Orange County Museum of Art fills jobs

Young Chang

NEWPORT BEACH -- To keep up with growth, the Orange County Museum of

Art announced Tuesday it has filled four positions, including two new

ones.

Elizabeth Armstrong was appointed as chief curator and deputy director

of art. John Crabtree-Ireland has been named director of development, and

Jennifer Dework Katz has been named education associate of public

programs.

The positions of deputy director and education associate are newly

created, museum spokesman Brian Langston said. The staff had been looking

for a new chief curator since November 1999.

“We worked very hard to fill these positions with the right people,

and we’re just overjoyed,” he said.

The museum’s education programs have expanded to the point where they

needed more staff, Langston said.

Armstrong, who has served as senior curator at the Museum of

Contemporary Arts in San Diego since 1996, will begin work at the Newport

Beach museum in April.

Crabtree-Ireland will start in about two weeks, and Katz began

Wednesday.

“Orange County seems ripe to me, maybe to develop programs for the

museums,” said Katz, who served as curatorial consultant for a

photographic art gallery in Santa Monica. “To have an even stronger

presence on the map.”

Crabtree-Ireland, who joins the museum from the Natural History Museum

of Los Angeles County, will be responsible for overseeing fund-raising

activities. He said he does not expect his former and current jobs to

differ much.

“I believe the work of fund-raising for nonprofit museums is

ultimately the same game -- that it is about connecting people to their

passion,” he said. “There are so many people who are passionate about art

in Orange County, and I have the lucky task of connecting them more

deeply with our programs.”

In addition to more employees, the museum also recently received the

Walter B. Gerken Community Services Award from the Pacific Life

Foundation -- which included a $15,000 donation to the museum -- and

additions to its permanent collection.

Pasadena collector David Hundley gave 25 works, including paintings,

photographs and works on paper, by Los Angeles artists.