Committee members who reviewed and recommended candidates for director of the Blaffer Gallery’s have high praise for newly-appointed Claudia Schmuckli.
‘We wanted a person who has much knowledge in regard to contemporary art because we are a contemporary art museum. That was our foremost concern. We also wanted her to be a leader in putting a staff together. Claudia met that criteria very well,’ said Shirley Rose, advisory board members emeritus.
Rose, along with then dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and newly-appointed Provost-elect John Antel, and advisory board member Gordon Goodman said Schmuckli’s experience will allow her to bring various works to Houston.
Antel said Schmuckli was chosen for the position because she ‘possesses the talent, experience, and energy to step into her new role.’
Other landmarks of Schmuckli’s r’eacute;sum’eacute; include bachelor’s and master’s degrees in art history from Ludwigs-Maximillians-Universit’auml;t and curator positions at the Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City.
In the nationwide search for Blaffer’s new art gallery director, Schmuckli was chosen from a list of highly-qualified candidates, Antel said.
‘The search committee took particular notice of Claudia’s strong leadership in the absence of a director over the past nine months. Her vision for the museum combined with the impressive list of exciting exhibitions that she organized made her most qualified for job.’
Schmuckli said she is excited to begin her new endeavor as Blaffer’s museum director.
‘I inherit a healthy institution with an exceptionally dedicated staff, enthusiastic board and an ambitious agenda,’ Schmuckli said. ‘With new University leadership in place that has made the advancement of the arts one of its top priorities, this is a unique opportunity to build on past successes and to expand the reach of the museum’s exhibitions and programs on and off campus.’
Schmuckli also wants to give artists the chance to display work in their first professionally-curated museum exhibition and scholarly-researched publication.
‘I would like to reinvigorate the idea of the university museum as a laboratory for ideas and a venue for experimentation,’ Schmuckli said.
Rose is also excited about what Schmuckli will bring to the art gallery in the future as well.
‘We want to have outstanding exhibitions,’ Rose said. ‘We have very high hopes for our museum. …Our goal as a museum is to be among the very best non-collecting university contemporary art museums.’
Goodman said Schmuckli has demonstrated outstanding curatorial skills at past Blaffer gallery exhibitions, including recently-opened shows.
‘Claudia possesses the personal qualities necessary for success within a diverse institutional environment.’ Goodman said.
