NEW BEDFORD WHALING MUSEUM
Naomi Slipp appointed Chief Curator
A native to the Southeastern coast of New England, Slipp brings a wealth of curatorial, academic, teaching, and research experience to her role from a career that has combined her interests in art, science, and history. Slipp comes to her new position from Auburn University at Montgomery, AL, where she has been a tenured Associate Professor of Art History. Slipp also managed the University gallery and directed the University’s Museum Studies Program. She also serves as an Executive Editor of Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art, and recently concluded a five-year term as the Association Secretary.
Slipp has also held positions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Harvard Art Museum, the Terra Foundation for American Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She holds a Ph.D. in Art History from Boston University and an M.A. from the University of Chicago.
Having grown up in the region, Slipp is passionate about maritime history and has blended that interest creatively with her studies in art and science. Her research has been wide ranging, with lectures, publications and exhibitions covering topics such as artistic anatomy and 19th-century medicine; “Gilded Age Dining: Eco-Anxiety, Fisheries Management, and the Presidential China of Rutherford B. Hayes”; Winslow Homer’s paintings of fishermen as a reflection of natural abundance and decline; “Picturing Violence: The Amistad Affair, Panorama Painting, and National Identities”; and “Traversing Two Cultures: A Portrait of William McIntosh, Southern Slave Owner and Lower Creek Chief.”
“Naomi’s appointment marks a critical chapter for the New Bedford Whaling Museum, whose mission is to ignite learning through explorations of art, history, science, and culture rooted in the stories of people, the region, and an international seaport,” said Amanda McMullen, President and CEO. Slipp commented, “I am very excited to be moving home to take up a leadership role at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, a museum I grew up with and that holds special meaning for me. I look forward to working with staff and trustees and furthering the Museum's vision and strategic initiatives together.”
