arts administrator
At the start of my 30-year career in the arts, I coordinated day-to-day operations
of a corporate art collection, helped to manage the creation and placement of a media campaign for public support of the arts, and edited a newsletter published by a non-profit arts organization. Drawing on those experiences, I began acting as a promotion assistant to artists, with clients in New York, London and Tokyo. As a curatorial consultant, I contributed to the development of gallery programming and exhibitions, magazine articles, books, documentaries, art and library collections, and websites, while lecturing at schools and art institutions across the US. A shift in focus has
led to my involvement, starting in 1999, with an array of notable archival collections
of artworks, manuscripts, theater documentation, photographs, papers and books, categorizing and cataloguing them while creating extensive bibliographies and reference resources.
selected clients
2019-2020 Art Institute of Chicago. Have been hired to write an essay, currently in its draft phase, for an exhibition catalog on Ray Johnson (see next entry) to be distributed next autumn by Yale University Press.
2005-present Estate of Ray Johnson, NY. Ray Johnson (1927-1995) was a noted collagist and the instigator, in the early 1960s, of a mail art network, the New York Correspondence School. My work for his estate has involved the continued organization of the vast contents of Johnson’s home, expanding and maintaining his chronology and bibliography, and research for the website ------------ (my bio is at ------------/research/archive). A 2012 Emily Harvey Foundation fellowship allowed me to begin research for Ray’s biography.
1999-2019 Dr. William S. Wilson and family, NY. Bill Wilson (1932-2016, see ------------/other-things/william-wilson-on-the-internet/) was a professor and art critic. A friend of Ray Johnson (see previous entry) from 1956 on, Wilson would eventually set to out to have catalogued, in minute detail and with intricate cross-referencing, the resulting trove of mail art, photos and artworks received from Ray. Hired near the start of this endeavor, I built a searchable database in which information from numerous sources could be accessibly stored. For 16+ years I also acted as Bill’s research assistant and liaison with other writers, magazine and book editors, museum professionals, visiting scholars and innumerable other visitors. Following Bill’s death, I directed the appraisal of his archive and drafted detailed descriptions upon its acquisition by the Art Institute of Chicago.
2016-present National Arts Club, NY (established 1898, see ------------). Inside the club’s Gramercy Park headquarters, I worked with the registrar of the permanent collection organizing some of the club’s archival materials for their eventual placement in the Archives of American Art. I remain “on call” for special projects.
1990–2016 Tony Zwicker Artists’ Books, NY and New Haven. A dealer of book- and text-related artworks, Tony (1925-2000, ------------/umbrella/tonyzwicker.html) helped shape the book art collections of such institutions as Yale and Harvard, the Getty Center, MoMA, the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, and the Victoria & Albert Museum. I assisted Tony in all aspects of her business until her death and administered it after that, producing and distributing a series of sales catalogues with highly descriptive entries on each of the hundreds of books. I also helped to process her archive for its recipient, the Flaxman Library at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago: aaa.si.edu/collections/surveys/chicago/art-institute-of-chicago-saic-john-m-flaxman-library/tony.
2012-2014 Elaine Summers Dance and Film Company, NY. Elaine (1925-2014, ------------/wiki/Elaine_Summers) was an acclaimed choreographer, filmmaker, inter-media pioneer and teacher. I worked with Elaine as general preparator of her large archive and film collection, acquired upon her death by the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts – see ------------/dan/23214.
2003-2006 Joseph Langland, Decorah, Iowa. A lifelong poet and longtime professor, Langland (1917-2007) established the renowned creative writing program at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, during the 1960s, and went on to publish several highly regarded collections of poems. Working with Langland during the last years of his life, I organized his teaching archive for UMass (scua.library.umass.edu/ead/mufs181.html).
