Wednesday, October 08, 2008

New curator position at CMoA



From the Carnegie Museum of Art Press Release --

Carnegie Museum of Art announced today the creation of a new curatorial department of photography and has appointed its first head, Linda Benedict-Jones. Benedict-Jones has been the executive director of Silver Eye Center for Photography on Pittsburgh’s south side since 1999 and will assume her position at Carnegie Museum of Art on December 15, 2008. ...

... Carnegie Museum of Art’s connection with photography dates to the early 20th century, when its annual exhibitions of the Pittsburgh Photographic Salon included the works of local and international photographers. At the heart of its collection are works by Pittsburgh and Southwestern Pennsylvania photographers from the 1860s to the present, bolstered by acquisitions of classic photography. Recent acquisitions include a gift of more than 150 vintage and contemporary photographs from the George H. Ebbs collection; the archive of the complete works of renowned photographer Duane Michals (a native of McKeesport, Pennsylvania); and the Pine Flat Portrait Studio collection of artist Sharon Lockhart, whose work is included in the 2008 Carnegie International.


Linda Benedict-Jones has been the Executive Director at Silver Eye Center for Photography since 1999. Silver Eye, located on E Carson St in Southside, is a wonderful, small venue. It packs quite punch for its size. The shows are consistently good. It is difficult to manage a venue whose exhibits have national appeal and yet still promotes local and regional artists. Ms. Benedict-Jones fills the post admirably. She is also very approachable. The CMoA has brought a real gem into their stff. I am looking forward to what the new curatorial efforts will bring to the museum.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was walking on the South Side from Station Square to Carson St. via Cabot Way and, as usual, occasionally looking toward the ground for interesting objects to pick up. Along the way I found an old casino/poker chip with small images of dice around the outside ring. It was beat up and a section of the plastic (?) had chipped away, revealing a rusting metal core... Coming to 10th and Carson, I remembered a new show at Silver Eye. They were open and as I entered, continuing to finger my poker chip, I discovered that part of the show consists of the artist/photographer taking a collection of pics from Ricky Jay's dice collection! Most of the dice are antique, and - like the chip - have started to degrade and fall apart.... just thought I'd share my story of what I thought was a nice, serendipitous silver eye exhibit...

Susan Constanse said...

That's a great story. Thanks for sharing it!
Sus