The Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo, Ohio, has announced that Diane Wright will be the 116-year-old institution's new curator of glass, and will take over the position in November. The museum features a 74,000-square-foot glass pavilion, which showcases a working glass studio as well as galleries holding over 5,000 pieces. The previous curator of glass, Jutta Annette Page, held the position for 13 years before she departed recently to take the helm of the newly built Barry Art Museum in Virginia, which is not far from Norfolk, Virginia, where the Chrysler is located.
Wright's departure from the Chrysler comes on the heels of outgoing glass studio manager and program director Charlotte Potter's summer announcement of her plans to relocate to her home state of Vermont to focus on her personal art practice and growing family.
In a prepared statement, TMA president, director, and CEO Brian Kennedy said Wright will be able to “advance the reputation of Toledo’s glass and state-of-the-art Glass Pavilion” with her “impressive background in glass arts education and curation.” Wright will officially start as curator of glass on November 13, 2017, and her role will entail overseeing TMA’s world-renowned glass decorative arts collection, including acquisitions, research, exhibitions, and publications.
Wright holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Utah and a Masters in the History of Decorative Arts from Parsons School of Design at the New School. She completed graduate internships at several museums, one being the Chrysler Museum of Art where she served as the Carolyn and Richard Barry Curator of Glass until her transition to Toledo.
Wright has taught courses on decorative arts and design at George Mason University, the Rhode Island School of Design, Corcoran College of Art and Design and Parsons. She’s contributed her knowledge in glass arts in the form of lecture presentations and articles in scholarly publications.
Earlier, Wright was a marketing and communications manager at the Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle, a Marcia Brady Tucker senior curatorial fellow at the Yale University art gallery, and a museum educator at the Corning Museum of Glass.
“Diane Wright will be a wonderful addition to the Toledo Museum of Art Curatorial team,” says Halona Norton-Westbrook, director of collections, in a prepared statement. She describing Wright as “an exceptional candidate with a compelling combination of curatorial experience and strong skills in both teaching and research.”