ST. LOUIS. MO.- Kristen Watts has been appointed director of exhibitions and design at the Saint Louis Art Museum, where she will plan and supervise all aspects of the museum’s robust exhibition schedule. She starts at the museum in June.

“Kristen has a successful record of thinking creatively about exhibition and design administration from her work as curator, registrar and exhibition director, which positions her well in shaping exhibitions and publications at the Saint Louis Art Museum,” said Jason T. Busch, the museum’s deputy director for curatorial affairs and museum programs.

Watts currently is director of collections and exhibitions at the Mint Museum in Charlotte, N.C., where she served as project manager of several noteworthy exhibitions and catalogues, including Connecting the World: The Panama Canal at 100, Artist in Residence: Sheila Hicks, Romare Bearden: Southern Recollections, and Double Solitaire: The Surreal Worlds of Kay Sage and Yves Tanguy. Watts also was project manager for the Mint's 2010 expansion and development of its new 146,000-square-foot campus in uptown Charlotte.

Watts previously worked at the McKissick Museum in Columbia, S.C. and at Kilpin Hall, a 17th-century manor house in North Yorkshire, England. She received master’s degrees in applied history and library and information science from the University of South Carolina, and a bachelor’s degree in ancient cultures and civilizations from the College of Charleston.

Watts succeeds Linda Thomas, who retired in 2014 after managing the collections and exhibitions endeavors at the Saint Louis Art Museum for more than 13 years.