Roundtable Discussion: Sculpture Parks

Abstract

During the summer of 2023, six current curators and directors of leading institutions in the United States and Puerto Rico reflected on the past, current, and future of sculpture parks through an online questionnaire. The participants provided thoughtful, insightful answers, and responded to each other, offering a dynamic discussion of the most pressing and complicated issues facing sculpture parks today—from the perspectives of working professionals who are tasked with stewarding and shaping these institutions. The conversation reflects belief in the power and importance of sculpture parks as a type of arts institution while also revealing anxieties over their missions, roles, and feasibility in a rapidly changing world.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marin R. Sullivan

Marin R. Sullivan, PhD, is a Chicago-based art historian, curator, consultant, educator, and writer. She specializes in the histories of modern and contemporary sculpture, especially its interdisciplinary, intermedial dialogues with photography, design, and the built environment. Sullivan is the author of Alloys: American Sculpture and Architecture at Midcentury (Princeton University Press, 2022) and Sculptural Materiality in the Age of Conceptualism (Routledge, 2017), as well as numerous catalogs, essays, and articles. Sullivan is currently at work on a biography of Claire Falkenstein and is co-curating Isamu Noguchi: “I am not a designer,” scheduled to open at the High Museum in 2026. She is also the director of the Harry Bertoia Catalogue Raisonné and a lecturer and guest curator at DePaul University.

Rachel Adams

Rachel Adams is the chief curator and director of programs at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. Her varied areas of interest focus on creating meaningful connections for artists and exhibitions and tend to highlight singular artistic practices as well as group thematic exhibitions relating to current sociopolitical issues through many artistic mediums, including installation, painting, ceramics and sculpture, sound, performance, video, and new media practices. Past curatorial appointments include senior curator at UB Art Galleries, curator-in-residence at Disjecta Contemporary Art Center (now Oregon Contemporary), and associate curator at Arthouse at the Jones Center (now The Contemporary Austin).

Kaitlin Garcia-Maestas is the curator and director of exhibitions at Socrates Sculpture Park and co-curator of Desert X 2025. Born and raised in New Mexico, her curatorial practice explores themes of displacement, decolonial resistance, and cultural hybridity in the United States and the Americas. Formerly she was associate curator of visual arts at The Momentary, the contemporary satellite space of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Recent exhibitions include Mary Mattingly: Ebb of a Spring Tide, Yvette Mayorga: What a Time to Be, A Divided Landscape, In Some Form or Fashion, and Diana Al-Hadid: Ash in the Trade Winds. Garcia-Maestas previously held curatorial positions at the Denver Art Museum, Biennial of the Americas, and MCA Denver.

Maria C. Gaztambide, PhD, is the executive director of the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico in San Juan. Formerly, Gaztambide served as executive director and chief curator of public art of the University of Houston System. There she oversaw exhibitions, commissions, acquisitions, education, and public programs. She led exhibitions and projects on artists including Marta Chilindrón, Dorothy Hood, Rick Lowe, Jorge Pardo, Margo Sawyer, Shahzia Sikander, Leo Villareal, and Andy Warhol. Prior to joining the University of Houston, she was the associate director of the International Center for the Arts of the Americas at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Originally from San Juan, she holds MA degrees in Art History and Arts Administration, as well as an interdisciplinary PhD in Latin American Studies from Tulane University.

Nora Lawrence (she/her) is the artistic director and chief curator of Storm King Art Center, leading its curatorial program and providing vision and guidance for the artistic functions of the institution.

Sarah Montross is chief curator, art and exhibitions, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, The Trustees, where she develops exhibitions and the outdoor program across thirty-plus acres, including new commissions and loans by Hugh Hayden, Andy Goldsworthy, Maren Hassinger, Jeffrey Gibson, and many other artists. Her curatorial work also encompasses supporting arts of the Northeast region, including co-organizing the New England Triennial/Biennial (2016/2019/2022) and exhibition Visionary New England (MIT Press catalog). In 2019, deCordova integrated with The Trustees, a nonprofit land conservation and preservation organization, and her research and collaborations are now increasingly focused on issues of the environment, land, and climate. Prior to deCordova, she worked at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art as a Mellon postdoctoral curatorial fellow, and earned her MA and PhD at Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.

Brooke Kamin Rapaport is artistic director and Martin Friedman chief curator of Madison Square Park Conservancy in New York.

Lauren Ross has thirty years of experience in contemporary visual art, as a director, curator, writer, teacher, and arts advocate. Her focus is on emerging and underrecognized artists and, more recently, on the presentation of art in public space. She has worked at nonprofit institutions and museums around the United States, including in New York, Tulsa, and Richmond, VA. Since 2018, she has been serving as the executive director of Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis, MO.