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Heidi Zuckerman

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Heidi Zuckerman
Born
Heidi Ellen Zuckerman

1967 or 1968 (age 56–57)
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of Pennsylvania (BA)
CUNY Hunter College (MA)
Occupation(s)Museum director and curator
EmployerOrange County Museum of Art

Heidi Zuckerman (born 1967 or 1968) is an American museum director and curator who is CEO and director of the Orange County Museum of Art in Costa Mesa, California.

Zuckerman was previously a curator for the Jewish Museum in New York and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in California. From 2005 to 2019, she was director and chief curator of Aspen Art Museum in Colorado, during which the museum opened a new building designed by Shigeru Ban and shifted from exhibiting mainly local artists to international contemporary artists. She assumed her current position at the Orange County Museum of Art in 2021, managing the construction of its new building.

Early life and education

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Heidi Ellen Zuckerman was born in 1967 or 1968. Zuckerman's mother, Helen, lived in Huntington, New York, and her father Matthew was from Palo Alto, California;[1] she first lived in New York and grew up in Palo Alto.[2][3] Her interest in art started in her childhood. In an interview with Cultured magazine, she recalled that her grandmother would send extra artwork she collected to her parents, who were not interested in art, so she "grew up making up my own stories about the objects that we lived with."[4] She would also go to San Francisco for art museum visits.[2]

Zuckerman attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in European history in 1989.[5][6] Her undergraduate thesis focused on the history of the punk subculture in the United Kingdom.[2] She recalls she "fell in love" with art during her sophomore year, at a gallery show in Philadelphia, when she "became so immersed in what I was looking at that I forgot my current romantic challenges".[7][unreliable source?] After university, she studied for one year at the auction house Christie's, in London, and then lived in New York and worked at an art gallery in SoHo, Manhattan.[4]

Curatorial work

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For five years until 1999, Zuckerman was assistant curator of 20th-century art at the Jewish Museum in New York,[8] during which she created the museum's Contemporary Artists Projects series that showcased commissioned artwork in the museum and on its website.[9] A 1996 exhibition by Zuckerman at the museum examined Louis Kahn's four designs for synagogues, of which only the Temple Beth-El in Chappaqua, New York, has been built. The New York Times architecture critic Paul Goldberger found the exhibition "full of heartbreak, for there is no way to walk through these galleries and not be filled with a sense of lost opportunity."[10] She also worked as an independent curator during this time to remain affiliated with the downtown art scene of New York City.[5] Other work included an exhibition covering the art of George Segal; an exhibition during Hanukkah that featured light and video sculptures; and an independently organized exhibition at Art&Idea, in Mexico City, that covered the use of the body of the artist in video art since the 1970s.[8][9] In 1997, she earned a Master of Arts in art history from CUNY Hunter College, with a thesis on the artist's nude body in video.[5][6]

In 1998, Zuckerman was named a curator at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) in California.[9] She was appointed by the museum to head its MATRIX program, founded in 1978 for the purpose of showcasing new works of artists as soon as they were created.[11] At BAMPFA for more than six years,[12] she organized more than forty solo exhibitions of contemporary artists. She was also a faculty member in the California College of the Arts' master's degree program in curatorial practice.[13]

Administrative positions

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Aspen Art Museum (2005–2019)

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Zuckerman was director of the Aspen Art Museum from 2005 to 2019.

Zuckerman became director and chief curator of the Aspen Art Museum of Aspen, Colorado in 2005, succeeding Dean Sobel.[13] In 2009, she became the second director of a Colorado museum to join the Association of Art Museum Directors.[14] Under Zuckerman's tenure, the museum experienced "unprecedented" growth in funding and attendance, as noted by The Aspen Times,[15] and a shift of museum programming from local art to international contemporary art by artists such as Yto Barrada, Vik Muniz, Ernesto Neto, Amy Sillman, and Danh Võ.[16][17] She oversaw the construction of the museum's new building designed by Shigeru Ban and opened in 2014.[18][16] The new building and the shift in programming reportedly drew "mixed local reception",[16] as they conflicted with some Aspen residents who felt that the museum was out of touch with local interests.[16][19] Ray Mark Rinaldi of The Denver Post wrote upon the opening that the museum's recent changes reflected "the identity crisis Aspen has suffered for years" as it had turned into "a ski getaway for movie stars and a vacation destination for outsiders".[12]

Among other exhibitions at the museum, Zuckerman most recently organized exhibitions on Cheryl Donegan (2018), Rashid Johnson, and John Armleder (both 2019).[20] She left her position at the museum in 2019, but said she would provide consulting services on four of the museum's exhibitions through May 2020.[21][22] After leaving the museum, she launched the website HIZ.art to serve as a platform for personal projects, including a podcast series and book series.[17][22]

Orange County Museum of Art (2021–present)

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The Orange County Museum of Art opened its new location in Costa Mesa, California, in 2022.

