I thought that the ARLIS/NA membership might be interested in this press release.

-Joy Kestenbaum
Art Librarian/Associate Librarian
Purchase College, SUNY
914-251-6406

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------------------Press Release-------------

Contact: Geraldine Sanderson                            For Immediate Release - Tuesday, July 26, 2005
    Anne Brady                          	
                 914-251-6951
                 Email: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>

THOM COLLINS APPOINTED DIRECTOR OF  NEUBERGER MUSEUM OF ART

Thomas J. Schwarz, President of Purchase College, State University of New York, today announced the appointment of Thom Collins as Director of the Neuberger Museum of Art.  Based upon his excellent record of accomplishment, Mr. Collins will build upon a distinguished tradition of leadership as the Museum enters the 21st century, the President said.  

"As a scholar, art historian and art museum professional, Mr. Collins has demonstrated his commitment to contemporary art by engaging audiences with the young artists of our time and the environments in which they live, interact and work. His energy and enthusiasm for the newest talent and eye-catching presentations continue a Neuberger tradition of presenting the best of contemporary art, African Art, and modern art, and maintaining an unparalleled educational resource for the scholars, students and members of the public who are enriched by the collections," said President Schwarz.

The new director will be responsible for all operations and decisions at the Museum including collections, acquisitions and exhibitions.  President Schwarz added that Mr. Collins will work actively with campus academic leadership to incorporate more fully the resources of the Neuberger into the educational experiences of students at the College.   And he will collaborate with the Friends of the Neuberger Museum and other community members to enhance the Museum's role in the region.

"The Friends of the Neuberger welcome Mr. Collins to the Museum family," said Helio Fred Garcia, Chair of the Friends Board of Directors.  "Thom has a proven track record of engaging communities, artists, donors and civic leaders to help the institutions he runs thrive."

Mr. Collins becomes the sixth director of the Museum, founded 30 years ago as a cultural and intellectual center for modern and contemporary art. Its core collection of 20th century paintings and sculpture contains primary examples of the movements and individuals who shaped modern art.

The tenth largest college art museum in the nation with an internationally renowned collection of over 6,000 works of art in all media, the Museum is named after financier and founding patron Roy R. Neuberger, whose extensive art collection forms the core of the Museum's holdings and who continues to be an active and involved donor.  

In commenting on the appointment, Mr. Neuberger noted that "Mr. Collins and I share a commitment to supporting the careers of American artists" and that "the Museum should be known for being adaptable to the world of contemporary art." 

Mr. Collins, a native of Philadelphia, was most recently executive director of the Contemporary Museum of Baltimore in Maryland, an institution that presents the immediate art of our time as an educational tool and a catalyst in the processes of social change in Baltimore and the surrounding region.  The Contemporary Museum presents relevant new art to audiences by inviting artists, curators, critics and theorists of international stature into its home city.  It arranges for them to have a direct dialogue with Baltimore communities and cultural institutions and facilitates collaboration on projects designed to address pressing needs and concerns of common interest.

"I am very pleased to be joining the Neuberger Museum at this exciting moment in its history," said Mr. Collins. "With its extraordinary collections and exemplary track record of critical exhibitions and public programs, the institution is well positioned to assume a leadership role among university museums. I look forward to collaborating with the Neuberger staff, board and patrons, and Purchase College administration, faculty, students and alumni to reach this goal. Working together, I believe that we can devise and implement new strategies to make the Museum an ever more integral part of both undergraduate and graduate educational experiences across academic disciplines and a more vital part of the already flourishing cultural life of the campus and regional communities." 

An honors graduate of Swarthmore College, Mr. Collins earned both his master's degree in art history and his ABD in art history at Northwestern University. He is an art historian and critic with more than a decade of experience curating, teaching and publishing in the fields of contemporary art and visual culture. He was a Newhall Curatorial Fellow at the Museum of Modern Art, an associate curator at the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington, an associate curator of the Cincinnati Art Museum and chief/senior curator of the Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati.

He has organized such exhibitions as Somewhere Better Than This Place: Alternative Social Experience in the Spaces of Contemporary Art;
Crimes and Misdemeanors: U.S. Art of the Reagan '80s; Beautiful Losers: Contemporary Art and Urban Street Culture; and The Photographic Impulse: A Social History.

Mr. Collins has also worked with numerous artists to create new projects, among them Gilles Barbier, Sanford Biggers, Patty Chang, Renee Green, Moshekwa Langa, Lee Mingwel, Hirsch Perlman, Marjetica Potro, Hope Sandrow, Carrie Mae Weems and Zhang Huan.

His publications include the books Somewhere Better Than This Place and Beautiful Losers, as well as contributions to Art and Performance, Ecovention, Gilles Barbier: Clones, Slide Show, Topic, Witness and the catalogue for the 1999 Carnegie International.  

Mr. Collins has taught at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Washington and Northwestern University.

As Director of the Neuberger Museum of Art, he will oversee an institution that has led the way in presenting established modern masters and cutting edge contemporary artists through its special exhibitions and lectures.

Masterworks in the collections include Edward Hopper's Barber Shop; Jackson Pollock's Number 8, 1949; Mark Rothko's Old Gold Over White; Willem de Kooning's Marilyn Monroe, an icon in the history of art; Georgia O'Keeffe's Lake George by Early Moonrise, a magnificent early work that predates her Southwestern signature style; and Milton Avery's Cello Player in Blue, one of 28 works by Avery in the collection.

The breadth and depth of the Neuberger Museum's collections continue Mr. Neuberger's early commitment to supporting the work of contemporary artists, who examine and expand the ideas of our day.  New additions and collections include the Andy Goldsworthy East Coast Cairn limestone sculpture, the Lawrence Gussman Collection of Central African Art, the Alexander and Dina Racolin Collection of paintings, drawings and prints by European and Mexican masters including Portrait of a Young Girl by Amedeo Modigliani, and Ursula von Rydingsvard's monumental wooden sculpture Bowl With Side Steps.

Mr. Collins will also have responsibility for the highly respected educational programs provided by the Neuberger Museum of Art for the students at Purchase College, the public, and the more than 20,000 students from area schools who annually participate in its programs. The museum also offers a full complement of lectures, concerts, family events, programs for connoisseurs, professional training programs, an annual gala and a house tour.  In recent years the Museum has created a new website, a new café and an expanded museum shop.


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Purchase College State University of New York is an institution of higher education including the liberal arts and sciences, professional training in the performing and visual arts, liberal studies and continuing education, the Neuberger Museum of Art and The Performing Arts Center. 

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