Aaron Levi Garvey. Photo by Mason Williams.
The Art Museum of West Virginia University (WVU) is welcoming a new museum director.
Aaron Levi Garvey is an experienced museum curator and historian specializing in modern and contemporary art. He has worked with esteemed institutions, including as the Janet L. Nolan director of curatorial affairs at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University, Founding Chief Curator of The Hudson Eye and Long Road Projects Foundation, and chief curator of the Andy Warhol Museum. He has also recently served as a guest lecturer for the University of Alabama at Birmingham, College for Creative Arts in Detroit, Michigan, and the Kimball Art Center in Park City, Utah, Juror for the Sondheim Prize in Baltimore visiting curator at STABLE in Washington DC and will serve as guest lecturer at the University of Kentucky, the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of Iowa in Fall 2024 and Spring 2025. Garvey said he is excited to expand the reach of the Art Museum of WVU.
“The culture work that can be done both within the confines of the museum’s walls and on the national stage as a university-backed museum are full of endless possibilities,” Garvey said. I am most excited that the Museum can be a culture leader and fulfill the desire audiences at the university and within the greater Appalachian region have for forward thinking and progressive arts programming.”
Garvey’s vision for the museum includes accreditation with the American Association of Museums, working to generate originated traveling exhibitions and continuing the museum’s efforts to recognize new and diverse artists, and ensuring a welcoming experience for every visitor.
“By showcasing and preserving diverse perspectives, voices and practices of artists, we can tell stories in their entirety and examine the full arc of global events. We are then able to align in similarities and learn from differences. I often talk about how when I have a seat at the table, it is my duty to either bring others to the table with me or give up my seat so that others can be present, focused on and heard,” Garvey said.
“As a third-generation Jewish person in North America, so much of what I focus on in building relationships is an evolution of the values my great-grandmother instilled in me. And much of that means facilitating access.”
College of Creative Arts and Media Dean Keith Jackson said he is thrilled to welcome Garvey to WVU.
“As we enter this next chapter in the ‘life’ of the Art Museum of WVU, we are tapping our potential as a leading, contemporary example of what a university art museum should be,” Jackson said. “Aaron brings a host of leadership experiences relevant to our continued evolution, and I am inspired by the possibilities.”
To learn more about the Art Museum of WVU, visit https://artmuseum.wvu.edu/.