In 2021, Zuckerman became CEO and director of the Orange County Museum of Art in California, succeeding Todd Smith.[6] She oversaw the construction of a new building located at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California.[3] In early 2022, the museum announced the selection of Courtenay Finn as chief curator and Meagan Burger as director of learning and engagement, both former colleagues of Zuckerman from the Aspen Art Museum,[23] and an acquisitions initiative aiming to acquire 60 works of art for the occasions of the museum's 60th anniversary and the opening of its new building.[24] The new location was opened in October 2022, with admission announced to be free of charge for the first decade.[25][26]

Personal life

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While living in New York, in 1997, Zuckerman married Christopher Jacobson, who worked as a builder.[1][8][13] Jacobson and Zuckerman opened an exhibition and performance space in New York City's Lower East Side named Correct CE.[8][13] The couple moved to Aspen, Colorado, and in 2012, Jacobson was elected a member of the Snowmass Village Town Council.[27] They later divorced.[28]

Zuckerman purchased a property in Laguna Beach, California, ahead of joining the Orange County Museum of Art in 2021.[29]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Heidi Zuckerman, C. W. Jacobson". The New York Times. June 8, 1997. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c Brennan, Peter J. (November 8, 2021). "New Museum Prepares for Center Stage". Orange County Business Journal. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
  3. ^ a b Vankin, Deborah (June 14, 2021). "While you were in quarantine, a major new art museum rose in Orange County". Los Angeles Times.
  4. ^ a b "Ahead of the New Orange County Museum of Art Opening, Director Heidi Zuckerman Shows Cultured What She Collects at Home". Cultured. September 30, 2022. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Bonetti, David (August 27, 1999). "Art 'speaks' in Berkeley museum". San Francisco Examiner. p. 63. Retrieved August 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b c "Orange County Museum of Art Names Heidi Zuckerman CEO and director". Artforum. January 14, 2021.
  7. ^ Senk, Amy (December 9, 2022). "Take Five: Meet Heidi Zuckerman, CEO and director of the Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA)". Stu News Newport. Vol. 7, no. 98. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  8. ^ a b c d "Berkeley museum curator still in a N.Y. frame of mind". Jweekly. September 10, 1999. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
  9. ^ a b c Bonetti, David (September 3, 1998). "Jewish Museum curator joins UC-Berkeley's MATRIX". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
  10. ^ Goldberger, Paul (October 13, 1996). "A Spiritual Quest Realized But Not in Stone". The New York Times. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  11. ^ Bonetti, David (October 22, 1999). "2 artists, 2 starkly different intentions". San Francisco Examiner. p. 52. Retrieved August 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ a b Rinaldi, Ray Mark (August 7, 2014). "How Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson turned Aspen's art scene international". The Denver Post. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  13. ^ a b c d "Aspen Art Museum board announces new director". The Aspen Times. January 26, 2005. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
  14. ^ MacMillian, Kyle (August 14, 2009). "Jacobson joins Association of Art Museum Directors". The Denver Post. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  15. ^ Travers, Andrew (October 1, 2019). "Aspen Art Museum director departs with questions unanswered". The Aspen Times. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  16. ^ a b c d Cotter, Holland (September 26, 2014). "A Museum Is in Aspen, but Not of It". The New York Times.
  17. ^ a b Greenberger, Alex (January 29, 2020). "Aspen Art Museum Director Heidi Zuckerman on Leaving the Museum World: 'It's a Limited Scope'". ARTnews. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  18. ^ Kellogg, Craig (August 1, 2014). "queen of the mountain". Interior Design. Vol. 85, no. 8. pp. 55–58. ISSN 0020-5508. ProQuest 1634720143. Preparing for the grand opening of Shigeru Ban's new Aspen Art Museum, CEO and director Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson curated an exhibition of Ban's cardboard buildings... [...] She also had the foresight to select Shigeru Ban Architects years before he was inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame or awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
  19. ^ Adams, Roger (August 8, 2014). "New $45M Aspen Art Museum draws mixed reviews". Colorado Public Radio. Archived from the original on February 2, 2015. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  20. ^ "Aspen Art Museum CEO Heidi Zuckerman leaving after 14 years". The Aspen Times. June 28, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2022.
  21. ^ Robbie, Erica (July 9, 2019). "Aspen Art Museum CEO Heidi Zuckerman will consult with AAM through May". Aspen Daily News. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  22. ^ a b Cheng, Scarlet (January 15, 2021). "Orange County Museum of Art names Heidi Zuckerman as director". The Art Newspaper.
  23. ^ Mosqueda, Sarah (January 3, 2022). "Orange County Museum of Art names chief curator for new museum". Daily Pilot. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  24. ^ Vankin, Deborah (January 5, 2022). "Orange County Museum of Art launches acquisitions initiative". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  25. ^ Cardine, Sara (October 1, 2022). "Orange County Museum of Art celebrates 60 years with new site, decade of free admission". Daily Pilot. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  26. ^ Cardine, Sara (October 10, 2022). "Orange County Museum of Art opening draws more than 10K visitors in first 24 hours". Daily Pilot. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  27. ^ Osberger, Madeleine (May 13, 2014). "TOSV's Jacobson: Unbowed by sacred cows". Aspen Journalism. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
  28. ^ Beathard, Jill (August 26, 2015). "Jacobson: It seemed awfully cozy". The Aspen Times. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
  29. ^ Goldberg, Morgan (January 25, 2023). "Everything About This Laguna Beach Home Is Oriented Toward the Ocean". Architectural Digest. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
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