1999-2002 Lawrence Weiner, NY. This well-known Conceptual artist (b. 1942, see ------------/wiki/Lawrence_Weiner) has produced an array of books and multiples. My job entailed entering the specifics of each single work – its provenance and various incarna-tions – into a database, and devising storage systems for an extensive library of publications about or by the artist.
a few other clients
John Ashbery, former NY State poet laureate, Hudson, NY and New York City
Estate of Rev. J.W. Canty, chaplain and international activist, NY
Engine Inc., arts consultancy, Tokyo
Michael Findlay, gallerist and art collector, NY
Jargon Society, publisher of fine press poetry and photography books, Highlands, NC
Paul Langland, choreographer and professor, NY
David Leigh, photography collector, NY
Ron Padgett, poet, NY
Willoughby Sharp, curator and writer, NY
Time & Space Ltd., non-profit theater, Hudson, NY
Anne Waldman, poet, NY
Marjorie Welish, painter, poet and professor, NY
Vera B. Williams, children’s book author and illustrator, NY
Estate of May Wilson, assemblage artist, NY
related projects
1992-1995 Art & Science Collaborations, Inc., NY. ASCI, a non-profit organization of artists and others inspired by science or technology (founded 1988, see ------------) used to publish a quarterly newsletter. Starting with Movements’ second issue, I managed its pro-duction and wrote artist profiles, feature articles, and columns on books, events, conferences, opportunities, new technologies, etc.
1991-1992 New York Foundation for the Arts, NY. Was research and production assistant for “Artists: Resource for Vision”, a national print campaign for public support of the arts funded by the Nathan Cummings Foundation and administered by NYFA. The ads created for this campaign appeared in Business Week, Town & Country, Graphis, Field & Stream, Mirabella, and other magazines. For several years after that, I was given a range of other projects by NYFA’s various departments.
1987-1989 NYNEX corporate art program, White Plains, NY. Coordinated activities relating to acquisition, shipping, framing, installation, insurance, cataloguing, accounting and general administration at the headquarters of NYNEX (formerly New York Telephone, now Verizon). Was involved with special projects such as docent training, an employee art club,
and the Art for Embassies program.
curated exhibitions
2015 Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, Asheville, NC. “Something Else Entirely: Ray Johnson, Dick Higgins and the Making of THE PAPER SNAKE” - an Artforum ‘critic’s pick’ – inspired the Johnson issue of the Journal of BMC Studies which I guest edited and wrote for. The catalogue: ------------/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/ papersnakebrochure.pdf
1996 Joyce Goldstein Gallery, NY. “The Nature of Light”, a survey of artwork such as infrared and ultraviolet photos, x-rays, micrographs, photograms, holograms, and other examples of alternative photography. Cited in New Yorker magazine, viewable online at ------------/light
a list of lectures and published writing is also available
At the start of my 30-year career in the arts, I coordinated day-to-day operations
of a corporate art collection, helped to manage the creation and placement of a media campaign for public support of the arts, and edited a newsletter published by a non-profit arts organization. Drawing on those experiences, I began acting as a promotion assistant to artists, with clients in New York, London and Tokyo. As a curatorial consultant, I contributed to the development of gallery programming and exhibitions, magazine articles, books, documentaries, art and library collections, and websites, while lecturing at schools and art institutions across the US. A shift in focus has
led to my involvement, starting in 1999, with an array of notable archival collections
of artworks, manuscripts, theater documentation, photographs, papers and books, categorizing and cataloguing them while creating extensive bibliographies and reference resources.
selected clients
2019-2020 Art Institute of Chicago. Have been hired to write an essay, currently in its draft phase, for an exhibition catalog on Ray Johnson (see next entry) to be distributed next autumn by Yale University Press.
2005-present Estate of Ray Johnson, NY. Ray Johnson (1927-1995) was a noted collagist and the instigator, in the early 1960s, of a mail art network, the New York Correspondence School. My work for his estate has involved the continued organization of the vast contents of Johnson’s home, expanding and maintaining his chronology and bibliography, and research for the website ------------ (my bio is at ------------/research/archive). A 2012 Emily Harvey Foundation fellowship allowed me to begin research for Ray’s biography.
1999-2019 Dr. William S. Wilson and family, NY. Bill Wilson (1932-2016, see ------------/other-things/william-wilson-on-the-internet/) was a professor and art critic. A friend of Ray Johnson (see previous entry) from 1956 on, Wilson would eventually set to out to have catalogued, in minute detail and with intricate cross-referencing, the resulting trove of mail art, photos and artworks received from Ray. Hired near the start of this endeavor, I built a searchable database in which information from numerous sources could be accessibly stored. For 16+ years I also acted as Bill’s research assistant and liaison with other writers, magazine and book editors, museum professionals, visiting scholars and innumerable other visitors. Following Bill’s death, I directed the appraisal of his archive and drafted detailed descriptions upon its acquisition by the Art Institute of Chicago.
