- Lowery Stokes Sims
Lowery Stokes Sims is Curator at the
Museum of Arts and Design . From 2000-2007 Sims was executive director then president ofThe Studio Museum in Harlem and served as Adjunct Curator for the Permanent Collection. Sims was on the education and curatorial staff of TheMetropolitan Museum of Art from 1972-1999. A specialist in modern and contemporary art she is known for her particular expertise in the work of African, Latino, Native and Asian American artists. She has published extensively and her research on the work of the Afro-Cuban Chinese Surrealist artistWifredo Lam was published by theUniversity of Texas Press in 2002. In 1997 she organized a survey of the work ofRichard Pousette-Dart at TheMetropolitan Museum of Art . Sims has lectured nationally and internationally and guest curated numerous exhibitions most recently at theNational Gallery , Kingston, Jamaica (2004), TheCleveland Museum of Art and theNew York Historical Society (2006). She is the editor and an essayist for the catalogue of theNational Museum of the American Indian ’s 2008 retrospective ofFritz Scholder . In 2003-04 Sims served on the jury for the memorial for theWorld Trade Center and between 2004 and 2006 served as the chair of the "Cultural Institutions Group", a coalition of museums, zoos, botanical gardens and performing organizations funded by the City of New York. Sims was a fellow at theClark Art Institute in spring 2007. In 2005 and 2006 she was Visiting Professor atQueens College andHunter College in New York City and in fall 2007 Visiting Scholar in the Department of Art at theUniversity of Minnesota , Twin Cities.Education
Sims received her Ph.D. in
art history in 1995 from theGraduate School of theCity University of New York . The subject of her dissertation wasWifredo Lam and the InternationalAvant-Garde , 1923-1992, which was published by theUniversity of Texas Press (2002). Sims has received honorary degrees from theMaryland Institute College of Art (1988),Moore College of Art and Design (1991),Parsons School of Design at theNew School University (2000), theAtlanta College of Art (2002), andCollege of New Rochelle andBrown University (2003). She holds a B.A. in art history from Queens College of the City University of New York, her M.A. in art history fromJohns Hopkins University . She graduated from Bishop Reilly HS in Fresh Meadows in 1966At the Met
At the Metropolitan Museum, she participated in the organization of several exhibitions including
Ellsworth Kelly (1979),John Marin : "Selected Works" from the Museum’s Collection (1981),Henry Moore : "60 Years of His Art" (1983), andCharles Burchfield (1984). In 1991, she curatedStuart Davis , "American Painter", and she was the principal author of the catalogue. In 1995, Ms. Sims coordinated the Museum’s venue of the exhibition "I Tell My Heart: The Art ofHorace Pippin ", organized by the Museum of the Pennsylvania Academy of Art, and curatedPaul Cadmus : "The Seven Deadly Sins" and "Selections from the Collection". In 1997, Dr. Sims curated the exhibitionRichard Pousette-Dart , 1916-1992 and coordinatedFrancesco Clemente : "Indian Watercolors" organized by theIndianapolis Museum of Art . In 1999 she organizedHans Hofmann in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and coordinated the exhibition Barbara Chase-Riboud: "Monument Drawings", organized by the St. John’s Museum inWilmington, North Carolina .Sims also organized several exhibitions from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum in cooperation with the American Federation of Arts, for which she was also involved in writing catalogues: "The Figure in Twentieth Century Art": Selections from the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1985), "The Landscape in Twentieth Century Art": Selections from the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1991), "American Still Life Painting" (1995). For more than a decade, Dr. Sims also was responsible for the annual installation of the Museums Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, including the 1999 installation, "Abakanowicz on the Roof".
The Studio Museum
At The Studio Museum in Harlem, Sims was the coordinating curator for the 2003 exhibition, "Challenge of the Modern": African American Artists, 1925-1945, and Fred Brown: "Icons and Heroes" (2003), which she originally curated for the
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art .In 2004 she was the curator for "Curator's Eye", focusing on contemporary
Installation art in Jamaica, at the National Gallery,Kingston, Jamaica . She was also the curator for "The Persistence of Geometry", selections from the collection of theCleveland Museum of Art , which was shown at theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland in 2006. That same year she co-curated "Legacies: Contemporary Artists Reflect on Slavery" at theNew York Historical Society .Lectures and teaching
Sims has written extensively on modern and contemporary artists, with a special interest in African, Latino, Native and Asian American artists. She has lectured at
Princeton University ,Vassar College , theDetroit Institute of Arts , theHigh Museum , the Columbus Art Museum,University of Arizona at Tucson, Birmingham Art Museum, theHirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden , theUniversity of Texas at Austin ,Museum of Fine Arts, Houston ,Florida International University , San Antonio Museum of Art, Hobart and William Smith College, The National Gallery ofBermuda ,Ball State University andWellesley College , among other institutions. In 1991 she received the Frank Jewett Mather Award from the College Art Association for distinction in art criticism.Sims has also had extensive experience teaching art history and museum practice at Queens College, the
School of Visual Arts in New York City, and the Center for Curatorial Studies atBard College . She also has been a lecturer for the Internship Program at The Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Curatorial and Museum Training Internship courses at the Institute of Fine Arts,New York University ; and a visiting critic and lecturer at theUniversity of Pennsylvania , theMaryland Institute College of Art , the University of Texas at Austin and theUniversity of Hawaii . In 2005 she was appointed A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University.Guest curator
She has served nationally and internationally as a juror and guest curator at The Queens Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem,
Pratt Institute , the Caribbean Cultural Center (New York),Cooper Union , TheNew Museum of Contemporary Art , the California Museum of Afro-American History and Culture, the Maryland Institute College of Art, and the Contemporary Art Center inNew Orleans and the National Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica.Public appointments
While at the Studio Museum Sims served as Chair of the Cultural Institutions Group, a coalition of botanical gardens, historic sites, museums and zoos funded by the City of New York. She also served on panels for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York City, The Metropolitan Life Foundation, The
New York State Council on the Arts , and theNational Endowment for the Arts and the Humanities. In 1981, Ms. Sims was elected member of the Commission on the Status of Women of the City of New York, and in 1987 was appointed for a five-year term to the New York State Council on the Arts byGovernor Mario Cuomo . She has served on the board of Art Table, Inc. and the Caribbean Cultural Center and the advisory committee of the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at theNew School for Social Research , and the advisory committee of the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. She is currently on the boards of the Art Matters and Tiffany Foundations and Art 21. In 1993, she was elected to the board of the College Art Association for a four-year term, and was co-chair of the studio art program for the 1994 annual conference of the CAA. In 2003-2004, she served on the jury for theWorld Trade Center Site Memorial Competition to choose the memorial for the World Trade Center site. In 2006, she was the Porter Colloquium Keynote Speaker. [http://www.portercolloquium.org James A. Porter Colloquium on African American Art]Notes
External links
*worldcat id|lccn-n84-228840
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