After nearly 20 years at the helm of one of the nation's liveliest contemporary art programs, Katy Kline is stepping down as director of the List Visual Arts Center to become director of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Brunswick, ME.
Ms. Kline, an art historian, author and scholar, starts her new job at Bowdoin in mid-October. She will remain at MIT for the opening of the fall shows: About the House, an exhibit of large-scale woodcuts by German printmaker Matthias Mansen, and Recital, an installation by San Francisco artist Lewis DeSoto.
Ms. Kline has served as director of the List Center since 1986, previously serving as curator (1979-83) and coordinator of special projects (1983-86). She has a graduate degree in art history jointly from Oberlin College and the New York University Institute of Fine Arts and has published extensively on modern and contemporary art. In 1995, she was awarded MIT's Gyorgy Kepes Fellowship Prize for excellence in the creative arts.
"Katy has turned the List into one of the preeminent venues for contemporary exhibitions and installations," said Associate Provost for the Arts Alan Brody. "She has a remarkable eye for the real thing, whether established or just emerging and the generosity to support every artist whose work she believes in," he said.
Professor Brody has put together a search committee made up of both MIT and non-MIT representatives, with the goal of naming a replacement by fall 1999. "The List's exhibition schedule is pretty well set for 1998-99 and the staff works so well as an ensemble that they will be able to work with guest curators throughout this year," he said.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on July 15, 1998.
