Kate Skelly
- Assistant Professor of Practice
- she/her
Kate Skelly holds an M.A. in Museum Studies from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in Art History from Kenyon College. Before joining Virginia Tech, Kate served as Executive Director of the Blacksburg Museum and Cultural Foundation. She has also served as Director of the University Art Galleries at the University of South Dakota where she managed two contemporary art galleries, the Oscar Howe Gallery, and the NPIAR Artist-in-Residence Program. Kate worked for the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico for 8 years where she held positions in both the Curatorial and Advancement Departments. Her experience also includes working for the Western Museums Association and the contemporary art magazine, ArtSlant. Kate’s research at Virginia Tech is centered on the curatorial process and design of exhibitions.
Curating, Exhibition Design, Immersive Exhibitions, Contemporary Native Art, Ceramics.
ART-4564 Exhibition Design And Display
ART-5564G Advanced Exhibition Design
From Africa to Appalachia: Roots of Old-time and Bluegrass, October 7 – November 19, 2022, Blacksburg Museum & Cultural Foundation [director]
Becoming Howe: Five Decades of Oscar Howe, August 2019 - February 2020, University of South Dakota, [curator]
Bruce Conner: A Limitless Circle, University of South Dakota, March 17, 2019 – April 5th, 2019 [curator]
Nancy Friedemann-Sánchez: Palimpsests, University of South Dakota, December 14, 2018 – January 17, 2019 [director]
Gregory Euclide: Thesis, October 11, 2018 - January 2019, University of South Dakota, [curator]
Cannupa Hanska Luger: Future Ancestral Technologies, University of South Dakota, August 15 - October 12, 2018 [director]
Wade Patton: Home, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, 2017 [director]
Georgia O’Keeffe in New Mexico: Architecture, Katsinam, and the Land, May 17, 2013 - September 8, 2013 [curatorial assistant]
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Landscapes of an American Modernist, January 27, 2012 - April 29, 2012 [curatorial assistant]
Georgia O'Keeffe and the Faraway: Nature and Image, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, NM, 2012 [curatorial assistant]
Shared Intelligence: American Painting and the Photograph, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, NM, 2011 [curatorial assistant]
Modernists in New Mexico: Works from a Private Collector, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, NM, 2010 [curatorial assistant]
Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, NM, 2009 [curatorial assistant]
Articles
“After Dark: Fay Ku’s Asa Nisa Masa at Eight Modern”, ArtSlant, June 2013.
“Material World: Rare Earth at Red Dot Gallery”, ArtSlant, May 2013.
“Until The End of the World: Michelle Blade’s Making Light Of It at CCA, Santa Fe”, ArtSlant, January 2013.
“The Plush Life: Stitch Thought at CCA, Santa Fe”, ArtSlant, November 2012.
“Turn on the Bright Lights: SCUBA's Inside the Outside at Caldera Gallery”, ArtSlant, October 2012.
“Market Watch: Meow Wolf’s OmegaMart”, ArtSlant, September 2012.
“Reality Check: Art in the Age of Truthiness at SITE Santa Fe”, ArtSlant, August 2012.
“Sparkle and Fade: Art Santa Fe 2012”, ArtSlant, July 2012.
“Where the Wild Things Are: Ferus at EGGMAN and WALRUS gallery”, ArtSlant, June 2012.
Virginia Humanities, Rapid Grant, February 2023, $5000
Collections Assessment for Preservation (CAP) Award, October 2022, $8,000
Appalachian Art Administrators Legacy Weekend Scholarship, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, September 2022
ICAT Sead Grant, The World of Pamela Colman Smith: A Virtual Reality Experience, Virginia Tech, April 2020, $3,000
Arts & Empathy Research Faculty Grant for Research at the Center for Arts and Empathy at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Virginia Tech, November 2019, $2,000
American Art Responsive Grant for the Preservation of the University of South Dakota's Native American Art Collection, Luce Foundation, September 2018, $50,000
Bush Foundation Research Scholarship, October 2018, $2,000
Education
Master of Arts in Museum Studies, Johns Hopkins University
Bachelor of Arts in Art History, Kenyon College
