The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia, has announced that Eric Neil, currently the director of the Academy of Art in Easton, Maryland, has been selected to replace the outgoing William Hennessey, who has led the museum since 1997. (Hennessey announced his retirement last fall). On October 6, 2014, Neil will take the reins of this recently renovated museum that has a unique focus on glass art, not only in its substantial holdings, but also in an adjacent working glass studio where performance art and demonstrations have been a focus of the institution's diverse efforts to involve the community.
"I am very excited to come to the Chrysler and build upon the great work done by Bill Hennessey, the trustees, and the Museum staff," Neil said in a prepared statement. "The chance to work with such an outstanding collection and to be creative with it, to open up doors to new audiences is very appealing."
Neil brings a wide-ranging museum resume to the top post at the Chrysler, starting out as director of the Newcomb Art Gallery of Tulane University while he also served as an adjunct art history professor at the New Orleans institution. A briefly held position as director of exhibitions and programs at the American Federation of Arts in New York was followed by an executive director post at the Heckscher Museum in Huntington, New York. As director of the Academy Art Museum since 2010, he oversaw the commissioning of a site-specific installation by James Turrell.
Neil holds a B.A. (1986) in modern European and American history from Princeton University, and a Masters and Ph.D. (1995) in the history of art and architecture from Harvard. His wife, Luisa Adelfio, is a sculptor and an exhibiting artist.