Press Release / Announcement⁣ ⁣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗶𝗯𝗯𝗲𝘀 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘂𝗺 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗿𝘁 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗛. 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗶𝗰𝗵, 𝗣𝗵.𝗗. 𝗮𝘀 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗘𝗢 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘂𝗺 ⁣ ⁣ The Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston announced that after a comprehensive, national search the Museum is appointing H. Alexander Rich, Ph.D. as the Museum’s new President and CEO. ⁣ “The Gibbes Museum of Art welcomes H. Alexander Rich, Ph.D., as our new President and CEO of the Museum,” says Spencer J. Lynch, the Chair of the Museum’s Board. “His career is marked by a commitment to advancing the fields of museums and art history through his innovative leadership, scholarly contributions, and community engagement." ⁣ ⁣ "He is recognized for building valuable relationships with donors, and expanding institutional reach globally with major cultural organizations. His experience as a museum director, chief curator, tenured professor, endowed chair, and public lecturer demonstrates a strong commitment to fostering cultural and educational growth in the community,” adds Lynch. Dr. Rich is succeeding Angela Mack, who is retiring from the Gibbes after a distinguished 44-year tenure.⁣ ⁣ “The legacy of arts leadership created by his predecessor, Angela Mack, during her four decades at the Gibbes represents a major chapter in the City of Charleston’s cultural evolution,” says Board Chair Spencer J. Lynch. “Her curatorial contributions, visionary leadership, and successful fundraising sustained and enriched the Gibbes Museum and brought a global perspective to Charleston, showing the city’s significant contribution to the world through art,” adds Lynch, in a previous statement announcing her retirement.⁣ ⁣ Dr. Rich comes to the Gibbes Museum of Art from the Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art (The AGB) at Florida Southern College, where he served as Executive Director and Chief Curator. He also served as Chair of the Department of Art History and Museum Studies at Florida Southern College, and as Associate Professor of Art History at the College – holding the George and Dorothy Forsythe Endowed Chair in Art History and Museum Studies. ⁣ ⁣ Dr. Rich is a specialist in Modern and Contemporary art history, with a particular focus on European and American art of the 19th and 20th centuries. He earned his Ph.D. in Art History from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and his A.B. from Dartmouth College.⁣ ⁣ A native of New York City, Dr. Rich led The AGB through a period of major transformation and growth and its major expansion in January 2025 – overseeing the fundraising of more than $18 million since 2022, and fulfilling a three-decade-long dream for the Museum. Before moving to Lakeland in 2014, Dr. Rich taught previously at the History of Art Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, and in the City University of New York system. Prior to joining the staff of The AGB in 2017 (then the Polk Museum of Art), and becoming its executive director in 2019, during his undergraduate and graduate studies he worked and interned in curatorial and education capacities at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Hood Museum of Art in Hanover, NH, among others.⁣ ⁣ “I am honored to join the Gibbes Museum of Art, one of the most storied American art museums in one of the most storied cities in the United States,” says H. Alexander Rich, Ph.D. “I am deeply grateful to be chosen to lead the Museum into its next exciting chapter. I look forward to working with the Museum’s talented team, the Board, donors, City leaders, supporters, members, and community leaders. Recognized as a beacon for the arts in the American South since 1858 when the Carolina Art Association began, the Gibbes is heralded as one of the earliest and most longstanding arts institutions in the United States. With the Museum’s transformative expansion already underway, the Gibbes has the opportunity to be recognized and celebrated as one of the country’s — and the world’s — great art museums.”⁣ ⁣ The Gibbes Museum worked closely with the internationally acclaimed executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates. The firm’s Global Practice Co-Leader for Arts & Culture, Katherine Armstrong, led the extensive search process, with the Museum Board’s direction and vision. The Museum’s Transition Committee conducted more than 20 listening sessions with the Board, stakeholders, donors, trustees, leadership team, staff, and other members of the community.