FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 26, 2007

CONTACT:
Michael Johnson, Director of Communications
816-421-1388
michael@maaa.org

Arlette Klaric Selected as ExhibitsUSA Curator of Art EXhibitions

Kansas City, Mo.—ExhibitsUSA, the national museum service division of Mid-America Arts Alliance, announces the appointment of Arlette Klaric, Ph.D. as Curator of Art Exhibitions.

In her new position, Klaric will identify and implement new traveling exhibitions for ExhibitsUSA. Her other duties include coordination of exhibition development, budgets, and timelines; collaboration with curators, lenders, and host institutions; and assistance with issues of exhibition contents and tour format. Klaric specializes in modern and contemporary American art and material culture.

Klaric previously served as Executive Director of The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms in Morris Plains, New Jersey, where she managed the National Historic Landmark and oversaw curatorial affairs and education programs. Prior to joining the Stickley Museum, she taught design history at Buffalo State College, SUNY. Other previous positions include joint faculty-museum appointments at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, and Boston University. Her publications and exhibitions include an international traveling exhibition and catalogue on contemporary quilts and an article on the wave motif in contemporary design. Most recently she published a book chapter titled “Gustav Stickley’s Designs for the Home: An Activist Aesthetic for the Middle Class,” which appears in the anthology Seeing High and Low: Representing Social Conflict in American Visual Culture (Patricia Johnston, ed., University of California Press, 2006).

“We are very pleased that Arlette has accepted the Curator of  Art Exhibitions position,” said Dee Harris, Director of Visual Arts and Humanities. “During her distinguished career, Arlette has had one foot in the museum world and one foot in the academic world—her experiences are an excellent fit for the organization’s drive toward expanding its offerings in innovative contemporary arts and craft.”

A native of Kansas City, Klaric earned a bachelor degree in art history and French from the University of Kansas. While at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, she earned her master’s degree in the history of art and a doctorate in the history of American art.

Mid-America Arts Alliance, founded in 1972, is a nonprofit regional arts organization based in Kansas City, Missouri. It is governed by a board of directors drawn from its partner states of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. Major support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, participant state arts agencies, and leading foundations and corporations.

For more information, please visit www.maaa.org or contact Andrew Graham, andrew@maaa.org.