Alison "Ali" Gass is an American curator and museum director. She is the founding director of the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco.[1] She has served as the director of the Institute of Contemporary Art San José,[2] Smart Museum of Art,[3] and chief curator of the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University.[4][5]
Alison Gass | |
|---|---|
| Education | Columbia University (BA) New York University Institute of Fine Arts (MA) |
| Occupation(s) | Curator, museum director |
| Organization | Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco |
Biography
editGass is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area.[6] She obtained her BA from Columbia University and MFA from the New York University Institute of Fine Arts.[7]
Gass began her museum career as a curatorial assistant at the Jewish Museum in New York City, then as an assistant curator of painting and sculpture at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. At SFMOMA, she curated SECA Art Award exhibitions and assisted with the organization of the Luc Tuymans retrospective.[8] She was named a young curator to watch by The New York Times in 2010.[9]
In 2012, she became deputy director and chief curator at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University.[10][11] She helped launch the new building designed by Zaha Hadid and established a global contemporary program featuring artists such as Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Hope Gangloff, Teresita Fernandez, Sharon Hayes.[3]
In 2014, Gass was named associate director for Collections, Exhibitions, and Curatorial Affairs at the Cantor Arts Center of Stanford University.[12][13] She was chief curator at Stanford when she was appointed director of the University of Chicago's Smart Museum of Art in 2017, serving until 2019.[14][15] She also taught at California College of the Arts and City College of New York.[15]
Gass was named director of the Institute of Contemporary Art San José (ICA SJ) in 2020.[5][6] In 2021, Gass joined the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco (ICA SF), an experimental, non-collecting museum featuring a range of temporary exhibitions, as its founding director.[16] During the pandemic, she raised 2.5 million for the fledgling institution that is set to open in the fall of 2022.[17]
Personal life
editGass is married to architect Alec Hathaway.[18][19][20] The couple has two children.[21]
References
edit- ^ Finkel, Jori (2021-09-08). "San Francisco Gets Its Own Institute of Contemporary Art". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
- ^ "New era set to start at San Jose's Institute of Contemporary Art". The Mercury News. 2020-06-03. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
- ^ a b "Alison Gass appointed Dana Feitler Director | Smart Museum of Art". smartmuseum.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
- ^ "Alison Gass - CCL Class of 2017". Center for Curatorial Leadership. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
- ^ a b Desmarais, Charles (May 29, 2020). "Alison Gass named new director at San José Institute of Contemporary Art". Datebook | San Francisco Arts & Entertainment Guide. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
- ^ a b "San José Institute of Contemporary Art Names Alison Gass Director". www.artforum.com. 2 June 2020. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
- ^ Columbia College (Columbia University). Office of Alumni Affairs and Development; Columbia College (Columbia University) (April 2003). Columbia College today. Columbia University Libraries. New York, N.Y. : Columbia College, Office of Alumni Affairs and Development.
- ^ "Fifty Years of Bay Area Art: The SECA Awards". SFMOMA. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
- ^ Vogel, Carol (2010-03-14). "The New Guard of Curators Steps Up". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
- ^ "Staff profiles: Alison Gass". MSUToday | Michigan State University. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
- ^ Artdaily. "Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University appoints Alison Gass as curator". artdaily.cc. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
- ^ Artdaily. "Ali Gass appointed to new position at Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University". artdaily.cc. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
- ^ "Stanford Art Curator Named New Head of Smart Museum". www.chicagomaroon.com. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
- ^ Chicago, Classic. "Alison Gass: Shaking up the Smart | Classic Chicago Magazine". classicchicagomagazine.com. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
- ^ a b Brown, Angela (2017-01-09). "Alison Gass Appointed Director of Chicago's Smart Museum of Art". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
- ^ "Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco Announces Key Hires, Inaugural Programs". www.artforum.com. 30 November 2021. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
- ^ "Movers & Shakers: The Newsworthy And Noteworthy". The Nob Hill Gazette. 2021-10-06. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
- ^ "A house on a rooftop in Chicago's Printers Row neighborhood sold at a loss". The Real Deal Chicago. 2022-02-01. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
- ^ "This unusual rooftop house in Printers Row has a new owner". Crain's Chicago Business. 2022-01-30. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
- ^ "New associate curator at Broad Museum". MSUToday | Michigan State University. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
- ^ "An Interview with Smart Museum Director Alison Gass". Chicago Gallery News. Retrieved 2022-07-14.