New Visions: A Message from Mary Ceruti, Executive Director of the Walker Art Center

I can’t remember a time when I was more excited and optimistic about the beginning of a new year. As I write this, my family and I are packing our New York home in preparation for our relocation to the Twin Cities. We embark on this adventure with anticipation, curiosity, and a lot of enthusiasm!

Since the announcement of my appointment as the next executive director of the Walker in November, many, many people have reached out not only to wish me well but also to share their own personal connection to the Walker. The passion and affection with which artists, colleagues, and art lovers everywhere follow the Walker is extraordinary. From the curators who cut their teeth as Walker fellows to artists who have exhibited over the years to people who have simply enjoyed the groundbreaking exhibitions, performances, screenings, and publications, there is an extended Walker network that feels a strong connection to this very special institution. I wasn’t surprised by this, as I have been among that group for most of my professional life.

As a young curator, I was aware of the Walker’s reputation for exhibitions that both championed the art of our time and thoughtfully examined the relatively recent art historical moments that served as its precedents. After a brief stint at the Philadelphia Museum after college, I moved to San Francisco, where my true education in contemporary art began. For ten years, I worked at Capp Street Project, an extraordinary residency and commissioning program founded by Ann Hatch, who happens to be T. B. Walker’s great-granddaughter. I found Capp Street to be a visionary place committed to connecting artists to audiences, and Ann was—and is!—an inspiring figure who taught me what it meant to fully support an artist’s vision. I think it’s fair to say that, through Ann, my own sensibilities as a curator and arts professional were shaped by the same spirit in which the Walker was founded.

Artists are keen observers of the human condition. They are early adopters of technology, and they don’t respect boundaries, whether disciplinary or otherwise. I believe awareness of this is at the root of the Walker’s interdisciplinary and artist-centered approach to its collection and programs. Embracing performance, music, moving image, and design alongside visual art distinguished the Walker as a prescient and open-minded institution—one that understood not just art and art history but artists themselves. I am so excited to join this bold and vibrant place and to work with the staff, board, artists, and the communities of the Twin Cities to bring new ideas and ways of engaging with them to fruition.

I want the Walker to be a place where people across the organization not only feel comfortable asking questions but understand that learning only comes by acknowledging what we don’t know. There is joy in the spirit of curiosity. Among the things artists can teach us is the pleasure of learning from materials, from methods, from collaboration, and from experiencing the world through our senses. This applies both to those who visit the organization but also to our staff, board, and communities. Museums now produce knowledge and meaning through experiences and in dialogue with their communities. As the world reorders itself, art and art museums offer a platform from which we can explore the changing landscape of culture.

In the coming months you can expect to see me in the galleries, theater, cinema, and garden, as well as in neighborhoods across the Twin Cities. I look forward to getting to know the Walker community, detecting opportunities, and sharing the excitement that comes from curiosity and connection.