Heather F. Wetzel joins Meadows Museum of Art as new director
SHREVEPORT, LA — Artist Heather F. Wetzel has joined Centenary College as director of the Meadows Museum of Art. Wetzel arrived on campus in early August and is preparing to launch the Museum’s 2019-2020 exhibit and community event schedule.
“Heather brings to Centenary and the surrounding community a valuable combination of experience as a practicing artist, instructor, and curator,” says Dr. Karen Soul, interim provost and dean of the college. “I believe she will quickly become a leader on the Centenary campus and in the region for art production, curation, and instruction. I am particularly looking forward to the upcoming exhibit, “35 Year Waltz: Bruce Allen Retrospective” opening on September 12, which will be a wonderful chance for the wider community to meet Heather.”
A practicing artist working in historic photographic processes, hand papermaking, and book arts, Wetzel comes to the Meadows Museum of Art from Memphis, Tennessee, where she was the head of the BFA and MFA photography programs at Memphis College of Art. Prior to her appointment in Memphis, she taught for The Ohio State University, where she also served for several years as the gallery coordinator for the Ohio State University Marion campus Wayne & Geraldine Kuhn Fine Art Gallery. Wetzel has gained experience working at non-profit arts organizations, community arts centers, higher education institutional galleries, and museums, as well as independent and personal curatorial projects.
Wetzel has been involved with exhibition planning and execution for nearly two decades. In addition to her years of teaching at the college level, she brings years of museum experience, having held several positions at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York, during and immediately following earning her MFA. She has been involved with curatorial projects and gallery work since graduating with her first master’s degree when she worked for a non-profit arts organization outside of Philadelphia.
She earned her bachelor of fine arts and master of arts & humanities from Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania, and her master of fine arts in visual studies from the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, New York. She completed the University of Iowa Center for the Book graduate certificate in Book Arts Technologies before going on to be the 2011-2012 Post MFA Fergus Family Fellow at The Ohio State University. Her work has been widely exhibited and can be found at the Anzenberger Gallery in Vienna, Austria, as well as in public and private collections around the world.
“My education and professional experiences have given me a broad understanding of work in a variety of disciplines,” explains Wetzel “I have the background and skills to plan and prepare innovative exhibitions that serve diverse populations and engage the campus and community through programming and teaching in a liberal arts environment like Centenary, where cross disciplinary collaboration is ingrained within the culture of the campus.”
About the Meadows Museum of Art
The Meadows Museum of Art is located on the campus of Centenary College of Louisiana at 2911 Centenary Boulevard in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Museum is free and open to the public Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Museum is closed on Sundays and during all school holidays. For more information or to schedule field trips, call the Museum at 318.869.5040 or visit themeadowsmuseum.com.