Carrie Cushman to join Bates as director of the Bates College Museum of Art

Carrie Cushman, Ph.D., will join the college as director of the Bates College Museum of Art, effective Aug. 18, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty Malcolm Hill has announced.

Currently the Edith Dale Monson Gallery Director and Curator at the University of Hartford’s Hartford Art School, Cushman has rapidly advanced into prominent roles at academic museums while building a career centered on curatorial innovation, scholarly research, and museum leadership. Prior to her role at Hartford, she was the Linda Wyatt Gruber ’66 Curatorial Fellow in Photography at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, where she continues to serve as a guest curator. 

“Carrie Cushman is an exciting choice to lead the Bates Museum of Art into its next chapter,” Hill said. “She is a thoughtful, collaborative, and mission-focused leader whose expansive vision balances rigorous scholarship with a clear passion for the role of art in building community in a liberal arts setting. Her dedication to inclusive and inventive curation reflects the core values of the museum and Bates College — and positions the museum to deepen its impact on campus, in the Lewiston–Auburn community, and beyond.”

“I am thrilled to join the Bates community and steward a museum known for its dynamic exhibitions and educational mission,” Cushman said. “I have long been impressed by the extensive programming and learning resources being generated for diverse audiences by the hardworking staff at the Bates College Museum of Art, and I look forward to working with community partners on campus and within the region to develop a vision for the future of this gem of a museum and art collection.”

At the University of Hartford, Cushman has broadened the reach of the arts across campus through program development and strategic planning while honing her curatorial expertise, which includes postwar and contemporary Japanese art and photography and feminist art history.

Her acquisitions and exhibition projects regularly highlight underrepresented perspectives, including Minoo Emami: Under My Veil, focused on the Woman, Life, Freedom protests in Iran, and Genevieve de Leon: To Order the Days / Para Ordenar Los Días, which explored Indigenous knowledge systems. 

Her research appears in scholarly journals, including the Review of Japanese Culture and Society and Verge: Studies in Global Asias. She is the co-creator of Behind the Camera: Gender, Power, and Politics in the History of Japanese Photography, an open-source digital resource hosted by the University of British Columbia.

Her forthcoming book, Human Marks: Tattooing in Contemporary Art, will be published by Hirmer Publishers in September. Her projects have been supported by significant grants from the Japan–U.S. Friendship Commission, the Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation, and the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences, among others. 

“Carrie’s experience curating bold and socially relevant exhibitions, along with her scholarly depth, will help advance the museum’s mission as a site of learning, creativity, and engagement. We look forward to the leadership she will bring to the museum,” said Cat Balco, professor of art and visual culture who co-chaired the search committee with Hill.

Cushman earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in art history and archaeology from Columbia University, specializing in Japanese art and completing a doctoral thesis, “Temporary Ruins: Miyamoto Ryūji’s Architectural Photography in Postmodern Japan.” She earned a B.A. in the history of art from Vanderbilt University with highest honors, completing a thesis exploring an exhibition of a traditional Japanese home constructed in the garden of the Museum of Modern Art in 1954.

The Bates College Museum of Art is a nationally recognized teaching museum that enhances the intellectual and cultural vitality of Bates College, the surrounding Lewiston–Auburn community, and beyond.

The museum is home to the Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection — over 400 drawings and paintings, and ephemera created or owned by the noted American modernist, who was born in Lewiston in 1877. 

The museum’s growing collection of more than 10,000 objects includes works by nationally and internationally recognized artists working in Maine, modern and contemporary art, contemporary craft, photography, and significant collections of Vietnamese shamanic, Pre-Columbian, and African art. 

Cushman succeeds Dan Mills, who retired in December 2024.