PHOENIX.- Phoenix Art Museum is pleased to announce Dr. Sara Cochran will join the Museum as Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art beginning September 15, 2008. Cochran brings 10 years of experience and invaluable insight to the position after serving most recently as Assistant Curator of Modern Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where she oversaw special exhibitions and managed the modern and contemporary collection.

“Sara’s skills and experience will keep the Museum’s strong momentum with Modern and Contemporary art moving forward,” commented James Ballinger, The Sybil Harrington Director, Phoenix Art Museum. “Her ideas for major national and international exhibitions will continue to grow our reputation. And, her eye for recent art will enable us to continue building a special collection for the people of Arizona.”

Prior to joining the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Cochran was curator of the East Wing Collection at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. She has additional experience as a curatorial assistant at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and as a researcher for the Education Department at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California.

Cochran is a graduate of the University of the Sorbonne, Paris, where she earned both her D.E.A and M.A. She received her PhD at the renowned Courtauld Institute of Art in London.

The Contemporary Collection - art created since the 1950 - is one of the most active and growing areas of the Phoenix Art Museum. Displayed in the 30,000 sq. ft. world-class Ellen and Howard Katz Wing for Modern Art created by architects Tod Williams/Billie Tsien and Associates, the collection includes large-scale photography, outdoor sculpture, and art created in a variety of surprising and unexpected materials, plus more "traditional" paintings on canvas. In many instances, daring works push the technical limitations of several media, including computer-controlled LED lighting and video, ceramics, mirrored glass, and even charred wood struck by lightning. In these works, human experiences are explored in the examinations of abstracted forms, the power of nature, plays of light, shadow and reflective surfaces, and the unknowing possibilities of infinity.