Preston J. Hollowell
Curator of American Art
Charleston, SC · (843) 555 0169 · name@example.com · linkedin.com/in/prestonjhollowell
Key Qualifications
EXPERIENCE
Eleven years curating American painting, works on paper and decorative arts in accredited art museums
INDUSTRIES
Regional art museums, university art collections, private foundation collections
SPECIALTIES
Exhibition development, acquisitions, provenance research, interpretation, donor cultivation
SYSTEMS
The Museum System collections database, PastPerfect, Adobe Creative Cloud, Airtable
CREDENTIALS
Member of the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Art Museum Curators
EDUCATION
Doctor of Philosophy in art history with a concentration in American art
Executive Summary
Curator of American art at a regional museum accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Builds exhibitions from the permanent collection rather than renting them, researches provenance before anything is accepted, and has grown the holdings of southern artists the museum had long ignored.
Signature Achievements
- Curated nine exhibitions in six years, including one that traveled to three other museums and drew fifty eight thousand visitors at home.
- Acquired forty two works by southern artists of color, an area the collection had almost nothing in when she arrived.
- Completed provenance research on the entire European bequest and published the findings on the museum website.
- Raised one million four hundred thousand dollars in acquisition gifts across four donor relationships.
- Rewrote the label and wall text standard to a reading level the education department could work with, which visitor surveys picked up immediately.
Professional Experience
Curator of American Art
Lowcountry Museum of Art, Charleston, SC 2019 to present
Accredited art museum of forty staff with a permanent collection of about nine thousand objects.
- Develops the exhibition schedule for American art and writes the interpretive material for each show.
- Recommends acquisitions and deaccessions to the collections committee with full condition and provenance files.
- Works with registrars and conservators on loans, condition reporting and gallery environment.
- Cultivates collectors and gives the donor talks that support acquisition funds.
Associate Curator
Sandhills Art Museum, Columbia, SC 2015 to 2019
Midsize museum of eighteen staff with a strong regional collection and a small exhibition budget.
- Organized four collection based exhibitions and coauthored two catalogs.
- Cataloged and researched a bequest of six hundred works on paper.
- Supervised two curatorial interns each semester from the state university.
- Represented the museum in loan negotiations with lenders across the southeast.
Licensure and Certification
Member, American Alliance of Museums
Member, Association of Art Museum Curators
Education
Doctor of Philosophy in Art History, University of Virginia, 2015
Bachelor of Arts in Art History, College of Charleston, 2009
Core Skills
Exhibition development · Acquisition research · Provenance research · Label and catalog writing · Loan negotiation · Collections committee reporting · Donor cultivation · Intern supervision · Condition assessment