Carrie Cushman, the Edith Dale Monson Director and Curator of the HAS Galleries, will be leaving the University, effective August 1. She will take on the role as the museum director of Bates College Museum of Art in Lewiston, Maine.
Cushman joined the University in 2022, where she was responsible for powerful exhibitions that included Komatsu Hiroko: Second Decade, Chiraag Bhakta’s Designing the Dream State, Genevieve de Leon’s To Order the Days / Para Ordenar Los Días, Jonathan Herrera Soto’s Twice the Legal Minute, Silas Munro’s How Can the Grid Deal with a Messy World?, and Dream Murals: Public Art with Hartford Art School Alumni. Additionally, many experienced her impact beyond the exhibitions, as she spearheaded many collaborative initiatives and projects across campus over the last three years.
Dean Dale Merrill recently shared his thoughts, saying that “in the short time I have worked with Carrie, I have come to know her as an innovative, supportive, and collaborative member of our community. Her dedication to pushing us to reach higher with her innovative exhibition programming has significantly elevated the reputation of our galleries. Carrie's thoughtful initiatives, such as the Minoo Emami: Under My Veil exhibition and establishing our relationship with the Connecticut Art Trail, have notably increased gallery attendance in the last three years post-COVID. Additionally, Carrie has been instrumental in laying the groundwork for the Hartford Art School's 150th anniversary, which we are grateful for her contribution.”
Cushman is a curator and educator specializing in the histories of photography and contemporary Japanese art. Prior to joining the Hartford Art School, Cushman was the Linda Wyatt Gruber '66 Curatorial Fellow in Photography at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College. She is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including an Institute of Museum and Library Sciences grant for a collections inventory project at the University of Hartford, a Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Grant for the exhibition Komatsu Hiroko: Creative Destruction, the Chino Kaori Memorial Essay Prize from the Japan Art History Forum, and a Fulbright Graduate Research Fellowship. Cushman has published numerous exhibition catalogues, such as Minoo Emami Body Quilt: A Fire for Peace (2024), Komatsu Hiroko: Creative Destruction (2022), and Going Viral: Photography, Performance, and the Everyday (2020), and her writing appears in scholarly journals, including the Review of Japanese Culture and Society and Verge: Studies in Global Asias. Most recently, she was on the editorial committee and a contributor to the Aperture book, I’m So Happy You Are Here: Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now (2024).
Later this year, the University will begin a national search for a new director and curator for the galleries. Merrill adds, “Carrie has agreed to work through the summer to ensure a smooth transition for the 2025–26 season of the Hartford Art School Galleries.” She will also return to campus in the fall to oversee the 8th International Distinguished Artists Symposium and Exhibition program, Human Marks: Tattooing in Contemporary Art. This program will run from September 11 to December 13 in Joseloff Gallery, with an opening celebration on Thursday, September 11, and a full-day symposium on Friday, September 12.