Associate Curator Sought for Art Museum

A nationwide search will be under way for a successor to Anne Ayres at the Newport Harbor Art Museum, chief curator Paul Schimmel said Thursday. Ayres, associate curator of exhibitions and collections at the museum, assumes a new post as director of the Otis/Parsons Art Institute Exhibitions Center in Los Angeles in mid-May.

“We’re going to work on it right away,” Schimmel said. “Anne’s programs--New California Artists and the Biennial and other shows--have to continue. Our commitment to those programs was there before Anne came, and they will continue. . . . We want someone who has a strong working knowledge of the arts of this area and a contemporary perspective.

“I will not find another Anne--that’s clear. . . . We were lucky to have her.

“It’s not impossible that Anne will (continue to) be affiliated (with Newport Harbor) in some programmatic way,” Schimmel added. “I’m hoping there are some exhibits that she will be able to continue with. There are certain things Anne has begun that I feel very committed to.”