Art, Design & Architecture Museum UC Santa Barbara, Los Angeles News, California

Art, Design & Architecture Museum Appointments News

Director Emeritus + Acting Director: Southern Californian, USA – appointments news

Sep 4, 2019

Art, Design & Architecture Museum, UC Santa Barbara Appointments

Address: 552 University Rd, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
Phone: +1 805-893-2951

Dr. Bruce Robertson named Director Emeritus and Elyse A. Gonzales named Acting Director

We are happy to announce that Professor Robertson has been named Director Emeritus of the Art, Design & Architecture Museum. In this capacity he will continue to share his expertise and wisdom for the benefit of the Museum. Assistant Director/Curator of Exhibitions Elyse A. Gonzales has been named Acting Director as the University spearheads a national search.

Dr. Bruce Robertson Director Emeritus Art, Design & Architecture Museum, UC Santa Barbara:

In June 2019, Dr. Robertson retired from his positions at UC Santa Barbara. He held the Directorship at the Museum beginning in 2010 and from 1991, he was a professor of American Art in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture. During his 28 years he displayed exemplary leadership and direction both in his home department and at the Museum. While he will be missed we are thrilled he continues to be involved in our efforts.

During his tenure as a professor, Dr. Robertson served as a Deputy Director at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He published across a wide range of topics, from the 16th-century to the present and recently he has delved into Chinese modernism. He curated dozens of exhibitions that traveled nationally and internationally. His most recent exhibitions include The Illuminated Imagination: The Art of C. G. Jung and accompanied by a publication Radical Bodies: Anna Halprin, Simone Forti, and Yvonne Rainer in California and New York 1955-1972 (co-curated with Ninotchka D. Bennahum and Wendy Perron).

Some of Dr. Robertson’s other notable achievements during his tenure include: guiding the Museum through a seismic retrofit, helping the Museum achieve national re-accreditation, safely re-housing the Museum’s collections, facilitating an increase in attendance by 50%, and organizing the travel of several exhibitions both nationally and internationally.

“The greatest pleasure of being Director has been the opportunity to work with great colleagues,” recalls Dr. Robertson. “I accepted the request to become Acting Director in the first place in order to protect the museum and see it through the seismic retrofit. But I stayed on because I was having so much fun. Building a community and an audience has been the biggest reward. Not to mention all the great books and exhibitions we’ve been able to do.”

Elyse A. Gonzales named Acting Director Art, Design & Architecture Museum, UC Santa Barbara:

Ms. Gonzales has worked at the AD&A Museum since 2008 originally hired as Curator of Exhibitions. In 2015, she was promoted to Assistant Director. This is the second time she has been named Acting Director, the first was when Dr. Robertson took a yearlong sabbatical. She will serve in this capacity while the Dean of the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts at UC Santa Barbara appoints a search committee to identify a new director.

While at the Museum Ms. Gonzales has curated numerous collection exhibitions including: Roberto Benavidez: Piñatas of Earthly Delights; The Schoolhouse and the Bus: Mobility, Pedagogy, and Engagement, Two Projects by Pablo Helguera and Suzanne Lacy / Pilar Riaño-Alcalá. Group shows have included The Stumbling Present: Ruins in Contemporary Art; Starting Here: A Selection of Distinguished Artists from UCSB; Peake/Picasso; and Shana Lutker, Anna Sew Hoy, and Brenna Youngblood: CB08, the California Biennial. She is currently working on an exhibition from the Museum’s permanent collection of Keith Puccinelli’s art and his private collection.

During her tenure she initiated an Artist-in-Residence exhibition program, and commissioned artists Zoe Strauss, Stephen Westfall, Fran Siegel, Ann Diener, and Eric Beltz. Her curatorial activities are enhanced by her numerous essay contributions and exhibition catalogs. Additionally, she has augmented the Museum’s holdings by accessioning work by several artists, among them Amy Cutler, Lee Mullican, Asad Faulwell, Ja’Tovia Gary, John Nava, Catherine Opie, Lari Pittman, Ilene Segalove, Fran Siegel, and Stephen Westfall.

An ongoing passion for the wellbeing of cultural arts in the region has resulted in her participation as a Steering Committee Member in the Creative Communities Project, which is focused on developing a roadmap for the future growth, vitality, and sustainability of Santa Barbara County’s cultural sector (2016-present). Equally important are her efforts as a Board Member of the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara (2016-present).

Prior to working at the AD&A Museum, Gonzales was Assistant Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania from 2001-2008 and Special Projects Assistant at the Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA from 2000-2001. Gonzales received an MA from Williams College in 2000 and a BA from the University of New Mexico in 1996.

Art, Design & Architecture Museum images / information from Art, Design & Architecture Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

Previously on e-architect:

Dec 5, 2018

New Curator at Art, Design & Architecture Museum, UC Santa Barbara

The Art, Architecture & Design Museum, UC Santa Barbara, is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr. Silvia Perea as the next curator of the Art and Design Collection at the Museum.

New Curator at Art, Design & Architecture Museum, UC Santa Barbara News

Location: Art, Design & Architecture Museum, UC Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, CA 90013, United States of America

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Beverly Center Renewal – The Mall of the Stars, 8500 Beverly Boulevard, edge of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, L.A.
Design: Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, Architects

photo © John Linden
Beverly Center Building Renovation