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Currently the Edith Dale Monson Gallery Director and Curator at the University of Hartford\u2019s 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 \u201966 Curatorial Fellow in Photography at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, where she continues to serve as a guest curator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCarrie Cushman is an exciting choice to lead the Bates Museum of Art into its next chapter,\u201d Hill said. \u201cShe 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 \u2014 and positions the museum to deepen its impact on campus, in the Lewiston\u2013Auburn community, and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am thrilled to join the Bates community and steward a museum known for its dynamic exhibitions and educational mission,\u201d Cushman said. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
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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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her acquisitions and exhibition projects regularly highlight underrepresented perspectives, including Minoo Emami: Under My Veil<\/em>, focused on the Woman, Life, Freedom protests in Iran, and Genevieve de Leon: To Order the Days \/ Para Ordenar Los D\u00edas<\/em>, which explored Indigenous knowledge systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Her research appears in scholarly journals, including the Review of Japanese Culture and Society<\/em> and Verge: Studies in Global Asias<\/em>. She is the co-creator of Behind the Camera: Gender, Power, and Politics in the History of Japanese Photography<\/em>, an open-source digital resource hosted by the University of British Columbia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Her forthcoming book, Human Marks: Tattooing in Contemporary Art<\/em>, will be published by Hirmer Publishers in September. Her projects have been supported by significant grants from the Japan\u2013U.S. Friendship Commission, the Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation, and the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences, among others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCarrie\u2019s experience curating bold and socially relevant exhibitions, along with her scholarly depth, will help advance the museum\u2019s mission as a site of learning, creativity, and engagement. We look forward to the leadership she will bring to the museum,\u201d said Cat Balco, professor of art and visual culture who co-chaired the search committee with Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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, \u201cTemporary Ruins: Miyamoto Ry\u016bji\u2019s Architectural Photography in Postmodern Japan.\u201d <\/em>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.<\/p>\n\n\n
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