NEW YORK, NY.- International Print Center New York announces the appointment of Judy Hecker as director effective February 2016. Ms. Hecker comes to IPCNY from The Museum of Modern Art, New York, where she is Assistant Curator in the Department of Drawings and Prints. She succeeds Anne Coffin, founder of the institution and director since 2000, who will remain a trustee.

“Over fifteen years, Anne Coffin took IPCNY from an idea to an established organization that occupies an important place in the field of prints,” says Maud Welles, Chairman of the Board of IPCNY. “Judy Hecker brings a wealth of experience, having worked with MoMA’s unparalleled collection of modern and contemporary prints. I am excited to work with Judy as she takes IPCNY into a new phase of growth and development.”

“It’s a privilege to be following in Anne Coffin’s footsteps,” says Hecker. “I am thrilled to be leading this flagship organization for printed art, which serves as a center for a vibrant community of artists, printers, publishers, institutions and collectors engaging with the medium in all its varied formats.” She continues, “I look forward to collaborating with the Board and staff to build on IPCNY’s core mission and explore the role of prints within broader artistic practice—past, present, and future.”

Since joining MoMA in 1997, Hecker has organized numerous exhibitions, including Impressions from South Africa: 1965 to Now; Repicturing the Past/Picturing the Present; Since 2000: Printmaking Now; One Thing After Another; and Ensor/Posada (co-curator). She co-organized MoMA’s presentation of William Kentridge: Five Themes, collaborating with Kentridge on an artist’s book/catalogue titled William Kentridge: Trace. Hecker has commissioned innovative print projects for the Museum, including outdoor billboards with Julian Opie, Sarah Morris, and Lisa Ruyter, and an artist’s ephemera project for the MoMA café with Julia Jacquette.

Hecker has actively contributed to MoMA’s curatorial team in the area of acquisitions for the collection, including recent print projects by Mark Bradford and Julie Mehretu. She has generated educational programs for the museum, most recently the course Curatorial Perspectives: Artistic Mediums in Dialogue and the event Conversations: A Perspective on South Africa with Zanele Muholi. Prior to MoMA, Hecker served as Curatorial Assistant at the Whitney Museum of American Art. She received her M.A. from the University of Chicago and her B.A. from Wellesley College.

Anne Coffin comments: “I have decided to step down from the directorship of IPCNY after fifteen exciting and challenging years of building this institution. IPCNY has successfully navigated its early years thanks to the help of its committed and engaged trustees. I leave the directorship at an ideal time, when our board leadership and staff are particularly strong, our programs established, and the institution is poised to grow in its role as the center of a thriving international printmaking community.”

“I am confident that IPCNY will continue to flourish in the talented hands of Judy Hecker. As a trustee of the organization, I look forward to working with her throughout the transition and into the future as she guides and strengthens the institution.”