aurelia of the American Academy in Rome. Proceeds from gala support fellowships [...]

Bice Curiger Appointed Director of the 54th International Art Exhibition for 2011

VENICE.- The Board of the Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, has appointed Bice Curiger as Director of the Visual Arts Sector, with specific responsibility for curating the 54th International Art Exhibition to be held in 2011. A graduate of the University of Zurich, Bice Curiger is an art historian, critic and curator of exhibitions at an international level. Since 1993, she has been curator at the Zurich Kunsthaus, one of the most important museums in the world for [...]

British/Japanese Artist Simon Fujiwara Wins The Cartier Award 2010

LONDON.- Frieze Art Fair announced that the winner of The Cartier Award 2010 is the British/Japanese artist Simon Fujiwara, who is based in Berlin and Mexico City. His previous works have encompassed performance-style lectures, fictional writings and installations. His winning proposal was selected from over 500 applications by artists from all over the world. For Frieze Art Fair 2010, sponsored for the seventh year by Deutsche Bank, Fujiwara plans to present a new site-specific work, Frozen; an installation based on [...]

Joan Waltemath Named Director of MICA’s Hoffberger School of Painting

BALTIMORE, MD.- Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) announces the selection of abstract painter and longtime educator Joan Waltemath as the second permanent director of the famed Hoffberger School of Painting. Led for more than 40 years by Grace Hartigan until her death in 2008, the M.F.A. program is noted for producing generations of painters who have had an impact in the art world. “I am honored to step into my new role as director of the Hoffberger School of [...]

Carolyn Hill, Former Executive Director of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Dies

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK.- It is with great sadness that we announce the passing Carolyn Hill, retired executive director of Oklahoma City Museum of Art, who died in Oklahoma City on May 12, 2010 following an extended illness. She was 72. Carolyn will forever be remembered for her lifelong love, passion, and achievements in the arts and for leaving behind her indelible mark on the fabric our community. A native Oklahoman, Carolyn received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University [...]

Niki Ciccotelli Named Director of Education at Crystal Bridges Museum

BENTONVILLE, ARK.- Niki Ciccotelli has been named director of education at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Ciccotelli, who joined Crystal Bridges in 2008 as head of school programs and has served as interim director of education since January, brings more than 13 years of experience in education and arts programming to a position that is critical to the museum’s mission. “One of our primary goals at Crystal Bridges is to foster extraordinary and direct connections between people and great [...]

American artist Richard Serra wins Principe de Asturias Prize for the Arts

Oviedo, Spain — U.S. sculptor Richard Serra has won Spain’s prestigious Prince of Asturias award for the arts. The Prince of Asturias Foundation says Serra is one of the “most relevant sculptors of the second half of the 20th century.” The foundation announced the award Wednesday in the northern city of Oviedo. The foundation is named for Spain’s Crown Prince Felipe. It hands out eight awards each year in categories including literature, communications, sports and scientific research. Each prize includes [...]

Fantasy Artist Frank Frazetta, 82, Dies in Florida

PHILADELPHIA.- Pioneering fantasy artist Frank Frazetta has died in a Fort Myers, Fla., hospital. He was 82. Manager Rob Pistella says Frazetta died Monday morning, a day after suffering a stroke. He says Frazetta had been out to dinner with his daughters Sunday before falling ill. Frazetta is renowned for his sci-fi and fantasy art. He created covers and illustrations for more than 150 books and comic books, including Conan the Barbarian and Tarzan. His daughter, Heidi Frazetta Grabin, says [...]

Johnny McIntosh Appointed Chief Financial Officer at Birmingham Museum of Art

BIRMINGHAM, AL.- The Birmingham Museum of Art welcomes a new chief financial officer. Johnny McIntosh, former president and chief operating officer of the successful Southern Living at Home direct sales business, assumed responsibility for business and financial operations at the Museum on April 26. “The Museum has been looking for someone with the financial skills and experience to help us build an overall stronger organization,” said Gail Andrews, director of the Birmingham Museum of Art. “Johnny’s expertise in budgeting, forecasting [...]