OBERLIN, OH.- On May 1, Sam Adams joins the staff of the Allen Memorial Art Museum as the Ellen Johnson ’33 Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.

Specializing in global contemporary art and Euro-American modernism, Adams has a decade of experience in museums and universities. Adams, who prefers nonbinary pronouns, recently completed a three-year curatorial fellowship at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts.

Adams earned their undergraduate degree at New York University and went on to the University of Southern California (USC) for their master’s and doctoral degrees. Their dissertation focused on installation art and theater set design in Cold War Germany. While completing their PhD, Adams held positions as a research associate for the chief curator of modern and contemporary art departments at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); graduate research assistant at USC’s Max Kade Institute for Austrian, German, and Swiss Studies; research assistant in the Nazi-Era Provenance Project of the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles; and research fellow at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. Most recently, Adams was in Munich as a post-doctoral fellow at the Central Institute for Art History. A devoted art history instructor and mentor, Adams has taught at Emerson College, the Rhode Island School of Design, Maine College of Art and Design, and Tufts University, among other institutions.

“We are very pleased to welcome Sam Adams to Oberlin,” said Andria Derstine, the AMAM’s John G. W. Cowles Director. “Sam’s experience in all aspects of museum work and their desire to connect the AMAM’s collection of modern and contemporary art with socially engaged practices will ensure vibrant experiences for Oberlin College students and the public.”

Adams has built an impressive body of curatorial work centering queer and feminist practices, BIPOC artists, and art that doesn’t live easily in institutions. Two of their exhibitions at the deCordova featured monumental textiles by Sonya Clark that honored the travails of Black Americans in the wake of the Civil War. In conjunction, they co-organized a five-month-long series of programs, workshops, and fundraisers on the theme of Black feminism amplified the Clark’s work and attracted new audiences and donors.

Other projects at the sculpture park include the Museum of Queer Ecologies by trans artist Eli Brown and commissions by Rachel Mica Weiss for the Feminist Art Coalition and the Jewish-Iraqi artist Oded Halahmy. “These works offer contemplation and joy for broad audiences, and celebrate underrepresented demographics,” said Adams, who also launched an external diversity advisory council and convened an antiracism training series for staff at the deCordova.

At the Allen, Adams will oversee the collection of works from the 20th and 21st century, which include important paintings by Gorky, Kirchner, Modigliani, Monet, Picasso, and others. Artists from the second half of the 20th century are well represented in the collection, including Chuck Close, Richard Diebenkorn, Jim Dine, Jasper Johns, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol. The AMAM also holds important works by Eva Hesse, as well as the artist’s archives.

“University galleries have guided urgent conversations on gender, race, globalism, and climate change,” Adams said. “I believe I will contribute to the Allen’s record of engaging with these topics through innovative exhibitions and programs.”