NEW DIRECTOR OF SANTA ANA MUSEUM NAMED

Paul Piazza, director of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center for seven years, has been named director of Santa Ana’s Bowers Museum, it was announced Tuesday.

Piazza, 45, will assume the top staff post at the city-owned museum Jan. 1 at a salary reported to be in the high $70,000 range.

The Bowers post has been vacant since William Lee, who had held the job four years, resigned June 30 to return to university research. Lee’s salary was $52,000 a year.

“Of course, I’m excited by the challenge of the job,” said Piazza. “The potential for growth, for regional development is tremendous. You have the chance to be very creative.”

Piazza will be joining the 50-year-old Bowers as expansion plans are under way to make the museum an important regional cultural center. The Bowers specializes in art and historical exhibitions of California and Pacific Rim countries.

The City Council approved an $8.8-million construction plan in August to expand the 24,000-square-foot museum by 19,000 square feet. Construction could begin in late 1987, city officials said.

Bowers has failed to win accreditation from the American Assn. of Museums, the national service organization, in large part because of reorganizational lags and shelving of previous expansion plans. Bowers also has failed to attract support for private Orange County fund-raising drives.

Piazza was previously director of the Tucson Museum of Art, assistant director of the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, N.Y., and education curator for the city-supported New Orleans Museum of Art.