NEW ORLEANS, LA- Susan M. Taylor, the Montine McDaniel Freeman Director of NOMA, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mel Buchanan as the RosaMary Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the New Orleans Museum of Art.
“The Department of Decorative Arts and Design at NOMA has a large portion of the museum’s collection, with more than 15,000 works of art,” said Susan Taylor. “The collection encompasses all time periods from a wide range of cultures and continents. We look forward to working with Ms. Buchanan on showcasing our decorative arts collection in new and imaginative ways.”
Buchanan received her undergraduate degree in American Studies from Yale University and received her master’s degree from the University of Delaware Winterthur Program in American Material Culture where she focused on early American culture.
Buchanan said, “I am thrilled to join the dynamic team atNOMA, and I look forward to exploring the beauty, craft, and range of the museum’s rich decorative arts collection. Each object carries with it a story, both in its original cultural context and its journey to New Orleans, and I am eager to make that story meaningful to the NOMA community.”
Since 2009, Mel has been the Demmer Assistant Curator of 20th-century Design at the Milwaukee Art Museum, and previously served as Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts at The RISD Museum. During her career, she has curated numerous collection and loan exhibitions including the acclaimed exhibition Grete Marks: When Modern Was Degenerate (Sept 6, 2012 – Feb 17, 2013). She also founded and co-edited the Milwaukee Art Museum blog, managed museum collection archives and developed collection plans for both gifts and acquisitions.
NOMA Admission
Wednesdays are FREE for all museum visitors. Adults, $10; Seniors (65 and up) and Students, $8; Children 7-17, $6; Children 6 and under, free.
About NOMA and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden
The New Orleans Museum of Art, founded in 1910 by Isaac Delgado, houses nearly 40,000 art objects encompassing 4,000 years of world art. Works from the permanent collection, along with continuously changing temporary exhibitions, are on view in the museum’s 46 galleries Fridays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The adjacent Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden features work by over 60 artists, including several of the 20th century’s master sculptors. The Sculpture Garden is open seven days a week and is free to the public. The New Orleans Museum of Art and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden are fully accessible to handicapped visitors and wheelchairs are available from the front desk. For more information about NOMA, call (504) 658-4100 or visit www.noma.org.