OCMA Education Chief Leaving

Leaving behind a legacy of progressive school and public art programs at the Orange County Museum of Art, education director Maxine Gaiber announced Tuesday that she will move to the San Diego Museum of Art.

She said her departure Nov. 17 will be bittersweet.

“I’m sadder with each day,” Gaiber, 51, said. “The museum has been a big chunk of my life and professional career.”

The news comes on the heels of other recent departures, including operations director Brian Gray and education programs assistant Ed Fosmire. Those positions were promptly filled, but the search for a chief curator, after Bruce Guenther’s departure a year ago, continues.

Gaiber was the founding education director when OCMA formed in 1996 after a controversial merger of the Newport Harbor and Laguna art museums.

She said one of the museum’s first goals was to create education programs that served the entire county rather than a single beach community. “I’m proud to say that we did that,” Gaiber said.

Working with two staffers, she developed a lengthy list of outreach programs aimed at first-time museum-goers, students of all ages and art collectors. She also brought art tour programs to every school district in the county; launched the popular Tuesday Talks at Noon; began a monthly film series; and partnered with the UC Irvine Extension program to offer art history classes. She also oversaw the museum’s 120-member docent program.

Gaiber came to Newport Harbor Art Museum in 1988, joining the public relations department. She became education director in 1994.

She begins her new position in San Diego on Dec. 1.

Gaiber said she will be working with more resources and a dynamic administration that has “set education programs as its focus.”

“I have mixed feelings about leaving,” she said. “It’s difficult. But it’s going to be exciting and very challenging.”