This story was originally published by ArtsATL.
Hammonds House Museum, named for the late Dr. O.T. Hammonds, former owner of the West Endhouse and an avid collector, has appointed arts professional, curator and author Halima Taha artistic chair for the next three seasons.
Author of the 1998 book ”Collecting African-American Art: Works on Paper and Canvas,” Taha will have a multifaceted role at the museum, including strategic planning, curation and education.
Her primary role will revolve around the museum’s exhibitions. She told ArtsATL this week that, working closely with the museum’s board, she has planned three years of exhibits, some of which she will curate. She plans to identify and hire other curators, including some first-time and emerging ones, to develop other exhibits at the museum.
Credit: Photo by Sally Van Gorder
Credit: Photo by Sally Van Gorder
Her inaugural exhibit is Precious Lovell’s “The Fabric of Our Lives: The Ties That Bind & Ex-Domestication,” which opens January 26 and runs through April 14. In addition to Lovell’s work exhibited in the main floor galleries, work from the museum’s collection by legacy artists such as Mildred Thompson, Romare Bearden, Samella Lewis and P.H. Polk is on display in the upstairs gallery.
Taha plans to build on Dr. Hammonds’ collection philosophy of primarily African American, Caribbean and African art by introducing exhibits of diasporic art from South and Central America, Asia and Europe.
Credit: Photo by Robyn Twomey
Credit: Photo by Robyn Twomey
She is working on a partnership with the Fairfield University Art Museum in Fairfield, Connecticut, to bring one of its traveling exhibits to Hammonds House next year and says she is developing at least four more partnerships, one of them with an international institution.
In a press release, Imara Canady, the museum’s board of trustees chair, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Halima Taha to Hammonds House Museum. Ms. Taha’s experience and vision will lead the museum down exciting new pathways artistically. We look forward to the impactful exhibitions and public programs she will bring to our community.”
Taha says she plans to bring work to the museum that reflects the intellectual diversity of visual artists, engaging new audiences including students, art professionals, collectors and scholars.
She plans to support and include Atlanta-based artists but “the big shift is the opportunity to bring national and international artists to the museum. Having that range is very important. We’re looking for artists of diasporic descent worldwide.”
Taha has extensive experience as an appraiser, author, speaker, co-owner of Gramercy Park gallery in Manhattan and panelist for many museum, academic and corporate programs. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, she received a master’s in arts management and cultural policy from New York University.
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Gillian Anne Renault has been an ArtsATL contributor since 2012 and senior editor for Art+Design and Dance since 2021. She has covered dance for the Los Angeles Daily News, Herald Examiner and Ballet News and on radio stations such as KCRW, the NPR affiliate in Santa Monica, California. Many years ago, she was awarded an NEA Fellowship to attend the American Dance Festival’s Dance Criticism program.
Credit: ArtsATL
Credit: ArtsATL
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