THE CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM of American Art announced the appointment of Allison Glenn as associate curator, contemporary art. She joins the museum’s expanding contemporary art team and will contribute to all aspects of its work, including exhibition development, publications, and long-term planning. Glenn begins work at Crystal Bridges on Feb. 12.
Glenn comes to the Bentonville, Ark., museum from Prospect New Orleans, where she served as manager of publications and curatorial associate. Her broad background spans museums, galleries, public art projects, and catalog development.
“She brings a collaborative approach and great perspective that will help build on our contemporary art program and connect visitors to engaging arts experiences,” Lauren Haynes, curator of contemporary art, said in a statement.
“Allison already has an impressive body of work—and we look forward to her continuing to advance the field of American art at Crystal Bridges. She will be a fantastic asset to our team and our community.”
“Allison [Glenn] already has an impressive body of work—and we look forward to her continuing to advance the field of American art at Crystal Bridges.” — Lauren Haynes, Curator of Contemporary Art
Glenn will be working with Haynes, who joined Crystal Bridges in October 2016 after more than a decade at the Studio Museum in Harlem where served as associate curator. Haynes is curating “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power,” the monumental presentation organized by the Tate Museum in London, which is making its U.S. debut at Crystal Bridges in February.
AT PROSPECT NEW ORLEANS, Glenn focused on catalog development and artist’s projects for “Prospect.4: The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp,” the international triennial that opened in November 2017. Previously, she was director of Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago, where she worked with a slate of up-and-coming artists including Ebony G. Patterson, Amy Sherald, and Nate Young.
She is guest curating “Out of Easy Reach,” a cross-institutional presentation hosted by the DePaul Art Museum, Gallery 400 at UIC, and Theaster Gates’s Rebuild Foundation that opens in April in Chicago. Glenn is authoring and editing a fully-illustrated catalog to accompany the exhibition, which features an intergenerational selection of 24 artists, women of color whose works stray from traditional interpretations and expectations of abstraction.
Glenn earned a BFA from Wayne State University and received dual masters degrees in Modern Art History, Theory and Criticism and Arts Administration and Policy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
“I am excited to be joining Crystal Bridges and look forward to getting to know the Northwest Arkansas community,” Glenn said. “I have dedicated my career to the cultivation of inclusive art histories, and am eager to bring my passion to a dynamic museum with a celebrated mission of welcoming all.” CT
IMAGE: Allison Glenn, Photo by Mariana Sheppard, Courtesy Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
BOOKSHELF
Allison Glenn has contributed the publications that accompanied the New Orleans triennial “Prospect.4: The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp,” as well as “Prospect.3: Notes for Now,” authoring artists texts for both catalogs and overseeing the development of the volume for Propsect.4 in her role of manager of publications at Prospect New Orleans. Glenn’s writing also appears in “Noah Purifoy: Junk Dada.” She contributed a detailed chronology to the catalog which documented the first monographic museum exhibition to explore Purifoy’s practice.
