Curator Chad Alligood is leaving Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art next month after accepting a position as chief curator of American art at The Huntington in San Marino, Calif.
Alligood has been in a curatorial role with the Bentonville-based museum since 2013, leaving one of his biggest marks as part of the team that traveled 100,000 miles to put together Crystal Bridges' "State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now" exhibition in 2014. Alligood's last day at Crystal Bridges will be April 11, and Margi Conrads, director of curatorial affairs, said his departure is "bittersweet."
"He's had a terrific impact and contributed so much to our curatorial program," Conrads said. "But we are excited for him. This is the next step in his journey and you have to take a little pride in seeing a homegrown curator take flight."
Alligood, a Perry, Ga., native, came to Crystal Bridges as an assistant curator for special projects, and his first assignment proved to be significant. He spent nearly a year traveling the country with former Crystal Bridges president Don Bacigalupi in search of works from lesser-known artists. Alligood and Bacigalupi made about 1,000 studio visits over a 10-month period, selecting 227 works by 102 artists to be displayed in "State of the Art" at Crystal Bridges.
The exhibition opened in September 2014 and was visited by 175,000 guests during its four-month stay at the museum, earning the 2015 Excellence in Exhibition award from the American Alliance of Museums.
"State of the Art" continues to reach an even wider audience after becoming the museum's first traveling exhibition. It is currently on display at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis.
Alligood's impact at Crystal Bridges wasn't limited to "State of the Art." As the museum's post-1945 art expert, he also curated "Warhol's Nature" and played an integral role in helping Crystal Bridges expand and diversify its collection.
Alligood spearheaded many of Crystal Bridges' major acquisitions like Felix Gonzalez-Torres' Untitled (L.A.) and Faith Ringgold's Maya's Quilt of Life, which was commissioned by Oprah Winfrey and given to Maya Angelou.
"Crystal Bridges has afforded me the opportunity to execute big ideas and to reach a huge audience that is ready for powerful and dramatic change through art," Alligood said Monday. "I hope that my legacy at Crystal Bridges will show that the work I've brought into the collection has expanded the story. We don't have to tell the same story as every other institution because Crystal Bridges is new. So how can we challenge and how can we grow?"
Crystal Bridges will begin a national search for a new curator in the coming weeks, according to Conrads.
The museum will be looking for someone with expertise in post-1945 American art.
Meanwhile, Kevin Salatino, director of art collections at The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, said the institute is eager for Alligood to bring the "same level of energy and creativity" to California.
"Chad's ambitious accomplishments at Crystal Bridges, and the invaluable experience of working in such an extraordinary collection of American art, have prepared him well for the dynamic nature of our collections and programming at The Huntington," Salatino said in a news release.
The collections-based research and educational institution was founded by railroad magnate Henry Huntington in 1919. The Huntington Library contains 420,000 rare books and 7 million manuscripts, according to its website. The European and American art collections include about 650 paintings and 440 sculptures, although the institute didn't begin displaying American art until 1984.
"It's a relatively young collection in an old institution," Alligood said. "But in a very short time, The Huntington has put together one of the most important American art collections west of the Mississippi.
"So to be able to go there and use my experience at Crystal Bridges, to activate the collections in a new way, to introduce contemporary art into a historic context and show the ways in which historic American art can still speak to us today, I am just champing at the bit to get out there."
Metro on 03/14/2017