⁣ ⁣ “The legacy of arts leadership created by his predecessor, Angela Mack, during her four decades at the Gibbes represents a major chapter in the City of Charleston’s cultural evolution,” says Board Chair Spencer J. Lynch. “Her curatorial contributions, visionary leadership, and successful fundraising sustained and enriched the Gibbes Museum and brought a global perspective to Charleston, showing the city’s significant contribution to the world through art,” adds Lynch, in a previous statement announcing her retirement.⁣ ⁣ 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗛. 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗶𝗰𝗵, 𝗣𝗵.𝗗.⁣ ⁣ Dr. Rich led The AGB through a historic transformation, becoming one of only a few museums in the nation that serve as both an academic and community art museum ‒ achieving the distinction of being the only academic Art History and Museum Studies Department in the country to be housed within a museum.⁣ ⁣ He led The AGB through a transformational expansion and fundraising campaign. The new wing and major building expansion tripled the exhibition space, adding seven new galleries, new educational spaces, a new creativity lab, and extensive renovations to the original building. The grand opening of the expansion in 2025 featured the unprecedented presentation of eight exhibitions all at once. During his leadership, The AGB’s collection grew 33% since 2017.⁣ ⁣ Dr. Rich has curated more than sixty far-ranging and acclaimed museum exhibitions, including: Masters of Spain: Goya and Picasso; Renoir: Les Études; Rembrandt’s Academy; Chagall: Stories into Dreams; Toulouse-Lautrec and the Belle Époque; The Art of the Highwaymen; Edward Hopper and Guy Pène du Bois: Painting the Real; Remembering Vilna: The Holocaust and the Art of Samuel Bak; and Rockwell/Wyeth: Icons of Americana.⁣ ⁣ With his curatorial leadership, Dr. Rich’s exhibitions at The AGB achieved record-breaking attendance numbers for the Museum. Dr. Rich established far reaching new partnerships for The AGB with major international lenders and arts organizations, expanding the Museum’s relationships globally, and culminating in the long-term loans of 14 Rodin sculptures from the Cantor Foundation.⁣ ⁣ MEDIA CONTACTS:⁣ Bill Spring and Jose Lima⁣ www.newstravelsfast.com #gibbesmuseum #announcement #MuseumLeadership (fb)

Stephen Towns is a featured artist in Picturing Freedom and a special guest at our opening event on May 23 at the Gibbes Museum of Art.⁣ ⁣ Born in South Carolina and based in Baltimore, Towns is known for his luminous mixed-media quilts and paintings that explore Black history, labor, and resistance. Trained as a painter with a BFA from the University of South Carolina, he has developed a rigorous, self-taught quilting practice that blends craft with powerful storytelling.⁣ ⁣ Join us for an inspiring conversation featuring Towns alongside historian Dr. Edda Fields-Black, artist J. Henry Fair, and guest curator Dr. Vanessa Thaxton-Ward, moderated by Sara Arnold, director of curatorial affairs. Together, they’ll explore how Harriet Tubman and the Combahee River Raid continue to shape artistic visions of freedom and legacy. A book signing will follow.⁣ ⁣ Towns’s work has been featured in The New York Times, Artforum, The Washington Post, Colossal, Hyperallergic, Cultured, AFROPUNK, and more. In 2018, the Baltimore Museum of Art presented his first solo museum exhibition, Rumination and a Reckoning, followed by Declaration and Resistance, which toured nationally from 2022–23.⁣ ⁣ Don’t miss this unforgettable event and the chance to see Towns’s work in the exhibition. Tickets available at the link in bio.⁣ ⁣ Image credits: ⁣ Wade In the Water, 2020, by Stephen Towns (American, b. 1980). Natural and synthetic fabric, polyester and cotton thread, crystal glass, 39 x 46 inches. Courtesy of Malik Jackson.⁣ And I Shall Smite Thee, 2018 by Stephen Towns (American, b. 1980). Natural and synthetic fiber, glass beads, metallic buttons, 46 x 58 inches. Private Collection. ⁣ ⁣ #StephenTowns #PicturingFreedom #GibbesMuseum #HarrietTubman #ContemporaryArt #BlackArtists #QuiltArt #CharlestonEvents #FreedomThroughArt #ArtIsTheReason #Charleston #LowcountryArt #SouthernArt #MuseumExhibition #ArtMatters #ArtInCharleston #ArtAndHistory #AmericanArt #ExploreCharleston #CharlestonCulture #VisitCharleston⁣ ⁣ (fb)