Elizabeth Smith joined the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation as its first executive director in fall 2013.
Her previous position as executive director, curatorial affairs at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in Toronto was from 2010 to 2013, and her position as Chief Curator and Deputy Director of Programs at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) was from 1999 to 2009. Prior to joining MCA, her position as Curator at The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles was from 1983 to 1999.
Smith's curatorial work and writings have spread extensively across many areas, including visual art, public art, and architecture from mid-20th century forward, and have continuously advanced the work of many women artists. While at AGO, Smith curated and oversaw exhibitions on the work of artists Yael Bartana and Kim Adams, as well as group shows with artists including LaToya Ruby Frazier and
Erin Shirreff
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Early life and education
Shireff was born in 1975 in Kelowna, British Columbia. Shirreff received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Univ ...
, and was curator-in-charge of traveling exhibitions such as ''Abstract Expressionist New York'', ''Chagall and the Russian Avant-Garde'', and ''Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée Picasso.''
As MCA's Chief Curator, Smith curated solo exhibitions of artists Jenny Holzer, Lee Bontecou, Kerry James Marshall, Roberto Matta, Catherine Opie, and
Donald Moffett
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Life and work
Moffett was born in San Antonio, Texas, where he studied art and biology at Trinity University, earning a BA.R.M. Schindler'', named by the American section of the International Association of Art Critics as the "Best Architecture or Design Exhibition of the Year", and ''At the End of the Century: 100 Years of Architecture'' to a survey of the Cindy Sherman's photographs and the first museum presentations of then-emerging artists
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,
Toba Khedoori
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Biography
Khedoori was born in Sydney of Jewish-Iraqi parentage an ...
Margaret Honda Margaret Honda (born 1961) is an American experimental filmmaker and artist based in California. She began her career in sculpture before turning to film.
Early life and education
Honda was born and raised in San Diego, California. She received a ...
as well as a collaboration between artist Kiki Smith and architect Wolf Prix of Coop Himmelblau.
Besides her exhibition catalogues, Smith's writings have appeared in such publications as '' Do-ho Suh: Drawings''; ''Chicago Makes Modern''; '' Buckminster Fuller: Starting with the Universe''; ''Design Cities 1851–2008''; ''Birth of the Cool''; and the ''54th Carnegie International''. She is the author of ''Techno Architecture'' (2000) and books on the Los Angeles Case Study Houses (2002/2006). Her essay "Redefining a Practice: Helen Frankenthaler and Painting in the Early 1960s" appeared in the catalogue ''Helen Frankenthaler: Composing with Color, 1962–1963'', co-published by Gagosian Gallery and Rizzoli International Publications in 2014. Her essay on Helen Frankenthaler's use of color was published in a special issue on color in the journal PUBLIC, in October 2015, her text on five sculptors of the 1950s appears in the book "Revolution in the making: Abstract Sculpture by Women 1947–2016," and she is the lead essayist in the 2021 book ''Catherine Opie'', published by
Phaidon Press
Phaidon Press is a global publisher of books on art, architecture, design, fashion, photography, and popular culture, as well as cookbooks, children's books, and travel books. The company is based in London and New York City, with additional off ...
adjunct professor
An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and
the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...
in the Public Art Studies program of the School of Fine Arts at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and at the School of the
Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...
, for helping American audiences connect with French artists across decades. She has served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC), and ArtTable, a leadership organization for women in the arts.
In 2004 Smith won the "Best Monographic Museum Show Nationally" award from the Art Critics Association/USA for her exhibition ''Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective'', and her catalogue for the exhibition was described by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, as "one of the best-selling in the museum's history."See: ''Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago's Annual Report, July 1, 2003 June 30, 2004''. /ref>