Suzanne Weaver was appointed as the San Antonio Museum of Art‘s new Brown Foundation Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Museum officials announced Wednesday.
The Museum conducted a search for a replacement for former modern and contemporary art curator Anna Stothart, who left her post in late April, and found Weaver’s extensive curatorial experience as right for the job.
“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,” stated SA Museum of Art Kelso Director Katherine Luber in a news release.
Weaver is coming at a key moment in the Museum’s growth, as the contemporary and modern art programs have continued to develop over the last few years. Stothart recently brought two key exhibitions – 28 Chinese and Corita Kent and the Language of Pop – to the institution and reinstalled the contemporary galleries this spring. Museum staff is eager to gain Weaver’s fresh perspectives while she oversees the modern and contemporary art programs and continues to foster its growth by bringing in new artists and exhibitions.
“Every time you have a new team member, it’s a new set of eyes and a new set of opinions and ideas,” said the Museum’s Chief Curator William Keyse Rudolph. “Any new curator at an institution brings in new thoughts and we love that.”
Weaver is “thrilled” to assume her new post at the Museum on June 20.
” … 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,” Weaver stated in a news release. “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.”
Weaver’s nearly 30 years of experience in the art world spans several cities and positions. She served as the Nancy and Tim Hanley Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Dallas Museum of Art from 1995 to 2008, where she spearheaded more than 70 key acquisitions and breathed new life into the museum’s international emerging artist exhibition series Concentrations. There she showcased a number of artists in their first U.S. solo exhibitions, and organized the world premiere of musician Phil Collins’ three-part video project the world won’t listen.
She was later the Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art and Director of Adult Programs at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky from 2009 to 2014, and organized more than fifteen installations and exhibitions and a number of acquisitions and gifts. She has lent her curatorial talents to Zephyr Gallery in Louisville, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and The Center for Research in Contemporary Art at the University of Texas at Arlington, and was also editor-in-chief of Circa, The Texas-based Journal of Contemporary Art.
Weaver eventually made her return to Texas in 2015, where she has developed the private collections of several Dallas art collectors and co-curated an exhibition featuring 30 multigenerational artists from Texas, Los Angeles, and New York.
While all of Weaver’s national and international experience are a huge asset to the Museum, her native Texas roots will also lend a special touch to her work.
“Because her father’s family is from San Antonio, and she grew up in Waco, she really understands the importance of art and culture to local communities,” Rudolph said. “She understands the spirit of Texas and the desire for an artist to live and work here and to honor their heritage, but also to get wider exposure. In a wonderful way, she’s both a global person and a local person.”
Her expertise will help propel San Antonio forward in the national and international arts and culture realm.
” … 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,” Luber stated.
Top Image: The San Antonio Museum of Art. Photo by Scott Ball.
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