George Kinghorn Named Director of University of Maine Museum of Art
Contact: Joe Carr, (207) 581-3571
BANGOR, Maine — George Kinghorn has accepted the position of director of the University of Maine Museum of Art, effective June 9.
Kinghorn comes to UMaine from Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville (Fla.), where he most recently served as deputy director and chief curator. He was instrumental in opening MOCA Jacksonville’s six-floor, 60,000-square-foot facility in the heart of downtown. He also led a subsequent renovation of the museum’s galleries, which added exhibition space and improved flow.
During his nine-year tenure, MOCA Jacksonville opened a children’s interactive center, ArtExplorium Loft, and Cafe Nola, an upscale bistro, which contributes to the museum’s annual revenues. In addition, he added significant works to the permanent collection, implemented a comprehensive strategic plan and created a collections management master plan, which redefined the scope of the collection.
Laurie Hicks, the interim director of the University of Maine Museum of Art and an art professor at UMaine, praised Kinghorn’s experience, enthusiasm and vision.
“The museum is a vital, alive place,” Hicks said. “What George can bring to it is the ability to make that vitality and possibility a reality. He has a great track record of having a vision and making it happen, and that was important to us.”
Kinghorn’s vision for the museum includes extensive community outreach and strong collaborations with faculty and students. Through informal lunchtime lectures, diverse exhibits and educational programming for people of all ages, he hopes to build the museum’s audience. It is his goal to increase the museum’s visibility statewide and make it a destination — similar to the way people travel to the Portland Museum of Art and the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland.
“Museums really have to be an open, warm and accessible environment for people to come in and engage in a dialogue about visual art,” Kinghorn says. “The idea of museums being stuffy places, I don’t really prescribe to that notion. Museums really have to be lively centers of activity that bring people together.”
In Jacksonville, the museum project was a key player in the city’s downtown revitalization efforts. His arrival in Maine will coincide with the five-year anniversary celebration of UMMA’s move to downtown Bangor, and he sees similar potential here.
He called the sleek, industrial space in historic Norumbega Hall “beautifully designed,” and says it “has a wonderful flow.” He loves the flexibility of the galleries, which allows the museum to present innovative, contemporary work as well as traditional art forms. Though smaller in size and scope, the UMaine museum reminds him in many ways of his work in Jacksonville.
“The best part about the museum’s location is that wonderful civic partnership with the university and the city of Bangor,” Kinghorn said. “A museum can really invigorate a downtown and bring people from all walks of life together.”
Kinghorn succeeds longtime director Wally Mason, who spearheaded the museum’s move off campus. During his time at UMaine, from 1996 to late 2007, Mason significantly added to the permanent collection of works on paper, building on the tradition set by the museum’s founder, Vincent Hartgen.
“Wally Mason really built the foundation for this museum,” Hicks said. “Now it’s time for the museum to set a path for itself and work to become the museum it has the potential to be, to really try to do things that make it stand out even more than it already does.”
About the University of Maine Museum of Art:
In 1946, Vincent Hartgen established the University of Maine Art Collection with the goal of educating and enriching the lives of all Mainers through visual art. In 1988, the University Art Collection became the University of Maine Museum of Art, and in 2002, the museum moved from the Orono campus to historic Norumbega Hall in downtown Bangor. It is located at 40 Harlow St. For more information, call 561-3350 or visit www.umma.umaine.edu. Admission is free to the public through the end of 2008.