Sarah Kelly Oehler

Sarah Kelly Oehler

Program

CCL Class of 2019

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Title

Field-McCormick Chair and Curator of American Art, Department of American Art

Residency

Walters Art Museum

Mentor

Julia Marciari-Alexander, Walters Art Museum

Sarah Kelly Oehler is the Field-McCormick Chair and Curator of American Art at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she has been since 2002 in increasing positions of responsibility. Her most recent exhibition was Charles White: A Retrospective, the first major retrospective of this influential African American artist. Other projects include Whistler’s Mother: An American Icon Returns to Chicago (2017), America After the Fall:Painting in the 1930s (2016), Shatter Rupture Break: The Modern Series (2015), and They Seek a City: Chicago and the Art of Migration (2013). She has contributed to numerous other publications at the museum, including Art and Appetite: American Painting, Culture, and Cuisine (2013) and American Modernism at the Art Institute of Chicago from World War I to 1955 (2009).

Oehler is currently Chair of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Curatorial Forum and is a past Chair of the Association of Historians of American Art. She received her Ph.D. in American Art from Columbia University and her B.A. in History from Yale University.

Articles Related to Sarah Kelly Oehler

2019 Fellowship_Composite Image (JPG)

2018-11-01

Center for Curatorial Leadership Announces 2019 Fellows

The Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL) has selected twelve curators for participation in the 2019 class of its annual Fellowship. Following the organization’s most competitive review process to date, the cohort chosen for the program will convene from January through May 2019. The program includes three weeks of in-session instruction, ... Read More >

2019 Fellowship_Group Photo Cropped (JPG)

2019-01-21

Program Highlights | 2019 Fellows Complete January Session of the CCL Fellowship

This January, the Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL) welcomed its twelfth class of Fellows to New York City for the beginning of their five-month Fellowship. Over the two-week intensive, they received instruction from Columbia Business School professors and met with leaders in the field, delving into different approaches to leadership ... Read More >

Core Advancement

2019-10-23

Dennis Carr (CCL 2019) appointed Chief Curator of American Art at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Dennis Carr (CCL 2019) has been named Chief Curator of American Art at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens!  Carr will join The Huntington from the MFA Boston, where he has served as the Carolyn and Peter Lynch Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture since 2007. While at the ... Read More >

Core Advancement

2020-01-27

René Morales (CCL 2019) Named Director of Curatorial Affairs and Chief Curator of The Pérez Art Museum Miami

René Morales (CCL 2019) has been named Director of Curatorial Affairs and Chief Curator of the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), where he has been a member of the curatorial staff since 2005.  During his tenure at PAMM, Morales has curated over 50 exhibitions. Recent curatorial projects include Christo and Jeanne-Claude: ... Read More >

Core Advancement

2020-03-16

Ryan N. Dennis (CCL 2019) named Chief Curator and Artistic Director of the Mississippi Museum of Art's Center for Art and Public Exchange

Ryan N. Dennis (CCL 2019) has been named named Chief Curator and Artistic Director of the Mississippi Museum of Art's Center for Art and Public Exchange (CAPE).  Since 2017, Ryan has served as the Curator and Programs Director of Project Row Houses (PRH) in Houston, Texas. She joined Project Row Houses in ... Read More >

Core Advancement

2021-09-03

Johanna Burton (CCL 2019) Named Executive Director of LA MOCA

Johanna Burton (CCL 2019) has been named Executive Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles!  Since 2019, Burton has been the executive director of the Wexner Center for the Arts. Previously, she served as the Keith Haring Director and Curator of Education and Public Engagement at the New ... Read More >

Core Advancement

2021-11-23

René Morales (CCL 2019) named Chief Curator of Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

René Morales (CCL 2019) has been named Chief Curator of the MCA Chicago!  René is currently the director of curatorial affairs and chief curator at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). During his tenure at PAMM, Morales has curated over 50 exhibitions. Curatorial projects include Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Surrounded Islands, 1980–83 (2018), Dara Friedman: Perfect ... Read More >