ASSOCIATION OF ART MUSEUM CURATORS & AAMC FOUNDATION 
2017 AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE RECIPIENTS

AAMC’S AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE RECIPIENTS ANNOUNCED

NEW YORK, NY, MAY 8, 2017—The Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC) & AAMC Foundation announced, during its Annual Conference & Meeting, the 2017 recipients of its Awards for Excellence, the organizations’ annual prize dedicated to recognizing groundbreaking new scholarship in the field.  AAMC received nearly 120 nominations for the 2017 Awards and selected 26 curators for their work on some 17 projects, including exhibitions, catalogues, essays, and digital publications, all mounted or published during 2016.  AAMC celebrated the accomplishments of the Awardees with an evening reception at the International Center of Photography at the ICP Museum on Sunday, May 7.

The Awards this year included projects engaging large-scale international loan exhibitions, collaborations between local organizations and those working together across multiple cities, and in-depth research into new areas of scholarship.  Awards were distributed across fields of disciplines and institutional locations, highlighting the importance of curatorial engagement within our communities across the globe. A full listing of Awardees follows. 

“In honoring digital publications for the first time, the AAMC is adding its support to the important contribution curators are making in the digital realm,” said Judith Pineiro, Executive Director, AAMC & AAMC Foundation, “It is critical to celebrate advancements in the field, and those curators moving the profession forward through innovations in interpretation and access.”

Since their launch in 2004, the AAMC has honored nearly 150 curators through the Awards.  The Awards are the only recognition of their kind by which curators directly honor the work of their colleagues, and are highly esteemed by art curators everywhere.  The Award process opens in the fall, with nominations accepted over a three-month period.  Jurors, chosen for their expertise and respect within the community, review nominations in predetermined categories and select Award recipients. As curatorial roles evolve, the AAMC has continued to review the Award categories and vetting process to be inclusive of all curatorial achievements in scholarship, education and visitor experience. More information is available at http://www.artcurators.org/?page=2017Awards.

2017 AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE RECIPIENTS

Catalogue or Publication Award Categories

Organization with an operating budget under $2 million Awardee
TRACY L. ADLER, Johnson-Pote Director, Ruth & Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College
for Yun-Fei Ji: The Intimate Universe at the Ruth & Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College

Organization with an operating budget of $2 - $6 million Awardee 
JESSICA MOSS, Consulting Curator, Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago
for Monster Roster: Existentialist Art in Postwar Chicago at the Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago

Organization with an operating budget of $6 - $15 million Awardee
MELISSA WOLFE, Curator of American Art, Saint Louis Art Museum
for Subversion & Surrealism in the Art of Honoré Sharrer at the Columbus Museum of Art

Organization with an operating budget of $15 - $30 million Awardee
FORREST MCGILL, Wattis Senior Curator of South & Southeast Asian Art, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco for The Rama Epic: Hero, Heroine, Ally, Foe at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

Organization with an operating budget over $30 million Awardees
SEAN HEMINGWAY, Curator, Greek & Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
CARLOS A. PICON, Curator-in-Charge, Greek & Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
both for Pergamon & the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Honorable Mention
CAROL S. ELIEL, Curator of Modern Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
KAROLE P.B. VAIL, Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
MATTHEW S. WITKOVSKY, Richard & Ellen Sandor Chair & Curator, Department of Photography, The Art Institute of Chicago
all for Moholy-Nagy: Future Present at The Art Institute of Chicago, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, & the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Exhibition Award Categories

Organization with an operating budget under $2 million Awardee
PAMELA S. WALL, Curator of Exhibitions, Gibbes Museum of Art
for The Things We Carry: Contemporary Art in the South at the Gibbes Museum of Art

Organization with an operating budget of $2 - $6 million Awardee
STACY C. HOLLANDER, Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs, Chief Curator, Director of Exhibitions, American Folk Art Museum
for Securing the Shadow: Posthumous Portraiture in America at the American Folk Art Museum

Organization with an operating budget of $6 - $15 million Awardees
NANCY KATHRYN BURNS, Assistant Curator of Prints, Drawings & Photographs, Worcester Art Museum
KRISTINA WILSON, Associate Professor of Art History, & Chair, Department of Visual & Performing Arts, Clark University
Both for Cyanotypes: Photography's Blue Period at the Worcester Art Museum

Organization with an operating budget of $15 - $30 million Awardees (tie)
ANNE-MARIE EZE, Director of Scholarly & Public Programs, Houghton Library, Harvard University
NATHANIEL SILVER, Associate Curator, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
both for Beyond Words: Italian Renaissance Books at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

MASSUMEH FARHAD, Chief Curator & Curator of Islamic Art, Freer Gallery of Art | Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
SIMON RETTIG, Assistant Curator of Islamic Art, Freer Gallery of Art | Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
both for The Art of the Qur’an: Treasures from the Museum of Turkish & Islamic Arts at the Freer Gallery of Art | Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Honorable Mention
JENS HOFFMANN, Deputy Director, Exhibitions & Public Programs, The Jewish Museum
CLAUDIA J. NAHSON, Morris & Eva Feld Curator, The Jewish Museum
both for Roberto Burle Marx: Brazilian Modernist at The Jewish Museum

Organization with an operating budget over $30 million Awardees
AL MINER, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
LAURA WEINSTEIN, Ananda Coomaraswamy Curator of South Asian & Islamic Art & Acting Matsutaro Shoriki Chair, Art of Asia, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
both for Megacities Asia at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Article, Essay or Extended Catalogue Entry

Awardee
STACY C. HOLLANDER, Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs, Chief Curator, Director of Exhibitions, American Folk Art Museum
for Securing the Shadow: Posthumous Portraiture in America at the American Folk Art Museum

Honorable Mention
AARON WILE, Chester Dale Fellow, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; PhD Candidate, History of Art & Architecture, Harvard University
for Watteau & the Inner Life of War at The Frick Collection

Digital Publication Category

Awardee
ALEXANDRA (SASHA) SUDA, Curator, European Art & R. Fraser Elliott Chair, Print & Drawing Council, Art Gallery of Ontario Toronto
for The Boxwood Project at the Art Gallery of Ontario Toronto

Honorable Mention
DIETER ROELSTRAETE, former Manilow Senior Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, currently Curator, Documenta 14
ABIGAIL WINOGRAD, former Research Associate, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, currently Independent Curator & Transhistorical Fellow Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, the Netherlands
both for Kerry James Marshall: Mastry at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

ABOUT AAMC & AAMC FOUNDATION

Founded in 2001, the Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC) today has over 1,300 members from over 400 institutions around the globe. AAMC & AAMC Foundation celebrate the curatorial narrative by supporting and promoting the work of art curators at all stages in their career through opportunities for networking, collaboration, professional development, and career advancement.  In the ever-changing, non-profit visual art world, AAMC is the voice for all curators—regardless of field, experience level, and institutional type.  We ensure that the curatorial perspective on art, museums, and educational issues is actively communicated to the public, media, and museum profession.  For more information, visit artcurators.org.