Ryan N. Dennis

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Ryan N. Dennis
Born
Houston, Texas
NationalityUnited States of America
Education
Known forArtistic director and chief curator
Notable work
Awards
  • 2019 Fellowship
Elected
  • 2019 Whitney Museum of American Art Bucksbaum Award Juror
  • 2021 Texas Biennial Co-Curator
Website[1]https://www.ryanndennis.com/

Ryan N. Dennis is an American curator and writer who is currently Chief Curator and Artistic Director at the Mississippi Museum of Art's .[1][2] She previously served as Curator and Programs Director (2017-2020) and Public Art Director and Curator (2012-2017) at Project Row Houses in Houston, Texas.[1] Dennis focuses on African American contemporary art with an emphasis on site-specific projects and community engagement.[3]

Early life and education[]

Ryan N. Dennis was born in Houston, Texas. In 2007, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Houston[4] where she was in the African American studies program and the art history program.[5] She received a M.A. degree in arts and cultural management from the Pratt Institute in New York City in 2011.[4] Dennis interned in the curatorial department of the Menil Collection in Houston, where she would later work professionally.[5]

Professional career[]

Early in her career, Ryan N. Dennis worked as a curatorial assistant at the Menil Collection (2007-2009).[5][4] She moved to New York City to pursue her degree, where she was a fellow at in 2009,[6] worked in public programs at the New Museum, and was traveling exhibition and artists-in-residence manager at the Museum for African Art (now The Africa Center) from 2010 to 2012.[4]

Dennis joined Project Row Houses in 2012 as Public Art Director and Curator.[7][8] In 2017, she was promoted to Curator and Programs Director.[4] During her tenure at Project Row Houses, she organized and co-organized ten rounds of exhibitions,[9] including Round 41: Process and Action: An Exploration of Labor (2015),[10] Round 43: Small Business/ Big Change: Economic Perspectives from Artists and Artrepreneurs (2015), Round 44: Shattering the Concrete: Artists, Activists, and Instigators (2016), Round 45: Local Impact (2016), Round 46: Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter at Project Row Houses (2017), Round 47:The Act of Doing: Preserving, Revitalizing and Protecting Third Ward (2018),[11][12][13] Round 48: Beyond Social Practice (2019), Round 49: penumbras: sacred geometries (2019), and Round 50: Race, Health and Motherhood (2019). Artists who have participated in these rounds include Simone Leigh, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, Autumn Knight, Lovie Olivia, Ayanna Jolivet McCloud, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Martine Syms, Erika DeFreitas, , Robert Pruitt, and .[13]

Dennis was selected for the 2019 annual Fellowship, where she completed a weeklong residency at the Brooklyn Museum.[14][15] In 2019, she was selected, along with , to co-curate the seventh edition (2021) of the Texas Biennial,[16] a "geographically-led, independent survey of contemporary art in Texas."[17] She was a juror for the 2019 Whitney Museum of American Art Bucksbaum Award, which every two years awards $100,000 and is one of the largest cash awards for individual visual artists.[18][19]

In April 2020, she became the Chief Curator and Artistic Director at the Mississippi Museum of Art's .[20] It is the largest art museum in the state.[21][22]

Ryan N. Dennis' written works appear in Prospect.3 Notes for Now (2014) as part of Prospect New Orleans,[4] Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts (2015),[23] the Miami Rail (2017).[24] She also contributed to the monograph of Autumn Knight published in 2018.[25]

Other activities[]

  • Whitney Museum of American Art Bucksbaum Award, juror (2019)[19]
  • The Kenneth Rainin Foundation Open Spaces Program grants, member of the jury (2019)[26]
  • Houston Artadia Awards, member of the jury (2017)[27]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Project Row Houses' Ryan Dennis Heads To Mississippi Museum of Art". Glasstire. 2020-03-11. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
  2. ^ Green, Naima (2019-06-15). "Opinion | These Are the Faces of Tranquillity". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  3. ^ "Ryan N. Dennis Named Chief Curator and Artistic Director of the Center for Art & Public Exchange". Contemporary And (in German). Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "Mississippi Museum of Art Names Ryan N. Dennis Chief Curator and Artistic Director". Retrieved 2020-06-02.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Ryan Dennis". www.uh.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
  6. ^ "Meet Ryan Dennis, '09 Program Intern". The Laundromat Project. 2014-10-16. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  7. ^ "Houston's Most Successful Community Experiment — the Real Story of Project Row Houses: And the Three Wonder Women Charged With Keeping the Magic Going". PaperCity Magazine. 2018-11-02. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  8. ^ "Ryan N. Dennis - Collaborators - Independent Curators International". curatorsintl.org. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  9. ^ "Ryan N. Dennis (CCL 2019) named Chief Curator and Artistic Director of the Mississippi Museum of Art's Center for Art and Public Exchange". Center for Curatorial Leadership. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  10. ^ "Art cities: How Houston became a hotbed of contemporary art | Christie's". www.christies.com. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  11. ^ "Round 47". Project Row Houses. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  12. ^ Rhodes, Syan (2017-11-30). "Click2Daily: Protecting Third Ward". KPRC. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Collective creative actions : Project Row Houses at 25. Dennis, Ryan N.,, Jackson-Dumont, Sandra. Houston, TX. November 2018. ISBN 978-0-692-12642-4. OCLC 1060194912.CS1 maint: others (link)
  14. ^ "CCL Fellowship". Center for Curatorial Leadership. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  15. ^ "PRH's Ryan Dennis Selected to Attend Curatorial Leadership Program". Glasstire. 2018-11-06. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  16. ^ "Ryan N. Dennis and Evan Garza to Curate 2020 Texas Biennial". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  17. ^ "About – Texas Biennial". texasbiennial.org. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  18. ^ Roberts, Sam (2015-08-18). "Melva Bucksbaum, Art Collector and Curator, Dies at 82". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-08-30.
  19. ^ Jump up to: a b "Bucksbaum Award". whitney.org. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  20. ^ "Mississippi Museum of Art Announces Senior Staff Appointments". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  21. ^ "Mississippi Museum of Art presents Nick Cave: Feat., a vibrant survey of work in variety of mediums". Meridian Star. Retrieved 2020-08-30.
  22. ^ "Mississippi Museum of Art's new curator, Ryan Dennis: A sit-down Q & A". Mississippi Today. 2020-08-09. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  23. ^ "Art for the People's Sake 1 - Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts". gulfcoastmag.org. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  24. ^ "ART, ECOMONICS AND BISCAYNE: Interview with Ryan N. Dennis and william cordova". The Miami Rail. 2017-04-02. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  25. ^ Knight, Autumn, 1980- (19 February 2019). Autumn Knight : in rehearsal. Powell, Amy L.,, Dennis, Ryan N.,, Doyle, Jennifer,, Oliver, Cynthia,, Ruiz, Sandra,, Gilkey, Eureka. Urbana, Illinois. ISBN 978-1-883015-50-3. OCLC 1085573412.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  26. ^ Communications (2019-02-06). "Foundation Awards $625,000 For Community-Based Public Art Projects". Kenneth Rainin Foundation. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  27. ^ "Artadia Announces Winners of Unrestricted $10K". Glasstire. 2017-06-09. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
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