The Herberger College of the Arts at Arizona State University is pleased to name Heather Lineberry interim director of the ASU Art Museum, beginning Jan. 1, 2008. Lineberry is currently the museum’s senior curator and brings to the position more than 20 years’ experience curating contemporary art, the past 17 years’ at the ASU Art Museum. Lineberry replaces Marilyn Zeitlin, who announced her retirement as chief curator and director of the ASU Art Museum effective Dec. 31, 2007, following 15-years at the Museum. Zeitlin will continue to pursue independent curatorial projects and research.
“Heather’s experience and expertise are invaluable as we enter a period of transition at the museum and embark upon a search for new leadership,†says Kwang-Wu Kim, dean of the Herberger College of the Arts. “I am grateful for her willingness to serve in this important capacity and I look forward to working with her.â€
Lineberry’s service to the Herberger College and the museum were recognized this year by ASU President Michael Crow. She received the 2007 President’s Medal for Social Embeddedness at Arizona State University, along with current ASU Art Museum curator John Spiak, for the exhibition and outreach programs surrounding their co-curated, New American City: Artists Look Forward. The exhibition featured works by 23 Maricopa County artists that reflected personal impressions of living and working in the Phoenix-metropolitan area.
As senior curator at ASU Art Museum she has curated over thirty-five exhibitions exploring a broad range of art forms and curatorial approaches including Art on the Edge of Fashion (traveled nationally), Jim Campbell: Transforming Time, Sites Around the City: Art and the Environment (a citywide series of exhibitions and programs), The Long Day: Sculpture by Claudette Schreuders (traveled nationally), and the current exhibition Business As Usual: New Video from China / Cao Fei and Yang Fudong (traveling nationally).
In addition to her expertise working with contemporary art, Lineberry also administers the museum’s historic American art collection. During 2003, she managed the Americas Gallery re-installation with thematic groupings from the museum’s permanent collection. Lineberry helped establish the ASU Art Museum’s Ceramics Research Center in 2002 and curated its inaugural exhibitions. University and community groups also benefit from her lectures and teachings on museum exhibitions and museum-studies topics.
Lineberry has an M.A. in art history and a B.A. in the Plan II Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin.