NEW WINDSOR, NY.- Storm King Art Center has announced the appointment of Nora Lawrence to the position of Artistic Director and Chief Curator. Lawrence will be the first to hold the Artistic Director title at the Art Center. In her new role, Lawrence will direct Storm King’s curatorial program, providing vision, guidance, and leadership for the artistic functions of the Art Center. After more than 40 years leading Storm King’s curatorial program, David R. Collens will move into the role of Director Emeritus. In this capacity, he will collaborate with Lawrence and President John P. Stern to support curatorial projects. Collens will continue to serve as Ex Officio member of the Art Center’s Board of Trustees. Lawrence and Collens will begin their new posts in January 2022.
John P. Stern, Storm King President, said: “This is a pivotal moment for the institution. Over the past several years the scope of Storm King’s curatorial program has broadened in exciting ways. We have broken ground with new commissions and acquisitions and cultivated relationships with artists from diverse practices and backgrounds. As our longtime Director and Chief Curator, David has always given the Art Center his heart and soul. The unique experience of being at Storm King is in large part due to his singular vision, dedication, and collaboration. We are looking forward to his continued involvement in this new position. We are thrilled that Nora, a driving force behind our ambitious curatorial programming, will rise into this newly created role. We value her deep commitment to artists and thoughtful understanding of sculpture in dialogue with landscape.”
Since joining the Art Center in 2011, Lawrence has played an integral role in bringing a new generation of artists to Storm King. She established the annual Outlooks program in 2013, which invites one emerging or mid-career artist to engage deeply with Storm King’s landscape and collaborate with the museum’s Curatorial, Facilities & Conservation, and Education & Public Programs teams to realize a temporary site-specific work. Founded in part to bridge twentieth- and twenty-first-century art production at Storm King, as well as give artists the opportunity to create outdoor sculpture on a grand scale, Outlooks presents innovative ways in which contemporary artists engage with natural spaces. In 2020 and 2021, artist Martha Tuttle presented A stone that thinks of Enceladus, an installation of boulders and hand-carved stone cairns in one of Storm King’s south fields. Past iterations have included David Brooks, Virginia Overton, Heather Hart, and Jean Shin, among others.
In 2015, Lawrence and the Education & Public Programs team worked to launch Storm King’s first-ever artist residency, in collaboration with Shandaken Projects. Shandaken: Storm King is open to artists of all practices, with the particular aim of supporting process and experimentation. Residents enjoy the singular setting of Storm King’s grounds, as well as free housing and private onsite studios. Past residents of Shandaken: Storm King have included visual artists, writers, curators, activists, dancers, and historians, among others.
Throughout her tenure, Lawrence has worked closely with artists to realize some of their most ambitious works for the Art Center, including, most recently, Sarah Sze’s landmark permanent site-specific commission, Fallen Sky, which opened in June 2021. Lawrence has developed nearly 20 exhibitions with Storm King’s curatorial team, including Sarah Sze: Fifth Season (2021); Rashid Johnson: The Crisis (2021); Kiki Smith river light (2020); Mark Dion: Follies (2019); and Indicators: Artists on Climate Change (2018), one of the first major museum exhibitions about climate change. Prior to Storm King, Lawrence worked in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington; and MoMA PS1, New York.
Lawrence said: “No place is like Storm King and no job could be like this one—the possibilities that Storm King affords artists and cultural practitioners are boundless. Working with artists to realize their visionary, singular projects and programs is extremely meaningful to me, and I am constantly inspired by the approaches artists take to our site and history. There is so much exciting work in our collective future.”
As Artistic Director and Chief Curator, Lawrence will work to expand the reach, relevance, and impact of the institution’s artistic contributions. This includes Storm King’s collection, acquisitions, site-specific commissions, and temporary exhibitions, as well as publications and archives. In addition, Lawrence will work closely with Storm King’s Director of Facilities & Conservation on fabrication, installation, and conservation efforts; the Director of Education & Public Programs to continue dynamic artistic programming; and with Storm King’s President, Trustees, and staff to further enhance artist relationships, audience engagement, and development.
David Collens joined Storm King in 1974. He served as Director and Curator from 1976 until being appointed Director and Chief Curator in 2015. During his tenure, Collens has stewarded Storm King’s permanent collection, with a core of more than 100 outdoor works. In collaboration with Storm King’s co-founder H. Peter Stern, Collens introduced a different aesthetic to the Art Center, one that ensures each sculpture occupies its own space and takes advantage of long vistas to enhance the viewer’s experience. His eye for siting work has guidedthe installation of sculpture ever since, notably in the presentation of Storm King’s collection of David Smith sculptures, as well as major site-specific commissions. Through a long-term collaboration with Storm King’s landscape architects and Facilities & Conservation team, Collens has played a foundational role in the evolution of the museum’s grounds, which have been gradually and thoughtfully shaped since Storm King’s founding to accommodate and enhance the works on view.
