Barbara J. Bloemink

Dr. Barbara J. Bloemink is currently a consultant to international museums and a guest curator/writer with an international blog on global contemporary art in all media. Formerly the Curatorial Director of the Smithsonian’s National Design Museum in New York, she has also served as the Managing Director of the Guggenheim & Guggenheim Hermitage Museums in Las Vegas, the Director and Chief Curator of the Contemporary Art Museum of Virginia, the originating Director and Chief Curator of The Kemper Museum of Art and Design, and the Director and Chief Curator of the Hudson River Museum in New York. Dr. Bloemink has organized over 70 international exhibitions of contemporary art and design. She has advised collectors and acquired significant works for museum collections in all media of contemporary art and design for over twenty years. The author of numerous books and publications, she has lectured all over the world on issues of art, creativity, and design. She received a Ph.D. in 20th Century art from Yale University, two Master’s Degrees (one on 17th – 20th Century American art and architecture from Yale University and the other on European 17th – 19th Century art and decorative arts from NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts.) She also spent a year at Yale’s School of Organization and Management, and received her B.A. from Stanford University with honors in art history and communications. While attending graduate school, she worked as a specialist in contemporary art at Sotheby’s, traveling throughout the United States and Canada, acquiring work for auction sales.