Associate Director of Collections
Washington and Lee UniversityAbout the role
The successful candidate will be an engaged, collaborative, and experienced leader who can provide strategic vision and mentorship to a professional team consisting of a Registrar, Collections Manager, and two curatorial fellows in American art and ceramics.
Reporting to the Director of the W&L Art Museum, the ADC will be responsible for establishing collecting priorities and processes, engaging new ways of sharing the museum’s rich collection, maximizing its potential and reach, and stewarding more than 15,000 objects spanning periods, geographies, and media, including American and European painting and works on paper (16th–21st centuries), East Asian art, Chinese Export porcelain, and historic and contemporary ceramics.
Washington and Lee University actively promotes a dynamic and welcoming environment that allows students and employees of multiple backgrounds and perspectives to learn, work, and thrive together. Successful candidates will contribute to that environment and exhibit potential for excellence in their areas of expertise.
Visit jobs.wlu.edu to learn more about working at W&L, our benefits, community, and living in the area.
About the Museums at Washington and Lee University:
The Museums at W&L are part of Academic Affairs, reporting to the Provost’s Office, and comprise two entities: the Art Museum and the Institutional History Museum. Each entity is dedicated to showcasing distinct collections and exhibitions and to fostering a community inspired by art and W&L’s history.
About the W&L Art Museum and Galleries:
The Art Museum and Galleries’ mission is to promote learning through direct engagement with its collections and to foster an interdisciplinary appreciation of art, history, and culture. It achieves this through a variety of permanent and rotating exhibitions that support the liberal arts curriculum, align with the university’s academic objectives, and reflect the varied interests of the community, and offers students and faculty opportunities for research, internships, employment, exhibitions, and programmatic offerings.
The Art Museum and Galleries consist of eight galleries across three sites: the Reeves Museum of Ceramics, Watson Galleries, and McCarthy Gallery. Together, they house an extensive collection of approximately 15,000 objects, spanning centuries, geographies, and media within their decorative and fine arts holdings. The collection ranges from early American portraits and European paintings to a nationally recognized collection of Chinese and Japanese export porcelain, as well as significant works on paper, photographs, and sculptures. The collection traces its origins to a bequest in 1875, when six portraits laid the foundation of the art collection. Over the past 150 years, it has grown to include celebrated works by artists such as Elizabeth Catlett, Fernando Botero, William Christenberry, Sam Gilliam, Sally Mann, Charles Willson Peale, Gilbert Stuart, and Andy Warhol. Additionally, the museum boasts a substantial collection of East Asian prints, scrolls, and decorative arts, highlighting its global scope.
For more information, visit: artmuseum.wlu.edu
Essential Functions:
Provides leadership in developing and shaping a vision for the future of collecting at the Art Museum, in collaboration with the Director, the engagement team, and University stakeholders.
With other members of the leadership team, help set, articulate, and ensure delivery of st
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