Nearly a year after stepping down as the longtime director of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Andrew J. Walker is taking on a new leadership role at a Cultural District gallery.
Walker is serving as the chief curatorial and strategic executive at Fort Works Art. In the newly created position, he will shape the gallery’s direction, national programming and long-term strategy alongside founder Lauren Saba.
His arrival brings an “extraordinary level of curatorial authority and institutional credibility” to the contemporary art gallery, according to a news release from Fort Works Art.
Located at 2100 Montgomery St., the gallery is currently staffed by Saba and gallery manager Jordyn Garca.
With Walker as part of leadership, Fort Works Art will build partnerships with national galleries, artists and curators to create exhibition programming catered to Fort Worth art patrons. The gallery also hopes to connect local collectors to emerging artists, museum-caliber work and significant pieces without having to leave the city to find them, according to the release.
“This isn’t about importing New York or Los Angeles to Texas,” Walker said in a statement. “It’s about using those relationships to bring genuinely significant work here, on our terms, in a way that serves Fort Worth artists and collectors first.”
Saba and Walker are currently developing a relationship with ACA Galleries in New York.
Walker spent 14 years leading the Carter. During his tenure, the museum expanded its endowment and collections, oversaw a renovation that widened the building’s art spaces and pushed for more diverse exhibitions. One of the final shows under his leadership was “Richard Avedon at the Carter,” a display of the famous photographer’s portraits.
Fort Works Art also added local arts leader Amy Rasor to its leadership team as the director of growth and impact. She recently served in a similar role at Arts Fort Worth, the nonprofit managing the city’s public arts program and local funding resources.
The new appointments will allow Fort Works Art to exist within the approaches of New York City-style galleries and established Cowtown museums, Saba said.
“What we can build is the space between them,” she said in the release. “We can move quickly, take risks, invite people in and create something around an exhibition that can spread across and help define what culture means in our city.”
David Moreno is the arts and culture reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or @davidmreports.
The Report’s arts and culture coverage is supported in part by the Meta Alice Keith Bratten Foundation and the Virginia Hobbs Charitable Trust. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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