San Antonio—Wednesday, May 18—Katherine Luber, the Kelso Director at the San Antonio Museum of Art, today announced the appointment of Suzanne Weaver as the Museum’s new Brown Foundation Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. Weaver, who has extensive curatorial experience and previously served as the Interim Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, will begin her new role at the Museum on June 20, 2016. Weaver will oversee the continued growth of the modern and contemporary program, which has steadily expanded over the last several years, with recent presentations of 28 Chinese (2015) and Corita Kent and the Language of Pop (2016) and a re-installation of the contemporary galleries this spring.
“Suzanne has nearly three decades of experience, working both in museums and as an independent curator and consultant. We are delighted that she is joining our growing curatorial team, and to have her expertise and vision as we continue to develop our modern and contemporary collections and curatorial and public program,” said Luber. “San Antonio, which has always been rich in history, is rapidly becoming a cultural hub, and we are looking forward to working with Suzanne to actively engage local and international artists with our community and Museum.”
“I am thrilled to join the extraordinary San Antonio Museum of Art team and to work closely with Katie and William [Rudolph, Chief Curator] to advance the modern and contemporary art collections and exhibition programs,” said Weaver. “For many years, I have admired the Museum’s on-going commitment to enhancing intellectual and artistic life of the community and a local arts scene that is vibrant and ambitious. The Museum’s encyclopedic collections and the rich history and dynamic growth of the city provide an exciting platform to connect the work of today’s most innovative artists with art from across a range of periods, cultures, geographies, and genres.”
Since March 2015, Weaver has worked with private collectors in Dallas to develop and maintain their personal collections and to make key acquisitions. Recently, she co-curated 3 a m eternal, an exhibition at an alternative space in Dallas that featured thirty artists of different generations from Los Angeles, New York and Texas, including Samantha McCurdy, Chivas Clem, Keith Edmier, and James Franco. Prior to her return to Texas, Weaver served as the Interim Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, where she helped establish the strategic plans for fundraising, exhibition, and education initiatives, as well as the mission and vision for the new institution.
As Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art and Director of Adult Programs at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky (2009 - 2014), Weaver organized more than fifteen installations and exhibitions, including a major presentation of the work of Willie Doherty, and helped realize over thirty acquisitions and gifts, including works by James Brooks, John Chamberlain, Doherty, Sam Gilliam, Mark Handforth, and Joyce Pensato.
As the Nancy and Tim Hanley Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Dallas Museum of Art (1995-2008), Weaver played an integral role in revitalizing the Museum’s international emerging artist exhibition series, Concentrations. Her Concentrations shows included the first U.S. museum solo exhibitions for artists Doug Aitken, Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, Maureen Gallace, Anri Sala, and Charline von Heyl as well as the world premiere of Phil Collins’s monumental, video trilogy, the world won’t listen. She helped realize over seventy acquisitions including works by Mamma Andersson, Thomas Demand, Mark Handforth, Mona Hatoum, Jim Hodges, An-My Lê, Josiah McElheny, Robyn O’Neil, Laura Owens, and Robert Smithson and new media works by Allora and Calzadilla, Shirin Neshat, and Paul Sietsema.
She has also held curatorial positions at Zephyr Gallery (Louisville, Kentucky), the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and The Center for Research in Contemporary Art (CRCA) at the University of Texas at Arlington, where she was the Editor-in-Chief of Circa, The Texas-based Journal of Contemporary Art.
Weaver represents the second significant curatorial hire for the San Antonio Museum of Art this year. The institution appointed Emily J. Sano, Ph.D., as its Coates-Cowden-Brown Senior Advisor for Asian Art in January.
About San Antonio Museum of Art:
The San Antonio Museum of Art serves as a vibrant forum to explore and connect with art that spans the world’s geographies, artistic periods, genres, and cultures. An encyclopedic institution, its collection contains nearly 30,000 works representing 5,000 years of history. Housed in the historic Lone Star Brewery on the Museum Reach of San Antonio’s famed Riverwalk, the San Antonio Museum of Art is committed to promoting the rich cultural heritage and life of the city. The Museum hosts hundreds of events and public programs each year, including concerts, performances, tours, lectures, symposia, and interactive experiences. As an active civic leader, the Museum is dedicated to enriching the cultural life of the city and the region, and to supporting its creative community.
