SAN JOSE, CA.- The San Jose Museum of Art has appointed Lauren Schell Dickens as curator. Dickens is currently curatorial consultant at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, and was previously assistant curator of contemporary art at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. She will join the staff at SJMA on April 18.

“Lauren’s interests and values as a curator are such a close match for SJMA’s mission and vision. She has undertaken a wide variety of inventive projects with contemporary artists and has an equally impressive track record of scholarship,” said Susan Krane, Oshman Executive Director. “Lauren’s personal dedication to making contemporary art accessible to broad audiences, her global perspective, and her belief in fostering artistic experimentation across disciplines make her a wonderful addition to SJMA’s dynamic curatorial team. We look forward to the ideas, energy, and projects she will bring to our community.”

“"I'm drawn to SJMA for its collaborative and experimental approach to exhibitions, its dedication to community building, and its embrace of art that is at turns fun, thought provoking, and topically challenging," said Dickens. "As a Bay Area native, I'm thrilled to be returning to support such a diverse and global arts community, and can't wait to start working with the ambitious team at SJMA."

Dickens has been at the National Gallery of Art since 2014, where she assisted with the exhibition and online catalogue for The Serial Impulse: Gemini G.E.L. As assistant curator at the Corcoran from 2012 to 2014, she curated exhibitions such as Hank Willis Thomas’s Question Bridge: Black Males and How is the World? Recent Acquisitions of Contemporary Photography, and worked on projects and performances with artists such as iona ROZEAL brown, Mary Coble, Mia Feuer, Andrea Fraser, and Ellen Harvey. She has also held curatorial posts at the Jewish Museum, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; and Dallas Museum of Art, and has organized programs with a broad range of arts organizations including Kunsthalle Galapagos, Brooklyn, New York; Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, New York; ISE Cultural Foundation, New York, and Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, California.

Dickens holds a BA in American Studies from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, and a MA in Modern Art: Critical Studies from Columbia University, New York. She was born in San Jose and grew up in Sonoma County.