Throughout his tenure, Collens has worked closely with commissioned artists to realize now-iconic works at the Art Center, such as Andy Goldsworthy’s Storm King Wall (1997–98), Richard Serra’s Schunnemunk Fork (1990–91), and Maya Lin’s Storm King Wavefield (2007–08).
Collens has organized many notable exhibitions at Storm King, including the Art Center’s 50th-anniversary presentations, 5+5: New Perspectives and The View from Here: Storm King at Fifty (2010–2011); Sol LeWitt (2008); Louise Bourgeois (2007); Chakaia Booker at the Storm King Art Center (2004); Grand Intuitions: Calder’s Monumental Sculpture (2001-03); Ursula von Rydingsvard: Sculpture (1992); and David Smith: Drawings for Sculpture (1982). As colleagues, Collens and Lawrence have a history of productive collaboration, highlights of which include the publication of the first monograph on artist Mark di Suvero and the milestone exhibition David Smith: The White Sculptures (2015).
Storm King Acquires Two New Works for its Permanent Collection
Today, the Art Center announced that it will accept from artist Mark di Suvero the unprecedented gift of his large-scale outdoor sculpture E=MC (1996–97), which was installed at Storm King on loan in 2019. E=MC2 will join five iconic examples of di Suvero’s large-scale outdoor sculptures in Storm King’s permanent collection. The first in the collection to represent the artist’s production in the 1990s, E=MC2 continues an exceptional five-decades-long dialogue between the Art Center and di Suvero.
Several of di Suvero’s monumental steel sculptures were installed at the Art Center in 1975, marking an important visual shift for Storm King and expanding the presentation of outdoor sculpture into new areas of the landscape. Years of collaboration between the artist, H. Peter Stern, and Collens brought several of di Suvero’s works to Storm King, leading to the landmark exhibition Mark di Suvero: Twenty-five Years of Sculpture and Drawings (1985), followed by Mark di Suvero (1995 and 1996) and Mark di Suvero at Governors Island (2011–12).
Collens explained: “Mark’s gift to Storm King of E=MC2 is the culmination of years of conversations and dream-making. I am so thrilled that this sculpture, which is a magnificent example of Mark’s creative process and use of materials, will find a permanent home at Storm King. Since its installation, it has become an integral part of the viewshed. I love how visitors are truly awed by it, both as something to gaze upon from various points around the site, and to experience up close or even from underneath. We are honored that Mark wanted to make this gift as a gesture of friendship and esteem for Storm King.”
Also entering the Art Center’s permanent collection is Rashid Johnson’s Stacked Heads (2019). Now on view in the museum’s North Woods, the imposing busts, balanced one atop the other, are constructed out of bronze coated in a glossy black patina. The sculpture’s surface is textured with incised marks, reminiscent of Johnson’s distinctive, sometimes violent manipulation of softer and more malleable materials such as shea butter, black soap, and wax. During the growing season, grasses and ferns native to Storm King’s ecosystem will spring from cracks and crevasses like abstracted facial features and leafy, green hair. Stacked Heads is the first sculpture of Johnson’s in the Storm King collection.
Storm King Appoints Four News Members to its Board of Trustees
Lawrence and Collens join a series of new appointments at Storm King, including the addition of four members to the Art Center’s Board of Trustees: Miguel E. Hennessy, Francis Kéré, Rodney Reid, and Courtney B. Vance. Miguel E. Hennessy is the Managing Director, Wealth Management and Private Wealth Advisor at UBS, and has focused his career on guiding families through complex issues in financial planning. Hennessy and his family are active in numerous philanthropic causes including education, food insecurity, and arts and culture. Francis Kéré is an internationally acclaimed architect and founder of Berlin-based Kéré Architecture, a diverse, agile team that has realized projects across four continents. Kéré’s work is known for pioneering a communal approach to design and a commitment to sustainable materials and construction. Rodney Reid is an avid art collector and financial services professional. He is currently Managing Director at Moelis & Company and the Global Head of the Private Funds Advisory Group, as well as co-founder of The Contemporaries, a nonprofit organization focused on exposing young professionals to contemporary art and culture. Courtney B. Vance is an award-winning television, film, and theater actor, winning his second Primetime Emmy this year. Vance and his wife, award-winning actress and director Angela Bassett, co-founded Bassett Vance Productions, a TV and film production company. He is also President of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation and a proud alum and ambassador of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
Board of Trustees Chair Roberta Denning said: “I’m so pleased to have Miguel, Francis, Rodney, and Courtney join Storm King’s Board in the past 14 months. They are each esteemed in their professional fields and have made unique connections to the Art Center’s mission and ongoing work. Storm King will benefit from their counsel, expertise, and leadership as we continue our forward momentum.”
Storm King Receives $1 Million Gift, Establishes Endowment for Education
The Art Center also announced a $1 million gift from The Windgate Foundation, awarded in September 2021, for the establishment of a legacy endowment at the Arkansas Community Foundation. The endowment will support Storm King’s Education Programs in perpetuity. A longtime supporter of Storm King’s Education initiatives, The Windgate Foundation was established in 1993 with the goal of advancing contemporary craft and strengthening visual arts education in the United States.
