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Heidi Zuckerman (born 1967 or 1968) is an American museum director and curator who has been director of the Orange County Museum of Art since 2021.

Heidi Zuckerman
Born	Heidi Ellen Zuckerman 1967/1968 (age 54–55) California, United States
Education	University of Pennsylvania CUNY Hunter College
Occupation	Museum director and curator
Employer	Orange County Museum of Art

Zuckerman was previously director and chief curator of the Aspen Art Museum from 2005 to 2019, and before that was a curator for the Jewish Museum and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

Early life and education

Heidi Ellen Zuckerman was born in 1967 or 1968[1] and grew up in California.[2] She received a bachelor's degree in European history from the University of Pennsylvania in 1989.[3][4]

Career

Early career (1993–2005)

Early in her career, Zuckerman was a curator of 20th-century art at the Jewish Museum in New York for five years,[5] during which she created the museum's Contemporary Artists Projects series that showcased commissioned artwork in the museum and on its website.[6] A 1996 exhibition by Zuckerman at the museum examined Louis Kahn's four designs for synagogues, of which only the Temple Beth-El in Chappaqua, New York, has been built. The New York Times architecture critic Paul Goldberger found the exhibition "full of heartbreak, for there is no way to walk through these galleries and not be filled with a sense of lost opportunity."[7] During this time, she also worked as an independent curator to remain affiliated with the downtown art scene of New York City.[3] Other work included an exhibition covering the art of George Segal, an exhibition during Hanukkah that featured light and video sculptures, and an independently organized exhibition at Art&Idea in Mexico City that covered the use of the body in video art since the 1970s.[5][6] In 1997, she received a master's degree in art history from CUNY Hunter College.[3]

In 1998, Zuckerman became a curator at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) in California.[6] She was appointed by the museum to head its MATRIX program, initiated in 1978 for the purpose of showcasing new works of artists as soon as they were created.[8] At BAMPFA for more than six years,[9] she organized more than forty solo exhibitions of contemporary artists. She was also a faculty member in the California College of the Arts' master's degree program in curatorial practice.[10]

Museum administration (2005–present)

Zuckerman became director and chief curator of the Aspen Art Museum of Aspen, Colorado in 2005.[10] In 2009, she became the second director of a Colorado museum to join the Association of Art Museum Directors.[11] Under Zuckerman's tenure, the museum experienced "unprecedented" growth in funding and attendance, as noted by The Aspen Times,[12] and a shift of museum programming to international contemporary art, with artists such as Yto Barrada, Vik Muniz, Ernesto Neto, Amy Sillman, and Danh Võ.[13] She also oversaw the construction of the museum's new building designed by Shigeru Ban and opened in 2014.[14][15] The shift in the museum's new building and programming conflicted with some Aspen residents who felt that the museum was out of touch with local interests;[15][16] Ray Mark Rinaldi of The Denver Post wrote in 2014 that the museum's change during Zuckerman's tenure reflected "the identity crisis Aspen has suffered for years" as the city had turned into "a ski getaway for movie stars and a vacation destination for outsiders".[9]

Among other exhibitions at the museum, Zuckerman most recently organized exhibitions on Cheryl Donegan (2018), Rashid Johnson and John Armleder (2019).[17] She left her position at the museum in 2019, but provided consulting services to the museum through the following year.[18][19] After leaving the museum, she launched the website HIZ.art, which serves as a platform for personal projects including a podcast series and book series.[13][19]

In 2021, Zuckerman became director of the Orange County Museum of Art in California.[4] She now oversees the construction of a new building located on the Segerstrom Center for the Arts campus in Costa Mesa, California, set to be completed in October 2022.[2]

Personal life

While living in New York, in 1997, Zuckerman married Christopher Jacobson, who worked as a contractor and also played in a rock band.[1][5] Jacobson and Zuckerman opened an exhibition and performance space in New York City's Lower East Side named Correct CE.[5][10] After they moved to Aspen, Colorado, in 2012, Jacobson was elected a member of the Snowmass Village Town Council.[20] They later divorced.[21]

References

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