Michael Darling, chief curator
Age: 43
Hails from: Long Beach, Calif.
Education: Master’s degree and doctorate in art and architectural history from the University of California at Santa Barbara; bachelor’s degree in art history from Stanford University
Prior job: Curator of modern and contemporary art at Seattle Art Museum
Curatorial philosophy: “Find the most relevant and revealing aspects of the art of today, and clearly deliver it to the public.”
Favorite piece in the MCA’s collection: “I love to see the collection grow, and one of the newest and perhaps more surprising additions is a major sculpture by Marc Camille Chaimowicz.”
Favorite piece in personal collection: “I mostly live with art by artist friends, and one favorite is a drawing by Jeffry Mitchell.”
Naomi Beckwith, curator
Age: 35
Hails from: Hyde Park
Education: Master’s degree in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London; bachelor’s degree in history from Northwestern University
Prior job: Associate curator at black artists-focused Studio Museum in Harlem
Curatorial philosophy: “Curating should create meaningful dialogues between artists and audiences, artworks and other artworks, the historical past and the imagined future.”
Favorite piece in the MCA’s collection: “As a college student, I remember being floored when I saw Adrian Piper’s ‘Cornered’ at the MCA — a work that deals with difficult and often unacknowledged aspects of American racial categorization. I went on to write about Piper for my M.A. thesis and follow her work and ideas.”
Favorite piece in personal collection: “The artist Sharon Hayes created an interactive installation which was, basically, a pile of video cassettes. Audience members could take a cassette away on one condition: Once you watch the video, you must give it away. It’s a project meant to circulate in the world, but let’s just say, I can’t bring myself to watch the video yet.”
TBD, senior curator
Age: Our best guess? Late-30s to early-40s.
Hails from: Given that Darling and Beckwith were both hired from afar, we’re guessing this new hire won’t be local.
Education: No doubt a master’s and bachelor’s in art or art history
Resume: Likely transferring from a curator position at a comparable institution in a major urban market
Ideal curatorial philosophy, according to Darling: “(Someone who) adds to the curatorial expertise already on staff at the MCA, covering areas of interest that are not already being pursued by the other curators, and bringing a wealth of knowledge and network of contacts that expands the abilities of the museum.”
— L.V.
