From the Director

In June of this year, Worcester celebrated its tercentennial with a jubilant parade that featured dozens of groups representing the city today—from the Caribbean, Central and South America, to Africa, Asia, and Europe. Ours is truly a global community! The Worcester Art Museum embraces this cultural richness by collecting and exhibiting art that represents thousands of years of human creativity from around the world, and thereby deepening our connections with audiences both near and far.

One way we are achieving this is through strategic additions to our curatorial team, which in turn expands our vision for programming and collecting. Samantha Cataldo, our new Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, joined the Museum in May and has wasted no time in reinvigorating our presentation of global contemporary art. In June, she traveled to Europe to attend important international art fairs that will help her grow our collection of contemporary art and develop new exhibitions and programs to enhance the visibility of underrepresented communities of artists at WAM. This includes strengthening our connections to the local and regional art scenes. Read her article about the art fairs and how they will inform her work on page 14. In August, Natalia Ángeles Vieyra became our new Associate Curator of American Art, filling a vital role of infusing greater diversity into our collection of American art. She brings to WAM broad multicultural expertise and a transnational approach to her work, which will inspire a fresh perspective on our collection. Her eagerness to draw connections between historical collections and issues of contemporary interest will add to conversations about how to incorporate diverse experiences into our presentations of American art.

The Worcester Art Museum’s evolution continues with exciting progress on several building projects. This summer the Museum received two game-changing anonymous grants, totaling $16 million, that make us well-positioned to build the arms and armor gallery of our dreams and safeguard our growing collection for generations to come. With the Lancaster Plaza entrance finished and providing vital accessibility to our visitors, our focus turned last spring to replacing the original windows in the Higgins Education Wing (HEW) with new, energy-efficient units. This upgrade will make WAM greener and more environmentally sustainable at a time when energy is very much on our minds. As I write this, construction of the new library in the HEW is nearly complete and staff are preparing to begin the complicated process of moving the entire Museum Library collection to its new location. Read more about how we are transforming the Library for the 21st century on page 12.

If you have not yet seen our special exhibition, Jewels of the Nile: Ancient Egyptian Treasures from the Worcester Art Museum, please plan to before it closes in January. This stunning presentation (see article on page 6) is the latest in our efforts to bring important works out of storage for the public to enjoy. Other recent examples, both funded by the Henry Luce Foundation, include the 2018 restoration and exhibition of stained glass windows by John La Farge and Louis Comfort Tiffany and the conservation of Edward Augustus Brackett’s sculpture, Shipwrecked Mother and Child, completed in 2022.

We are grateful to you—our generous Members, Trustees, donors, funders, and volunteers—for your dedication and support as we work to fulfill our mission with these exciting initiatives. I hope you will enjoy this latest issue of access and that you will be able to attend the many programs and exhibitions we have planned for the coming months. As always, we are grateful to hear about your experiences with WAM. Feel free to reach out by email to marketing@worcesterart.org.

See you at WAM!

Matthias Waschek Jean and Myles McDonough Director

WORCESTER ART MUSEUM Board of Trustees 2022

Dorothy Chen-Courtin, President James C. Donnelly, Jr., Vice President Douglas S. Brown, Vice President Sarah G. Berry, Treasurer Susan M. Bassick, Clerk

Lawrence H. Curtis Jennifer Davis Carey Michael B. Fox Mark W. Fuller Jennifer C. Glowik-Adams Karen M. Keane Sohail Masood Margaret McEvoy-Ball Thomas P. McGregor Philip R. Morgan Malcolm A. Rogers Jonathan R. Sigel Anne-Marie Soullière Cynthia L. Strauss George W. Tetler III Christina Villena

Ex Officio – Matthias Waschek Jean and Myles McDonough Director