CONWAY, Ark. (July 14, 2022) — Christian H. Cutler will be
the new Director of the Windgate Museum of Art at Hendrix College, beginning
Monday, July 18.
The Windgate Museum of Art is housed in the Miller Creative
Quad, which opened in the fall of 2019. The museum serves as a pedagogical
resource for Hendrix College and is free and open to the public.
Cutler brings more than 23 years of combined private art
gallery, museum, and university gallery experience from behind-the-scenes
preparations for show openings, juried exhibitions, visiting artists, and
fundraising, to managing overall operations of gallery exhibition programming,
education, and design. He holds an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art.
“We are thrilled to have Christian Cutler join the Hendrix
community and lead the Windgate Museum of Art,” said Hendrix College Provost
Dr. Terri Bonebright. “He has built a reputation for creating
thought-provoking, thematic exhibitions that bring diverse and culturally
relevant contemporary art, historical artwork, and design to audiences. We look
forward to his leadership and engagement with the Hendrix community.”
Cutler most recently served as gallery director for the
University of Central Missouri, and previously for Stephen F. Austin State
University, where he managed multiple exhibition spaces, producing more than 20
annual exhibitions, and overseeing dozens of events, including the highly
popular “First Friday Films” series for Nacogdoches, Texas, and the “Gallery
Kids” tours and workshops for Warrensburg, Missouri. He has also worked as the assistant
to the director of the Sir Elton John Collection and as the registrar’s assistant
at the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
“Hendrix
College is an institution I have long admired, and I am honored to be the next
director of the Windgate Museum,” said Cutler. “After more than 13 years of
working in higher education, my commitment to student development and community
outreach is unwavering. Curating dynamic exhibitions, mentoring students from
diverse backgrounds, and fostering collaborative relationships both on and off
campus are immensely rewarding experiences that I look forward to bringing to
Hendrix College.”
As a graduate of fellow Associated Colleges of the South
member institution, Sewanee, Cutler said he understands and appreciates the
value of a rigorous liberal arts curriculum that fosters exploration,
collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking.
“My undergraduate experience shaped my view of higher
education, and I think that is why I find producing interdisciplinary
exhibitions one of the most rewarding experiences as a gallery director and
curator,” said Cutler. “Drawing a diverse audience of students, faculty, and
community members and encouraging them to see or think in new ways is both
personally and professionally gratifying.”
He will be responsible for leadership and strategic planning
for museum work in collaboration with constituents on and off campus; management
and preservation related to the facility and collection; working with artists,
collectors, galleries, museums, and foundations to secure loans of artwork for
exhibitions; and overseeing the College’s permanent collection, including new
acquisitions, collection records, loans and returns across campus, and storage.
To learn more about the Windgate Museum of Art, visit www.windgatemuseum.org.
About Hendrix College
A private liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas, Hendrix
College consistently earns recognition as one of the country’s leading liberal
arts institutions, and is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools
That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. Its academic quality and
rigor, innovation, and value have established Hendrix as a fixture in numerous
college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876, Hendrix has been
affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To learn more, visit www.hendrix.edu.
*This release was updated July 18, 2022, to include additional biographical information.