The Fuller Craft Museum's new executive director Wynona Lynch-McWhite
New England’s Fuller Craft Museum, which has featured glass exhibitions of work by Ricky Bernstein, Preston Singletary, and Steven Easton among many others, will be using glass and other craft media as a community teaching tool, creating hands-on experiences for patrons as it continues to showcase glass art, says newly appointed Executive Director Wynona Lynch-McWhite. The experienced museum administrator took the reigns early this month from former boss Gretchen Keyworth, who remains with the museum as chief curator.
Previously director and chief curator of the Elanor D. Wilson Museum in Roanoke, Virgina, Lynch-McWhite moved to Massachusetts in 2008. She had been serving as deputy director of the Fuller Craft Museum for a year before her recent promotion.
In response to emailed questions about her plans for the Fuller, Lynch-McWhite told the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet that the museum will create new ways for audiences to experience art, including glass art, first-hand. She plans to develop an interactive family space that focuses on glass as a material, emphasizing the importance of teaching patrons about glass and providing glass-making experiences with the help of area glass studios.
“We are committed to engaging our community in the dialogue about craft, both its traditions and its innovations,” she said.
The museum will also continue to push glass as a featured medium in its galleries. According to the new director, glass will play a key role in upcoming group exhibitions as well as single artist exhibitions, with a Josh Simpson solo show as one upcoming highlight.
“I can’t think of a period since I arrived at the museum,” she said, “where glass was not on view within our galleries.”
—Brett Nuckles