The Huntington Museum of Art has named Elizabeth “Liz” Simmons as its new Executive Director beginning Sept. 16, 2024, according to Shelia Brownfield, President of HMA’s Board of Trustees. Simmons will come to the Huntington Museum of Art from the Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences in Charleston, W.Va.
After a national search, the HMA Board of Trustees voted to hire Simmons as HMA’s new Executive Director. “The Museum is pleased that the final interviewee was a Huntington native and one who grew up in Huntington with many memories of the Museum as a child,” Brownfield said. “What a win/win for all of us! She needs no introduction to the area or the Museum and she will add her personal touch to the success of the Museum going forward. We are all excited to welcome Liz home!”
Terry Deppner Hardin, HMA Board of Trustees member who chaired the national search for a new executive director, agrees with Brownfield’s assessment. “Our board of directors is thrilled to welcome back a leader of Liz’s caliber into our community to guide the Huntington Museum of Art,” Hardin said. “The search for a qualified CEO for a nonprofit arts institution with the skills, experience, and heart necessary for an organization like ours led to a national search. This search resulted in several exceedingly qualified applicants. After a thorough and lengthy search process, it was determined that Elizabeth Simmons possesses the qualifications and expertise to grow the Museum into an even greater, more successful, institution to create a lasting impact on our area.”
As Curator of Art & Engagement at the Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences since 2021, Simmons has been in charge of exhibits and programming for the Juliet Art Museum and Susan Runyan Maier Sculpture Garden. Her accomplishments leading the Juliet Art Museum include planning seven exhibitions a year and overseeing the publication of the exhibition catalog titled “Ellie Schaul: Reimagining the Familiar.” More than 20 new works were added to the Juliet’s permanent collection under her direction, which included working with the Vice President of Development to cultivate donors and organize the organization’s art affinity group.
Simmons follows Geoffrey K. Fleming as HMA Executive Director. Fleming served in the position from July 2015 until December 2023. Margaret Mary Layne, a former Executive Director of HMA, has been serving as HMA’s Interim Executive Director since December 2023 and will remain in that position until Simmons begins her duties.
“I’m thrilled to serve as the next Executive Director at the Huntington Museum of Art and continue its great legacy of fostering the arts for the city of Huntington,” Simmons said. “The Museum’s deep collection and expansive exhibitions are unparalleled in our region. Its emphasis on nature and education underscore important values for the Tri-State area. The staff is top-notch and their expertise shines through in all their good work. Interim Director Margaret Mary Layne has also done a wonderful job stepping back into the Museum this year. I’m appreciative of the confidence and trust placed in me by the Board of Trustees and look forward to working closely with them. Having grown up in the art classes and galleries here, it is a dream to come back to work for my home museum. I am eager to lead the Museum into an exciting future of innovative exhibitions and engaging programs that are accessible for all visitors.”
Simmons graduated from Huntington High School with very high honors in 2006. She graduated magna cum laude from Miami University (OH) in 2010 with a B.A. in strategic communication and a minor in history of art and architecture. Simmons earned an M.A. in Art History in 2012 from Indiana University, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Art History at the University of Delaware, where she is an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow.
Simmons was a research assistant at the Cincinnati Art Museum from 2018 to 2020 and a spotlight gallery educator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2016 and 2017. She was a graduate assistant at Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library in Delaware and the Fess Fellow at the Indiana University Art Museum. She has internship experience with the Princeton University Art Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and the Huntington Museum of Art.
Nestled on 52 acres, the Huntington Museum of Art has a permanent collection of more than 17,000 objects and is also home to the C. Fred Edwards Conservatory of tropical and subtropical plants and orchids.
HMA has permanent galleries of Ohio Valley glassware and decorative arts, antique firearms, and Near Eastern art and artifacts. HMA’s permanent collection features The Daywood Collection, which includes works by Childe Hassam, Frank Benson, Robert Henri, John Singer Sargent, and many others. HMA’s permanent collection includes the Winslow Anderson Collection of Haitian Art featuring paintings and metalwork.
In addition to exhibiting works from its permanent collection, HMA curates special exhibits and brings in traveling exhibits, presenting several new exhibits each year.
Having served the Tri-State community and beyond since 1952, the Huntington Museum of Art has five art studios with regular art classes for adults and children.
The Huntington Museum of Art is fully accessible. For more information on events at HMA, visit www.hmoa.org or call (304) 529-2701.
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