David W. Houston Director’s Advisor

PROFILE Art Historian and museum professional with over twenty-five years of experience with the planning and opening of new facilities, exhibition design, curatorial, publications, university teaching, educational outreach, public speaking, fundraising, and media relations.

EXPERIENCE Art Historian and Consultant Current Projects; Setting up Kendall Shaw Foundation to benefit mid and late career artists, Consulting with the T. Griffith Photo Archives from the Harlem based artist collective the Kamoinge Workshop ( current project Jimmie Mannes vintage photos of the origins of avant-garde jazz in New York in the late 60’s and early 70’s), consultant for the renovation and an addition to the LaGrange Museum of Art, Georgia, book essay for the upcoming career retrospective of Manning Williams (1939-2012), Gibbes Museum of Art 2020, Charleston, SC, Curatorial work with The Kentler International Drawing Center, Red Hook, New York.

Executive Director, Bo Bartlett Center and Archives, College for the Arts, Columbus State University; Columbus, GA — February 2012- June 2019 New center opening January 18, 2018 for the exhibition and study of contemporary art with an emphasis on narrative and figurative work to feature a collection of paintings by the American realist Bob Bartlett and an active archive of drawings, sketchbooks, letters, and papers by a wide range of historical and contemporary artists. Major responsibilities include long-range planning, fundraising, interdisciplinary institutional collaborations, publications, public speaking, media relations, facilities planning and coordination with architectural design.

Director of Curatorial, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; Bentonville, AR — 2010-2012 Member of senior staff management team, member of acquisition committee, Director of Curatorial Department responsible for planning, layout, lighting, and labeling the grand opening of the museum. Major media spokesperson for public and media grand opening events. Responsible for research for acquisitions and exhibitions, curator for two exhibitions for the museum’s inaugural year, Director of ongoing Curatorial Department of five, and founding member of Tyson Scholars program. Director of Visual Arts [Interim], Contemporary Arts Center; New Orleans, LA — 2007-2008 Temporary position held for one year in conjunction with the Chief Curator position at The Ogden Museum of Southern Art. I organized four international exhibitions including artists from Cuba, Europe, Asia, and the United States.

Co-Director and Chief Curator, The Ogden Museum of Southern Art; New Orleans, LA — 2000-2010 From 2000-2009, served as the Founding Chief Curator and a member of a Senior Management team of four. Responsibilities included a comprehensive exhibition program, acquisitions, gallery design and layout, publications, teaching, public speaking and media relations. Supervised a curatorial team consisting of a craft curator, a music curator, and a film curator. Additional supervisory responsibility for security, facilities and operations. From 2009-2010, served as Co-Director of the museum responsible for museum operations, curatorial, Center for Southern Studies, teaching at the University of New Orleans, and fundraising.

Guest Professor, School of Architecture, Brandanburgishe Technische Universitat; Cottbus, Germany — 1997 (Term 3) Teaching: History of 20th Century American Painting and Theory of Postmodern Culture. I established and ongoing collaboration with BTU faculty members including coordinating a faculty exchange with the Tulane University School of Architecture and the University of New Orleans.

Rudolph E. Lee Gallery Director/Lecturer, College of Art, Architecture and Humanities, Clemson University; Clemson, SC — 1991-2001 I managed a comprehensive gallery program, lecture series, and publications. I served as Co-Director of the nature-based international sculpture program at the South Carolina Botanical Garden and the Director of Arts Partnerships Program, placing permanent art installations on campus. I taught full-time on the graduate and undergraduate levels. Classes included: Nineteenth Century Painting, History and Theory of Modern Art, Art Since World War II and interdisciplinary graduate seminars.

Visual Arts Program Director, South Carolina Art Commission; Columbia, SC — 1988-1991 Director of five Visual Arts Programs: Visual Arts and Craft Fellowships, Percent for Art, State Art Collection, Visual Arts Slide Registry, and Visual Arts Development. Managed five budgets, two assistants and two student interns. Curator for annual thematic exhibitions with the South Carolina State Museum. Consultant to the South Carolina State Museum where I consulted on the outfitting and startup of the museum’s grand opening and served as the curator of the inaugural exhibition and for ongoing exhibition programs.

Professional Jazz Musician, Drums — 1984-1985 (full-time) and 1985-1999 (part-time) Radio, television, studio recording, and small ensemble travel throughout Southeastern United States. EDUCATION Masters in Art History, University of South Carolina, 1988 [Thesis: Schoenberg, Kandinsky and the Aesthetics of Abstraction] Bachelors in Art History and Cognate in Philosophy, University of South Carolina, 1978-1981 SELECTED PUBLICATIONS Mind Over Matter: The Art of Steve Tobin, introduction and editing, with additional essay byPhoebe Hoban Rizzolli Press, New York and Milan, 2019 Transients: Recent Work by Carlos Estévez, LACA Projects, Charlotte, North Carolina, 2017 Mario Petrirena: Alive with Silent Fire, catalogue essay, Museum of Contemporary Art in Atlanta, 2017 Bo Bartlett, co-authored with Carter Radcliff, Scala Arts Publishers, Inc., New York, 2016 “Jamie Wyeth and Recent American Realism” in Jamie Wyeth, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Exhibition Catalogue, 2015 “Remembering Cy Twombly,” South Writ Large, University of North Carolina online journal, 2011 Kendall Shaw: Let There Be Light, editor and catalogue essay with additional essays by Martika Sawain and Bruce Russell, The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, 2009 “An Interview with Carlos Estévez,” Indomenee Magazine, Issue 3, Paris, 2008 Jazz, Giants, and Journeys: The Photography of Herman Leonard, essay and co-editor, Scala Arts Publishers, Inc., London, 2006 [250 pages, English and Spanish editions] “Can Prague Learn from L.A.? Frank Gehry’s Netherlands National Building” in Over the Wall After the Fall: Post Communist Cultures Through an East-West Gaze, ed. Sibelan Forrester, Magdelena Zabrorowska, and Elena Gapova. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2004. The Story of the South: Art and Culture 1890-2003, co-author with J. Richard Gruber and editor. London: Scala Press, 2003.

OTHER [SELECTED] Contributing Editor, New Art Examiner Magazine, London, September 2015 Trustee, Benny Andrews Foundation Advisory Board, Artists Residency Program, Joan Mitchell Foundation, New York Board, Contemporary Visual Arts Organization, New Orleans, 2008-2009 Consultant, Exhibition Curator, Acadiana Center for the Arts, 2004 Consultant, Places with a Past exhibition, Spoleto Festival USA, Charleston, SC. Projects by Cindy Sherman, Norelle Juslin and Christian Boltansky, 1999 Fulbright Selection Committee, Brandanburgische Technische Universitat, Cottbus, Germany, 1997 Regional Advisory Panel International Studio Program, Arts International, Lilla Wallace Foundation, 1990