OGUNQUIT MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
Ogunquit, ME
https://ogunquitmuseum.org/
2020
Amanda Lahikainen appointed Director
We are pleased to announce that Amanda Lahikainen, PhD, has been appointed as Executive Director of the Ogunquit Museum of American Art in Ogunquit, Maine, effective May 1, 2020. Senior Search Consultant Scott Stevens of Museum Search & Reference guided the national search.
Dr. Lahikainen is currently Chair of the Art Department and a tenured Associate Professor of Art History at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she also oversees the art gallery. OMAA Board President David Mallen said, "After a nationwide search, we are delighted to have selected Amanda as our next Executive Director. She is a gifted administrator and scholar."
Dr. Lahikainen holds a PhD in art history from Brown University and a BA from Wellesley College. She oversaw and co-curated exhibitions at her college gallery and the Bell Gallery at Brown University, and has worked with local museums in Grand Rapids including the Grand Rapids Art Museum and the Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. She held the Kluge Fellowship at the Library of Congress in 2012 and has attracted grants and fellowships from the Paul Mellon Centre and the Lewis Walpole Library at Yale University. She previously taught at Brown University, Rhode Island College, and Roger Williams University in RI, and she has worked or studied in London, England and Athens, Greece. She is widely published and has lectured and participated on panels across the US and in Canada and Australia.
Dr. Lahikainen said, "I am honored to lead OMAA with its wonderful collection, its sculpture garden, and strong sense of place. The Museum is an important and beloved asset of the region and has a wonderful record of recent growth and accomplishment under my predecessor Michael Mansfield. The commitment of the Board is inspiring."
Dr. Lahikainen will relocate to Maine with her family from Grand Rapids. She grew up in Salem, MA, and has a summer home in Maine, so she has strong ties to Maine and New England.
She will replace Interim Executive Director Richard D'Abate, who Mallen said, "has led the museum strongly through the transition, and we are very grateful for his service." D'Abate was appointed following former Executive Director Michael Mansfield's appointment as President of Maine Media Workshops and College in Rockport, ME on December 15, 2019.
Mallen stated, "The OMAA's 2020 exhibition season, currently scheduled to begin on the delayed opening date of May 31st, is planned with exciting shows, performances and lectures, subject, of course, to the coronavirus situation. Please watch for announcements."