Dr. Patricia McDonnell. Photo courtesy Wichita Art Museum.
The Rock Island Art Guild is pleased to have Dr. Patricia McDonnell as the juror for the 40th Fine Arts Exhibition at the Figge Art Museum.
Patricia McDonnell is director of the Wichita Art Museum, a position she’s held for five years. Previously, she served as director of the Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University for five years when first coming to Kansas in 2007. With a doctorate in art history from Brown University, McDonnell has worked in art museums for over 30 years. She has training in management as well as art history.
McDonnell has worked in museums around the country—at the Weisman Art Museum at University of Minnesota, the Rhode Island School of Art and Design Museum of Art, the Hirshhorn at the Smithsonian in DC, and the Tacoma Art Museum in Washington state. In those museums, she worked as a curator. She stepped into the shoes of director in coming to the Ulrich at Wichita State.
McDonnell remains an active scholar as well as museum professional. She is one a handful of specialists on artist Marsden Hartley. She is the author of one book, substantive exhibition catalogues that accompanied national touring shows, and numerous scholarly journal articles.
