The Norton Museum of Art has tapped René Morales to lead the institution’s contemporary art programming through a new “Curator in Residence” program.
Morales will steward acquisitions for the Norton’s Collection and implement the West Palm Beach museum’s vision as its Glenn W. and Cornelia T. Bailey Contemporary Curator in Residence, according the Norton’s announcement of his appointment.
Morales has held leadership positions at Miami’s Pérez Art Museum Miami and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
“I am thrilled to join the Norton Museum of Art, a place I’ve long admired, at such a dynamic moment in its trajectory,” Morales said. “I am particularly excited to collaborate with the Norton team to enhance the museum’s already very strong collection and to design meaningful, thought-provoking programs that inspire curiosity, conversation and connection.”
The short-term residency is part of the newly unveiled curatorial model, which the institution says will allow it to broaden the curatorial voices featured at the Norton and provide leadership before the museum launches an international search for a staff senior curator in 2028.
“The Norton has always collected with the present in mind,” Ghislain d’Humières, the museum’s Kenneth C. Griffin director and CEO, said in the announcement. “This residency allows us to bring exceptional curatorial leadership and new relationships into the museum at exactly the right time. It is a thoughtful way to strengthen our contemporary collection while continuing to grow with the community we serve.”
Morales is the senior curatorial fellow at the Bakehouse Art Complex in Miami, where he serves that institution’s 120 resident artists, manages staff and helps develop long-term planning goals. He recently organized a retrospective exhibition of the work of Quisqueya Henríquez for the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and is organizing an upcoming exhibition with Dread Scott and Rael San Fratello at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
A board member of the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation, Morales holds a master’s degree in art history from Brown University.
Morales will serve as a temporary successor to Arden Sherman, who stepped down as the Glenn W. & Cornelia T. Bailey senior curator of contemporary art before the summer started.
Diego Diaz Lasa is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at dlasa@pbdailynews.com.
