TACOMA, WA.- Tacoma Art Museum Director Stephanie A. Stebich has selected Rock Hushka to lead the museum’s curatorial department, naming him Director of Curatorial Administration. With this promotion, Hushka will take on the responsibilities of senior curator at the museum, and will retain his former title of Curator of Contemporary and Northwest Art.

“Rock is our first choice for lead curator,” explains Stephanie Stebich, director of Tacoma Art Museum . “His promotion reflects his accomplishments and contributions to the museum over the past five years. Rock has become known for his strong connections in the local arts community and for his role in building and strengthening the museum’s collection of Northwest contemporary art. He continues to develop imaginative exhibitions emphasizing the art and artists of the Northwest and bring world-class exhibitions to Tacoma . We also recognize his scholarly contributions including exhibition catalogues and other essays focusing on the achievements of the region’s artists.”

It is his exemplary work at the museum that earned him the promotion from curator to curator of contemporary and Northwest art in December 2005. When that promotion was announced, Stebich explained that the title more clearly emphasized Hushka’s expertise.

Before joining Tacoma Art Museum in 2001, Hushka worked at the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington and the Seattle Art Museum after earning a Masters of Arts degree in art history from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In March 2006, Hushka was also appointed affiliate assistant professor of art at University of Washington .

At Tacoma Art Museum , Hushka has curated Bill Viola: Something Above, Beyond, Below, Beneath and The New York School: The Politics of Abstraction. His project Lewis & Clark Territory : Contemporary Artists Revisit Place , Race, and Memory toured nationally and received the Award of Exhibition Excellence by the Washington Museum Association and an honorable mention from the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies/Western Museum Association for Exhibition Excellence. He has increasingly focused on the art of the Northwest, including the four-part exhibition Building Tradition: Gifts in Honor of the Northwest Collection as well as A Decade of Excellence: Celebrating the Neddy Artist Fellowship; and The Romantic Vision of Michael Brophy, each accompanied by a catalogue he wrote.

Pursuant to the museum’s commitment to the art of the region, Hushka has focused on acquisitions of Northwest art for the permanent collection. For the Building Tradition project, he stewarded nearly 300 works into the collection from 2001 to 2004. He continues to work closely with museum patrons, collectors, artists, and gallery owners to build the collection. Important recent acquisitions include works by Anne Appleby, Claire Cowie, Leo Saul Berk, Scott Fife, Brian Murphy, and Claude Zervas.

Some of his notable efforts include bringing the museum’s first video works into the collection, now at sixteen total. He also helped to significantly build and strengthen the museum’s photography holdings, adding 110 pieces in the past five years. The photography collection includes works from as early as the 1923 and as recent as 2006. In total, Hushka has stewarded 896 works into the collection since 2001.

Hushka also contributed major essays on the paintings of Jaq Chartier for her exhibition at the University of Michigan ’s Institute of Humanities exhibition Testing; and on the paintings of Michael Schultheis’s recent exhibition in New York . He recently authored the article “Commissions for Credit” for Fiberarts magazine, which describes an innovative University of Washington class that allows students to complete a major art commission.

His upcoming projects include the 8th Northwest Biennial, co-curated with David Keihl, curator of prints at the Whitney Museum of American Art; Sparkle Then Fade, an exhibition featuring new acquisitions to the museum’s permanent collection and key loans by artists such as 0100101110101101.org, Glenn Ligon, Marilyn Minter, and Donald Moffett; and one-person exhibitions of the work of Victoria Adams and Mary Randlett for Tacoma Art Museum’s “Northwest Perspective” series.

“In this new role, I have the opportunity to help Tacoma Art Museum fulfill its dedication to Northwest art and artists,” said Hushka. “I look forward to new collaborative projects with my colleagues here at the museum and other institutions. I also am eager to contribute to the museum’s history of collecting, researching, and exhibiting historic and contemporary Northwest art. As my dual curatorial title indicates, I also will continue to explore the many intriguing connections between Northwest artists and national and international artists.”

Tacoma Art Museum connects people and builds community through art. The museum serves the diverse communities of the region through its collection, exhibitions, and learning programs, emphasizing art and artists from the Northwest. The museum’s five galleries display an array of top national shows, the best of Northwest art, creatively themed exhibitions, and historical retrospectives. In addition, there is an Education Wing for children, adults, and seniors with an art resource center, classroom, and studio for art making. Tacoma Art Museum is located in Tacoma ’s Museum District, near the Museum of Glass , the Washington State History Museum , and historic Union Station.