Elmhurst Art Museum Announces Appointment of Allison Peters Quinn to Executive Director and Chief Curator
The Elmhurst Art Museum announced the appointment of Allison Peters Quinn to Executive Director and Chief Curator. An established curator, educator, and art writer based in Chicago, Peters Quinn will spearhead the Elmhurst Art Museum’s mission to spark cultural enrichment and serve as “a creative space where art is for everyone.” Peters Quinn will expand the museum’s role in the Chicagoland area for contemporary art, arts education, and mid-century modern architecture. Peters Quinn succeeds former Executive Director John McKinnon and Interim Executive Director Ann Quinn Kelly and begins her role effective December 2, 2024.
As Executive Director and Chief Curator, Peters Quinn will oversee the programming and operations of the 15,000-square-foot museum campus, including its art galleries, studio classrooms, gathering spaces, and the on-campus McCormick House, a single-family home designed in 1952 by the iconic 20th century architect Mies van der Rohe.
Peters Quinn comes to the Elmhurst Art Museum from the Hyde Park Art Center where she served as Director of Exhibitions and Residency Programs. Throughout her twenty-year tenure at the Art Center, Peters Quinn mounted career-altering exhibitions of emerging and mid-career artists who are now well-recognized, such as Theaster Gates, Edra Soto, Cándida Alvarez, Faheem Majeed, Fo Wison, Jim Duigan, and Lan Tuazon.
At the Elmhurst Art Museum, Peters Quinn will continue to champion the social and environmental justice works of artists from diverse backgrounds of knowledge and experience, reflecting the priorities and strengths of the museum’s exhibition program. Its recent exhibitions Rafael Blanco: Reflecting on a Decade of Public Art (2024), Norman Teague: A Love Supreme (2024),and Sentrock: The Boy Who Wanted to Fly (2023) offered first solo museum exhibitions to rising Chicagoland artists with a focus on supporting bold new commissions and site-specific works.
“On behalf of the Elmhurst Art Museum’s Board of Directors, I am thrilled that Allison Peters Quinn will be the museum’s next Executive Director and Chief Curator,” stated Board Chair of the Elmhurst Art Museum Joseph R. Jeffery. “Allison has earned a reputation as a creative and thoughtful leader, curator, and educator. Those talents align perfectly with the museum’s mission to serve as ‘a creative space where art is for everyone’. Allison’s decades of experience working within the Chicago artist community will allow her to draw on her deep connections to Chicago’s emerging and mid-career artists, arts patrons, galleries, and museums to ensure the museum continues to offer the engaging and impactful exhibitions for which it is known. We are beyond excited about all that Allison brings to the Elmhurst Art Museum and look forward to its next chapter under her leadership.”
On her new position, Peters Quinn commented, “Elmhurst Art Museum brings together contemporary art, education, community, and authentic modern architecture to establish a welcoming, intentional space for culture and creativity. Sharing the museum’s belief that ‘art is for everyone’, I see exciting opportunities for the institution to expand its impact through this commitment to radical accessibility. My work over the past twenty years has been dedicated to bringing diverse audiences into civic dialog through looking at, experiencing, and making art – all of which will complement the inclusive programming at the museum. I look forward to building on the deep relationships with artists and institutional partnerships I have established in Chicago and around the world and working with the outstanding Board of Directors and staff to take the museum to the next level as an accredited and visionary leader in the field.”
The Elmhurst Art Museum is located at 150 South Cottage Hill Avenue in Elmhurst, Illinois. For information on the Elmhurst Art Museum, please call 630.834.0202 or visit elmhurstartmuseum.org.
