NEWPORT BEACH.- The Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) has announced that Karen Moss, the Museum’s curator of collections and director of public programs, has been named deputy director for exhibitions and programs. Moss will oversee the museum’s curatorial and education departments. The Museum has also appointed Sarah Bancroft as curator. Bancroft comes to OCMA from New York, where she was assistant curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and co-curated the James Rosenquist retrospective with the late Walter Hopps.

Director Dennis Szakacs stated, “The Museum’s curatorial program will take a major step forward with the promotion of Karen Moss and the addition of Sarah Bancroft. Karen is an exceptional leader and thinker who will guide the curatorial department during our next phase of growth and expansion. Sarah is one of the most talented young curators and scholars in the country and her new perspective will inform our program in exciting ways. I look forward to working with them to further advance the museum’s reputation as a leader in modern and contemporary art.”

Karen Moss began her affiliation with the Orange County Museum of Art in 2003 as a strategic planning consultant. She joined the staff of the Museum in 2004 as consulting curator for education and exhibition programs, and was appointed curator of collections and director of public programs in 2005, having since helped shape the Museum’s artistic direction and program initiatives. Moss holds an MA and PhD(ABD) in art history from the University of Southern California.

Prior to the Orange County Museum of Art, Moss was the director of exhibitions and public programs at San Francisco Art Institute (1999-2004), associate curator (1995-96) and director of education and community programs (1996-1999) at the Walker Art Center and the first director of programs at the Santa Monica Museum of Art (1989-1993). Earlier in her career she was Assistant Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (1985-87) and participated in the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program.

During her tenure at OCMA, Moss has organized Art Since the 1960s: California Experiments (2007-08), Disorderly Conduct: Recent Art in Tumultuous Times (2008) Chris Burden: Tale of Two Cities (2007), Imaging and Imagining California (2007) and was co-curator for California Modern (2005-06) and the 2006 California Biennial. She also organized Bruce and Norman Yonemoto: Video from the 1980s (2007), The Imaginary 20th Century (2008), and Nam June Paik: Global Groove (2006) at OCMA’s Orange Lounge media space in Costa Mesa. Additionally, Moss oversees all of OCMA’s public programs, including artists’ talks, panels, symposia, and film and music series.

Moss’ next project for the Museum is Illumination: The Paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe, Agnes Pelton, Agnes Martin, and Florence Pierce opening at OCMA in May 2009 and then traveling to the San Jose Museum of Art, National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC and the Dayton Art Institute.

“I am honored to lead the Museum’s exhibitions and programs during this important time in OCMA’s history”, said Moss. “We have an extraordinary opportunity to build a great 21st century museum for Orange County and Southern California and to organize innovative, compelling programs for our expanding audiences.”

New curator Sarah Bancroft brings outstanding experience to OCMA through positions at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College. She is currently organizing Richard Diebenkorn: The Ocean Park Series, 1967-1985, the first exhibition to focus on the artist’s most celebrated body of work across all media. The exhibition will premier at OCMA in October 2009 and then embark on a national tour.

Bancroft has authored and contributed to publications for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and The Museum of Modern Art, among others, and has lectured at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and the Miami Art Museum. Bancroft received an MA in the History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London in 2000, where she is currently completing her doctoral dissertation on James Rosenquist. Commenting on her appointment, Bancroft stated, “I am delighted to be a part of the superb team at this vibrant museum. I look forward to contributing to the stellar curatorial programming at the Orange County Museum of Art that engages with local, national and international audiences.”

Both Moss and Bancroft are coordinating with guest curator Lauri Firstenberg on the
2008 California Biennial, which opens at OCMA on October 26, 2008 and includes affiliated venues in Tijuana, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.