2016-present National Arts Club, NY (established 1898, see ------------). Inside the club’s Gramercy Park headquarters, I worked with the registrar of the permanent collection organizing some of the club’s archival materials for their eventual placement in the Archives of American Art. I remain “on call” for special projects.
1990–2016 Tony Zwicker Artists’ Books, NY and New Haven. A dealer of book- and text-related artworks, Tony (1925-2000, ------------/umbrella/tonyzwicker.html) helped shape the book art collections of such institutions as Yale and Harvard, the Getty Center, MoMA, the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, and the Victoria & Albert Museum. I assisted Tony in all aspects of her business until her death and administered it after that, producing and distributing a series of sales catalogues with highly descriptive entries on each of the hundreds of books. I also helped to process her archive for its recipient, the Flaxman Library at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago: aaa.si.edu/collections/surveys/chicago/art-institute-of-chicago-saic-john-m-flaxman-library/tony.
2012-2014 Elaine Summers Dance and Film Company, NY. Elaine (1925-2014, ------------/wiki/Elaine_Summers) was an acclaimed choreographer, filmmaker, inter-media pioneer and teacher. I worked with Elaine as general preparator of her large archive and film collection, acquired upon her death by the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts – see ------------/dan/23214.
2003-2006 Joseph Langland, Decorah, Iowa. A lifelong poet and longtime professor, Langland (1917-2007) established the renowned creative writing program at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, during the 1960s, and went on to publish several highly regarded collections of poems. Working with Langland during the last years of his life, I organized his teaching archive for UMass (scua.library.umass.edu/ead/mufs181.html).
1999-2002 Lawrence Weiner, NY. This well-known Conceptual artist (b. 1942, see ------------/wiki/Lawrence_Weiner) has produced an array of books and multiples. My job entailed entering the specifics of each single work – its provenance and various incarna-tions – into a database, and devising storage systems for an extensive library of publications about or by the artist.
a few other clients
John Ashbery, former NY State poet laureate, Hudson, NY and New York City
Estate of Rev. J.W. Canty, chaplain and international activist, NY
Engine Inc., arts consultancy, Tokyo
Michael Findlay, gallerist and art collector, NY
Jargon Society, publisher of fine press poetry and photography books, Highlands, NC
Paul Langland, choreographer and professor, NY
David Leigh, photography collector, NY
Ron Padgett, poet, NY
Willoughby Sharp, curator and writer, NY
Time & Space Ltd., non-profit theater, Hudson, NY
Anne Waldman, poet, NY
Marjorie Welish, painter, poet and professor, NY
Vera B. Williams, children’s book author and illustrator, NY
Estate of May Wilson, assemblage artist, NY
related projects
1992-1995 Art & Science Collaborations, Inc., NY. ASCI, a non-profit organization of artists and others inspired by science or technology (founded 1988, see ------------) used to publish a quarterly newsletter. Starting with Movements’ second issue, I managed its pro-duction and wrote artist profiles, feature articles, and columns on books, events, conferences, opportunities, new technologies, etc.
1991-1992 New York Foundation for the Arts, NY. Was research and production assistant for “Artists: Resource for Vision”, a national print campaign for public support of the arts funded by the Nathan Cummings Foundation and administered by NYFA. The ads created for this campaign appeared in Business Week, Town & Country, Graphis, Field & Stream, Mirabella, and other magazines. For several years after that, I was given a range of other projects by NYFA’s various departments.
1987-1989 NYNEX corporate art program, White Plains, NY. Coordinated activities relating to acquisition, shipping, framing, installation, insurance, cataloguing, accounting and general administration at the headquarters of NYNEX (formerly New York Telephone, now Verizon). Was involved with special projects such as docent training, an employee art club,
and the Art for Embassies program.
curated exhibitions
2015 Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, Asheville, NC. “Something Else Entirely: Ray Johnson, Dick Higgins and the Making of THE PAPER SNAKE” - an Artforum ‘critic’s pick’ – inspired the Johnson issue of the Journal of BMC Studies which I guest edited and wrote for. The catalogue: ------------/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/ papersnakebrochure.pdf
1996 Joyce Goldstein Gallery, NY. “The Nature of Light”, a survey of artwork such as infrared and ultraviolet photos, x-rays, micrographs, photograms, holograms, and other examples of alternative photography. Cited in New Yorker magazine, viewable online at ------------/light
a list of lectures and published writing is also available