About the Textile Art and Fashion Collection
The origins of the department date back to 1927 with the gift of a Saltillo serape and a Kashmir shawl to the museum. Over the ensuing decades, the diversity of the collection grew dramatically under the tenure of several curators, alternately specializing in textiles and fashion, starting with the appointment of the first curator, Lydia Roberts Dunham, in 1955. Following major acquisition and publication support by the Neusteter Fashion, Costume and Textile Institute starting in 1962, Imelda Gatton DeGraw served as curator from 1965 to 1992. DeGraw was followed by Alice Zrebiec, who curated the collection through 2014.
In 2012, the Avenir Foundation endowed the department, which allowed for the remodeling of the sixth-floor textile art and fashion gallery, which was completed in 2013 and includes the PreVIEW textile conservation lab and the Nancy Lake Benson Thread Studio. In 2015, Florence Müller became the department’s curator and successfully grew the fashion collection through international and local acquisitions. In 2021, an anonymous $25 million endowment gift was announced, which will support programming, collection acquisitions and outreach for the department.
About the Denver Art Museum
Founded in 1893, the museum is an educational, nonprofit resource that sparks creative thinking and expression through transformative experiences with art. DAM has one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of world art between Chicago and the West Coast. Internationally known for its holdings of Indigenous arts of North America, the museum has also assembled an extensive group of objects from the art of the Ancient Americas as well as Latin American art, now considered one of the finest collections anywhere. Other areas of concentration are western American art, European and American painting and sculpture, architecture and design, modern and contemporary, Asian, African, Oceanic, and fashion art and textiles.
About the position
The successful candidate will be skilled in three areas: 1) developing dynamic exhibitions and learning and engagement programs for broad audiences that illuminate aspects of the collection and the relevance of both textile art and fashion; 2) building and supporting national and international scholarship and research in textile art and fashion that will include symposia and, occasionally, publications; 3) developing the textile art and fashion collections through strategic acquisitions and forward-looking relationships with donors, patrons, collectors, artists and others.
The Avenir Foundation Curator must have leadership qualities and excellent communication skills. They will communicate the value and excitement of the collections to the many constituencies of the DAM community. Much of the work at DAM is cross-departmental, and exhibitions are developed through advisory committees that often invite external perspectives. The successful candidate will be someone who enjoys collaboration, welcomes input from other museum staff and from external constituencies, and is willing to have guest- and co-curators for exhibitions in the department.
The candidate will come with active international networks that include a variety of individuals and organizations in the art, textile art, fashion, and museum sectors. The curator must enjoy working with donors, collectors, artists, and the departments Collectors Group, and will welcome wide audiences, including families and students.
How to apply
Nominations and inquiries welcome. To apply: email cover letter and résumé and names of 3 references with contact information by July 8, 2022, to: Connie Rosemont, Senior Search Consultant at: searchandref@museum-search.com. Applicants are encouraged to apply early; application review will begin on or about July 11, 2022, on a rolling basis until a hire is made. References will not be contacted without prior permission of the applicant, and all applications and nominations are kept confidential. For full details, visit www.museum-search.com/open-searches/.
