New director named for UK Art Museum
February 26, 2014
By Amelia Orwick
Stuart Horodner, assistant director of the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, has been named the new director of the UK Art Museum.
Horodner has held positions as visual arts curator at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, director of the Bucknell University Art Gallery and co-owner of Horodner Romley Gallery in New York, according to a UK news release.
He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Cooper Union, and his Master of Fine Arts from Rutgers University, according to the release.
“The museum director position at (UK) is an exciting opportunity for me to oversee exhibition strategies and collection-building, and work with various staff and stakeholders to deliver ambitious educational programs and collaborative endeavors,” Horodner said in the release.
Michael Tick, dean of the College of Fine Arts, and Mary John O’Hair, dean of the College of Education, co-chaired the search committee that helped select Horodner.
“I am confident that the Lexington community will embrace this talented art administrator and curatorial thinker,” Tick said in the release. “I am looking forward to working with him to help move the museum forward.”
Horodner succeeds Kathy Walsh-Piper, who was vocal about the museum’s need for “a new director to take it to a new level, meaning a new building” in her exit last spring.
“This museum needs to be a priority for someone,” Walsh-Piper said in an article in the Lexington Herald-Leader. “The city has no art museum except us. It needs to be a part of the heart of the city, and for that to happen, the city and community need to support it more.”
Horodner said he is ready to take over the position of interim director Amy Nelson Young, director of grants and community assets for the museum, starting July 9.
“I’m excited about the museum’s role on the campus, in the Lexington community, and beyond.”