Barbara O’Brien has been named director of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, in Kansas City, Mo., effective immediately.
Previously the Kemper’s chief curator and director of exhibitions and collections, O’Brien will also remain chief curator through the end of the year. She joined the museum as curator in 2009, and assumed the position of chief curator and exhibitions director last year.
Before joining the Kemper, O’Brien was an assistant professor of art at Simmons College in Boston, Mass. (2006–08), also serving as director of the college’s Trustman Art Gallery and head of its arts administration program. Previously, she was editor in chief of Art New England magazine (2003–06), after serving from 1990–2001 as director of the gallery and visiting artist program at Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, Mass.
O’Brien replaces Rachael Blackburn Cozad, who resigned in May.
Photo: Helen H. Richardson.
