Dear Friends,
Next week, I shall be retiring from the Nasher Sculpture Center as Director. When, 15 years ago, I arrived in Dallas at the Nasher, I had many hopes and aspirations. I am proud to say my experience here has far exceeded all of those original desires. Today, the Nasher Sculpture Center stands better poised than ever to spread its influence across this community and around the world, to serve artists and audiences locally and internationally, to raise awareness of sculpture, and to foster the many ways in which sculpture can impact individuals and communities.
I began with three clear goals: to deepen and extend the Nasher’s connections to the North Texas community, to build our international reputation, and to engage artists—local, national, and international—in as many parts of our program as possible. Every program initiated over the past 15 years has aligned with at least one of those three goals.
We began to organize exhibitions of living artists, including artists not yet in the collection, and some of these exhibitions—Martin Creed, Katharina Grosse and, most recently, Sarah Sze come to mind—expand our understanding of what sculpture can be. We also organized historical shows, including First Sculpture: Handaxe to Figure Stone, The Nature of Arp, and Harry Bertoia:Sculpting Mid-Century Modern Life, that have been critically lauded and deeply influential upon scholarship.
Our most ambitious exhibition, organized in honor of the Nasher’s 10th Anniversary, Nasher XChange, commissioned 10 public works in neighborhoods across Dallas, by local, national, and international artists. This project, in many ways transformational for the Nasher, attracted wide attention, and helped Dallas to see us not only as a jewel in the Dallas Arts District, but as an organization with a vital role to play across the community.
Beyond these grand endeavors, we launched a host of smaller initiatives; projects that both spoke to our mission and extended our influence. Significant artist talks, Soundings a bespoke classical music series, The Nasher magazine, the Great Create family fundraiser, Artist Grants (a program that now, thanks to the amazing generosity of the members of our Program Advisory Council, is endowed in my honor), multiple educational and outreach programs: all of these, and many, many more—thanks to the hard work and remarkable creativity of our staff, and the consistent care and counsel of our Program Advisory Council and our Teachers and Student Advisory Committees—have developed over the past 15 years.
Perhaps our most significant and renowned program—Nasher Prize—also originated in these years. Launched in 2015, the Prize will next year honor our eighth laureate, Otobong Nkanga. While the Prize has gained substantial international recognition and acclaim, bringing attention to the Nasher and to Dallas, it has also been an active force in this community, through a host of related programs and events that engage families, students, artists, and art enthusiasts from across North Texas. When Otobong Nkanga exhibits works at the Nasher next spring, her show will include works made in collaboration with locally based artists and artisans, community groups, and small businesses. Her beautiful, powerful, insightful, and inspirational work will speak to ideas and issues felt with equal force and specificity here, and in communities across the globe.
For the Nasher, while our board conducts a search for my successor, our Chief Curator, Jed Morse has agreed to step into the breach as Interim Director. For any of you who don’t (yet) know Jed personally, you doubtless know his work. Think Sterling Ruby, Harry Bertoia, and Sarah Sze among the numerous exhibitions he’s organized, along with countless permanent collection installations, and many more projects you’ve likely experienced that he’s conceived and overseen.
Jed happens to be our longest-serving employee, having worked for the Nasher since before we even opened. No one knows better our collection, programs, and operations. He has asked not to be considered for the permanent position of Director, preferring to return to his current position of Chief Curator, which he deeply loves. However, during this interim period, the Nasher could not be in better hands.
Thank you so very much for your interest in the Nasher over the years. I am confident that the Nasher will continue to play a key role in conversations around sculpture, as it makes vital contributions to the production and understanding of culture in the Dallas community and far beyond.
Yours sincerely,
Jeremy