Margo Handwerker Appointed Dean of the Glassell School of Art Core Residency Program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Dr. Handwerker, an artist, curator and arts administrator, begins this newly established role in mid-August 2024.

HOUSTON—May 22, 2024—The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and its Glassell School of Art today announced the appointment of Margo Handwerker as dean of the Core Residency program at the Glassell School of Art. In this newly created position, Dr. Handwerker will provide leadership for several signature initiatives of the acclaimed Core Residency for artists and writers, including the residency program itself, the visiting artists program for the Glassell School, and annual exhibition programming for the school’s three gallery spaces. Dr. Handwerker, an artist, curator and arts administrator, was most recently currently curator and director of the Texas State Galleries of Texas State University in San Marcos. She begins this new role mid-August 2024.

Commented Gary Tinterow, director and Margaret Alkek Williams chair of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, “It is with great enthusiasm that I welcome Dr. Handwerker to the newly developed role of dean of the Core Residency Program at the Glassell School of Art. Dr. Handwerker has distinguished herself over 20 years in an impactful range of educational and curatorial roles; her collaborative approach and innovative vision are poised to elevate the Core Residency Program, enriching its artistic offerings and fostering dynamic cultural dialogue.”

Paul Coffey, director of the Glassell School of Art, noted, “Dr. Handwerker’s reputation for fostering collaboration extends far beyond her previous roles. With a proven track record of cultivating meaningful relationships with local, regional, and national organizations, she brings a wealth of connectivity to her new role. The entire Glassell community eagerly anticipates working with Dr. Handwerker. Her dedication to partnership promises to infuse innovation and inclusivity into every facet of our mission.”

From 2016 to 2024, Dr. Handwerker was curator and director of the Texas State Galleries of Texas State University in San Marcos, a contemporary-art gallery housed in the School of Art and Design at the university. During nearly a decade at the Texas State Galleries, Dr. Handwerker has led the exhibition and artistic program, collaborating with departments throughout the university, as well as with community institutions throughout San Marcos on citywide exhibitions of two area artists: Homestead (2021), an exhibition of the work of abstract painter Bill Hutson, who grew up in the city’s historically African American Dunbar neighborhood; and Mind Windows (2023), of the work of Robert Rios, a founding member of Con Safo, a San Antonio-based artist collective that helped define the Chicano art movement in the late 1970s. At the university, she also initiated an annual series of commissioned place-based artists’ projects, among them Stuart Hyatt’s Glen Rose Formation, an album, performance, and exhibition about the Glen Rose geologic formation, and Bryony Roberts’s Strong as an acre of garlic, about women ranch owners in Texas.

Dr. Handwerker is also a curator, since 2011, with M12 Studio, a Colorado-based collective of artists and curators whose projects explore public space, rural cultures, and landscapes and have been featured internationally in publications and exhibitions, including SITE Santa Fe and the 13th Venice Biennale of Architecture. From 2011 to 2016, she was a lecturer in Critical Studies, Architecture, and Urban Design at the University of California, Los Angeles; her early-career positions included roles at the MFAH as a curatorial assistant in the department of modern and contemporary art and at the Glassell School as a lecturer. In addition, she has contributed over the past 20 years to an extensive roster of publications on the subject of embedded artist practices, the subject of her 2018 dissertation thesis.

Dr. Handwerker earned a Ph.D. from Princeton University in Architectural History and Theory; a Master’s from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Art History, Theory and Criticism; and a BA from Indiana University, Bloomington, in Art History.

About the Core Residency Program at the Glassell School of Art
Established in 1982, the prestigious Core Residency Program at the Glassell School of Art offers postgraduate residencies for art critics and visual artists who have completed their undergraduate or graduate training and are working to develop a sustainable practice. Residents engage with a wide range of leading artists, critics, curators and scholars who are invited to meet individually with the residents, lead seminars and deliver public lectures. Fellows are selected from applicants internationally and admitted in the fall, with the residency culminating in a spring exhibition and accompanying publication. Alumni of the program have included Leandro Erlich, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Julie Mehretu, Shahzia Sikander, Leslie Hewitt, Danielle Dean, and Sondra Perry. The deadline for the 2025–26 term is April 1, 2025. mfah.org/core

About the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Spanning 14 acres in the heart of Houston’s Museum District, the main campus comprises the Audrey Jones Beck Building, the Caroline Wiess Law Building, the Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden and the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building. Nearby, two house museums—Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens, and Rienzi—present collections of American and European decorative arts. The MFAH is also home to the Glassell School of Art, with its Core Residency Program and Junior and Studio schools; and the International Center for the Arts of the Americas (ICAA), a leading research institute for 20th-century Latin American and Latino art. mfah.org

Media Contact
Melanie Fahey, Senior Publicist, MFAH
mfahey@mfah.org | 713.398.1136