Windgate Curator of Contemporary Craft and Design Fellowship
Department Name: University Art Museum
Full-Time/Part-Time: Full-Time
Grant Funded Position: This is a grant funded position. Continuation is contingent on future grant funding.
Salary Range: $40,320 – $45.000 per year; DOE
Close Date: 30-March-2020
The Arizona State University Art Museum invites applications for Windgate Curator of Contemporary Craft and Design Fellowship. This new curatorial fellowship combines mentorship opportunities with work experience with the goal of cultivating and advancing the careers of a new generation of curators focused on contemporary craft and design. This is a temporary, 18-month position where the curator will learn about museum best practices in collection stewardship, exhibition planning and research, public programs, administrative skills, and inclusion and equity practices. The fellowship includes professional development training, travel funds, and seed funding for an ASU Art Museum based exhibition or publication.
Founded in 1950, the ASU Art Museum was named “the single most impressive venue for contemporary art in Arizona” by Art in America. The ASU Art Museum is an integral part of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University. The Museum strives to be more relevant and accessible inspired by the charter of the New American University and to be a meeting point for the exchange of new ideas, perspectives and experiences among artists, students and the public through our exhibitions, residencies, collections and programs.
ASU Art Museum’s Ceramics Research Center plays a significant role in advancing research and creative activity in contemporary craft through exhibitions, collections and publications. Our history is in working with ceramics, wood and fiber and highlights include:
- Crafting a Continuum: Rethinking Contemporary Craft (2013), a traveling exhibition and accompanying publication celebrating our extensive collections.
- Ceramics Research Center (established in 2002) houses the museum’s extensive modern and contemporary studio ceramics collection, considered to be the finest in the United States.
- Total Collapse: Clay in the Contemporary Past and Michael Sherrill Retrospective are on view (2020) at the ASU Art Museum’s flagship location.
- Windgate Contemporary Craft Initiative (2016-2018) supported a series of visiting artists and scholars, residencies, exhibitions, new acquisitions and collections conservation, and student research grants.
Essential Duties
- Research and manage contemporary craft collections, exhibitions and programs in close consultation with the ASU Art Museum’s curator team and through collaborations with other museum curators, university faculty, students, community members and committees, and the broader local, national and international ceramic field.
- Produce original research for publication and for public presentations for scholars and the general public.
- Work on two to four exhibitions ranging from the permanent collection, works on loan, solo, group and retrospective exhibitions.
- Pursue a spirit of professionalism, collaboration and partnership across the Museum and with other institutions.
- Actively represent the Museum in the broader community and in the national and international scholarly and professional communities through publications, presentations and collaborative programming.
- Contribute to the pursuit of support and funding for all areas of programming from government, private foundations and corporations and individual investors, and participate actively in donor cultivation and events.
- Provide extensive networking to curators and scholars in the field, and recruitment travel to field events and gatherings
Minimum Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts, Art History and or related field, AND three (3) years of curatorial experience involving the design, preparation, and installation of exhibits; OR, any equivalent combination of experience and/or education from which comparable knowledge, skills and abilities have been achieved.
Desired Qualifications
- Willingness to develop relationships with donors, artists, faculty, students and others who will further the Museum’s artistic and financial goals
- Willingness to work with a broad range of university and community audiences, student interns and volunteers
- Evidence of effective oral and written communication skills
- Ability to speak and write articulately on behalf of this Museum, its mission, collection and relevance today and in the future Ability to work collaboratively with the museum’s curatorial team and within the larger context of a contemporary art museum and university
- Ability to work effectively in stressful situation involving changing priorities and tight timelines
- Demonstrated interest in professional and best practices in museums and the ability to implement them
- Evidence of original research, curatorial work or publication in the field of contemporary ceramics and/or craft
- Demonstrated knowledge of professional museum practice
Working Environment
- Activities are performed in multiple environmentally-controlled buildings subject to extended periods of sitting, standing, and walking
- Physical demands include stooping, bending, reaching, lifting up to 35 pounds, pushing objects of varying weights up to 200 pounds (with the assistance of appropriate mechanical aids/tools)
- Walking moderate distances between site locations
- Exposure to dust and other airborne materials
- Regular activities require ability to quickly change priorities which may include and/or are subject to resolution of conflicts
- Clearly communicate to perform essential functions
- Regular use of standard office equipment including, but not limited to: computer workstation/laptop (keyboard, monitor, mouse), printer, fax, scanner copier, calculator, telephone, and associated computer/technology peripherals
- Receives managerial review of assignments for adherence to established objectives and goals. Provides regular review of work activities to volunteers to ensure compliance with established standards
