The Birmingham Museum of Art is pleased to announce the appointment of Hallie Ringle as its new Hugh Kaul Curator for Contemporary Art. After an extensive national search, the BMA welcomes Hallie from The Studio Museum in Harlem. She will begin her duties at the BMA on November 1.
“We are thrilled to welcome Hallie to the Birmingham Museum of Art,” says R. Hugh Daniel Director, Dr. Graham Boettcher. “As a highly regarded curator of contemporary art, Hallie brings with her an impressive record of groundbreaking exhibitions—working with both emerging and established artists—and a deep commitment to community engagement. With Hallie’s expertise and vision, I am confident that the BMA’s contemporary art program will continue to flourish, and I look forward to watching her make her mark on our institution and its collection, as she creates innovative and meaningful art experiences for our community. ”
At the Birmingham Museum of Art, Hallie will oversee a permanent collection of more than 3,000 American and European works of art dating from about 1970 to the present, comprising paintings, works on paper, photography, sculpture, and videos. She will be responsible for the development of exhibitions, publications, lectures, and other content related to the Museum’s collection of contemporary art. Hallie will play a key role in determining the direction of the BMA’s contemporary art program, including the planning and implementation in regards to acquisitions, loans, traveling exhibitions, and community partnerships. Additionally, she will lead the Museum’s Collectors’ Circle for Contemporary Art, a group devoted to the continued growth and development of the Museum’s permanent collection and to educating its members about contemporary art.
“Hallie has been an integral member of the Studio Museum’s curatorial team for the past five years. She has demonstrated a thoughtful and engaging curatorial vision at a dynamic time in the Museum’s history.” says Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem. “She will be truly missed, but I am incredibly excited for her and the BMA in this fantastic new chapter of her career.”
Hallie began her career as the Senior Curatorial Assistant at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 2013 and became their Assistant Curator in 2016 where she produced exhibitions of modern and contemporary artists, managed the Museum’s signature Artist-in-Residence program, and
cultivated strategic partnerships. During her tenure at the Studio Museum she has organized and co-organized nearly a dozen exhibitions including current shows Firelei Báez: Joy Out of Fire, on display at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and Maren Hassinger: Monuments, an exhibition of eight site-specific sculptures installed at Marcus Garvey Park. In 2016, she co-curated Fictions, the final of the Museum’s landmark ‘F-show’’ series of emerging artists exhibitions. Her other critically-acclaimed exhibitions include We Go as They: Artists in Residence 2016-2017; Derrick Adams: Patrick Kelly; The Journey, and Video Studio: Meeting Points. Her work has been widely reviewed and lauded by distinguished media such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, ARTnews, and Artforum, among others. She has written extensively about artists of African descent working locally, nationally, and internationally and has contributed to numerous publications on a broad range of subjects. Hallie has participated in panels and lectured at institutions in the United States and abroad.
“I am delighted to join the BMA at an exciting time in a dynamic city when the Museum is increasingly using contemporary art to help shape critical conversations happening locally and nationally,” says Hallie Ringle. “I am inspired by the BMA’s permanent collection and thought-provoking exhibitions and projects. I am eager to work alongside their fantastic team to think strategically about ways we can further community dialogue, enhance the collection with important works by emerging and established artists, and tell even more stories through contemporary art.”
Hallie received her B.A. in art history and history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her M.A. in art history with a concentration in contemporary African art from the University of Texas at Austin.