WINTER PARK, FL.- After a nationwide search, the Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College announced that Dr. Amy Galpin, former Associate Curator, Art of the Americas at the San Diego Museum of Art, has accepted the position as Curator of the Cornell.

“I was inspired to come to the Cornell because of the bold vision set forth by the director of the Museum, Ena Heller, and am excited to work with the rest of the staff at the Cornell to further develop and implement this vision,” stated Galpin. Noting that the permanent collection at the Cornell is growing, she looks forward to developing an updated collections catalogue. “The Museum has received an outstanding recent gift [the Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art at Rollins College] that includes works by groundbreaking artists such as Kara Walker, Abelardo Morrell, and An-My Lê. Moreover, American paintings by Childe Hassam, William Merritt Chase, and Robert Henri have stirred my interest in the collection,” she stated.

Dr. Galpin earned her M.A. in Latin American Studies from San Diego State University and her Ph.D. in Art History at the University of Illinois-Chicago. In addition to curatorial experience, Galpin has previously been part-time Faculty at DePaul University and Adjunct Faculty at Columbia College and University of Illinois-Chicago. She looks forward to being a part of the community of a dynamic liberal arts college and the opportunity to return to working with students.

Galpin has a deep understanding of art, from pre-Columbian to contemporary, created in the Americas, and particularly American and Mexican modernism. After four years at an encyclopedic museum, Galpin has built extensively on her knowledge of the arts of Europe and Asia. She brings with her a number of strong relationships with collectors, art galleries, and artists that will serve well in developing exhibitions for the Cornell. Galpin has expressed interest in future exhibitions that include a study of the relationships between women artists and abstraction; a study of the relationship between women, war, and industry; and the understudied relationships between modern art and religion. Engaging contemporary artists to create work in response to the permanent collection of the Cornell Fine Arts Museum is also of interest to the newly appointed curator. “We are enormously pleased that Dr. Galpin is joining our staff; her extensive experience and curatorial vision are much needed as we take our museum to the next level of institutional prominence” said Ena Heller, the Bruce A. Beal Director of the Cornell Fine Arts Museum.

Dr. Galpin will officially begin her duties in late October.