Meet the Curator:
Victoria Cooke
The CMA is pleased to welcome
Victoria Cooke as curator, bringing an
extensive background in curatorial
and administrative experience. Cooke
studied at the University of Delaware
with a focus on the history of art and
architecture in Europe. She is a published
author, popular speaker and educator.
She has served in a curatorial capacity
at Louisiana State University Museum of
Art and the New Orleans Museum of Art,
and at Tulane University as an adjunct
assistant professor in Art History. Her last
position was as the director at Florida’s
Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art, which
focuses on 20th-century art.
At the New Orleans Museum of Art,
Victoria did research for the major
exhibition, Degas and New Orleans: A
French Impressionist in America. She
assisted in every aspect of that enormous
project from writing grants to organizing
a scholarly colloquium on the technical
aspects of Degas’ painting. By 2002,
Victoria served as the senior curator
and as such was the lead organizer of
Jefferson’s America & Napoleon’s France:
an Exhibition for the Louisiana Purchase
Bicentennial. That ambitious exhibition
included objects of all kinds, from swords
to maps to paintings and teacups, as well
as early American textiles and Southern
craft. Victoria loves not only being a
curator, but sharing her knowledge. She
is dedicated to working with educators to
make museum projects accessible.
“It is exciting to have Victoria with us,”
says CMA Executive Director Karen
Brosius. “Her expertise, experience
and energy will blend seamlessly with
the goals and vision of the CMA. And, I
know that our Chief Curator, Will South,
is happy to have a colleague on board
with the academic depth and curatorial
acumen that Victoria brings.”
columbiamuseum.org
9