Rhode Island School of Design names museum director

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – The Museum of Art at the Rhode Island School of Design is getting a new director two years after the last one quit abruptly, a departure that prompted a revision of how the institution is managed, museum and RISD officials say.

John W. Smith, currently the director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art in Washington, will take over at the museum – one of New England’s prized attractions – from interim director Ann Woolsey, who has been at the helm since August 2009. He is scheduled to start in September.

Smith says he plans to work closely with curators and others to develop a direction in which to take the museum, which houses 86,000 objects and is affiliated with RISD, which ranks among the nation’s premier art and design institutions.

“My first few months on the job will involve a lot of listening and a lot of learning and a lot of looking,” he told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “I want to go in and see what’s working and what hasn’t worked in the past.”

Unlike his predecessors in recent years, Smith will answer to the chair of the museum’s 29-member Board of Governors rather than the president of RISD. That change and the decision to give the board more financial responsibility for the museum were made because conflicts between the director and the school – some financial, others interpersonal – have driven the last four directors to leave earlier than expected, according to Dr. William Tsiaris, the incoming chair of the Board of Governors.

The last permanent director, Hope Alswang, left the institution unexpectedly in August 2009, four years after taking on the position. At the time, some of her supporters suggested her decision may have been prompted by a running tension between the school and the museum over budget cuts and other issues.

Alswang did not return phone and email messages seeking comment, and current RISD President John Maeda was not available for comment.

“The more you can buffer direct relationships, sometimes the better,” Tsiaris said.

The move also promotes continuity because “it severs the tenure of the museum director from the tenure of the president,” said Merrill Sherman, who chairs RISD’s Board of Trustees.

For his part, Smith says he’s not concerned about past imbroglios.

“If coming into a job you’re looking at the past, then you’re looking in the wrong direction,” he said.

Despite the new buffer between the museum and RISD, Smith says he wants to tap into the intellectual and creative resources offered by the museum’s connection to the school.

“It’s not just, ‘Aren’t these objects beautiful or historically or culturally important?’ You’ve got the people there who can explain how they’re put together,” he said. “They can explain how this beautiful piece of furniture was actually made by an American craftsman in the 18th century.”

Smith was chosen from among 18 candidates because of his success at the Archives of American Art, said Tsiaris, who chaired the search committee for the RISD museum.

“We felt he was somebody who could organize and is a good manager and has shown skill working at a place like ours in terms of size and budget,” he said. He also praised Smith’s experience in fundraising.

At the Archives of American Art, among other achievements, Smith helped increase the collection’s visibility through publications and exhibitions. He also oversaw the digitization of 1.5 million objects from the collection, which can be seen on the archive’s website. Smith says he hopes to undertake a similar digitization effort at the RISD museum.

As for Smith’s decision to change jobs, his longtime admiration for the RISD museum inclined him toward taking the position when he was offered it, he said, though it wasn’t an easy decision to make.

“I’m in a position now that I really love – being the director of Archives of American Art and working at the Smithsonian,” Smith said. “It took something very special to convince me to give up a position I’m actually quite happy in.”

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or rebroadcast.

AP-WF-06-16-11 0533GMT

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