KATHY EDWARDS HAYSLETT
In early 2018, Kathy (using her name Kathleen Edwards), left a 28-year career as an art museum curator and non-profit director to pursue her long-held desire to be a visual artist.
Kathy’s whimsical paintings, collages, and assemblages are made with acrylic, spray paint, watercolor, gouache, color pencil, thrifted and found objects, and paper media. Her work references and explores issues related to women’s rights, memory and landscape, climate change, colonialism, justice, and histories of art. Metalwork and enameling are concurrent passions.
Her artwork has been exhibited in Iowa at Coe College Art Gallery, ICON Gallery, Hudson River Gallery, and Muscatine Art Center, nationally at Provincetown Art Museum, Women Made Gallery, Chicago, Graver’s Lane Gallery, Philadelphia, Corcoran Museum of Art, DC, and internationally in museums in Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia through a traveling USIS exhibition in the 1990s.
In 2023, Kathy received a grant from the Iowa Arts Council/National Endowment for the Arts for a catalogue.
CURRICULUM VITAE
Senior Curator, University of Iowa Museum of Art (UIMA), Iowa City, IA, 2015 to 2018
Chief Curator, UIMA, March 2006 to 2014
Responsible for day-to-day management and long-range planning for the entire UIMA curatorial program including research and writing, exhibitions, collections strategies, donor and collector cultivation, and collaborative projects. Manage three or more employees, graduate assistants, student interns, and volunteers.
Curator, European and American Art, UIMA, July 2005 to March 2006
Curator of Prints, Drawings, Photographs, and New Media, UIMA, July 1998 to June 2005
Manage, preserve, interpret, cultivate, and promote a distinguished collection of over 7,000 works spanning six centuries; develop and direct research-based collection and loan exhibitions; contribute original research to fields related to collection and exhibition objects and themes; develop and facilitate collaborative projects with artists and faculty; provide experiential learning opportunities for UI students through exhibitions and teaching; act as a resource for students, faculty, and the general public. Directly responsible for adding over 1,000 objects to the UIMA collection.
Professional experience
Selected Exhibitions Curated
Philip Guston in Iowa, July 2017 – January 2018
Come Together: Collaborative Lithographs from Tamarind Institute, co-curator, spring 2017
Caprice and Influence, September 12 – December 13, 2015, Black Box Theater, Iowa Memorial Union
From The Grand Tour to American Pop: Learning with the Doud Collection, February 21 – May 17, 2015, Black Box Theater, Iowa Memorial Union
New Forms: The Avant-Garde Meets the American Scene, 1934-1949, Selections from the Collection of University of Iowa Museum of Art, Fall 2013; Sept. 14 – Dec. 4, 2013; catalogue, University of Iowa Press
A Midwest Matrix Family Tree, with Midwest Matrix symposium and Print Fair, Fall 2012
Lil Picard and Counterculture New York, Grey Art Gallery, New York University (April 20–July 10, 2010); UIMA (February 24–May 27, 2011); brochure and website: www.lilpicard.org
Eye Witness: Daniel Heyman’s Portraits of Iraqi Torture Victims (November 2008–January 2009), Humanities Gallery, UI Old Capitol Museum
Legacies for Iowa: Pollock’s Mural and other Masterworks from the UIMA, Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa
I AM: Prints by Elizabeth Catlett (UIMA Oct. 2007); Cedar Rapids Museum of Art (Feb. 14 – May 6, ‘13); Maquoketa Art Experience (Spring 2014)
Peter Feldstein, Drawings 2000–2006 (August–October, 2006)
Subject Matters: The Alan and Ann January Collection of American Prints and Drawings, (March–June, 2006); catalogue
Marketplace with John Freyer, Jonathan Seliger, and E Chen (January 2006–December 2007)
Leighton Pierce, Warm Occlusion (October 2005–April 2006)
Portraits: Body, Mind and Soul (August 13–October 18, 2005)
Acting Out: Invented Melodrama in Contemporary Photography, UIMA (April 8–June 5, 2005); The Neuberger Museum of Art, SUNY Purchase (September 7–December 31, 2005); catalogue distributed by University of Washington Press
Visions and Views: Master Prints from the Permanent Collection (June 13–October 29, 2004)
Farm Life in Iowa: Photographs by A.M. Wettach (March 8–May 4, 2003); 12 venues across the state of Iowa 2003–2006; brochure
Top 40: The Stoner Collection of Sculptor’s Drawings (January 8–February 23, 2003); catalogue
Pioneers on Paper: Works by Women in the Collection (November 1, 2002–April 23, 2003)
A Fragile Permanence: Prints and Drawings by Leola Bergmann (May–June 2003); brochure
Hans Breder, Enacting the Liminal: Intermedia Works 1964–2002 (August 24–October 20, 2002)
Video and film projection room programming: Gabriel Orozco, Saifollah Samadian, Bill Viola, Gary Hill, Roman Signer, Charles and Ray Eames, Maya Deren, Peter Fishili and David Weiss, Gillian Wearing, William Wegman, Vito Acconci, Nam Jun Paik (September 2001–April 2003)
Invention in Lithography (August 31–November 11, 2001)
19th-Century Photographs of Native Americans from University of Iowa Special Collections (January 20–March 18, 2001)
Ansel Adams & the National Parks from the Center for Creative Photography (Jan.20–Mar.18, ‘01)
From the Outside In: Photographs of Buildings (December 8, 2001–March 10, 2002)
Cultural Pleasures & the Natural World: Japanese Prints from the Edo Period (Jan. 22–Ap.16, ‘2000)
Goya: Los Caprichos (September 16–December 3, 2000)
Danny Lyon and Nathan Lerner (April 22–August 6, 2000)
From Hayter to Pettibon: American Workshop Prints from the Permanent Collection (November 13, 1999–January 9, 2000); brochure
Ken Friedman: Art[net]worker Extra-Ordinaire (September 9–November 26, 2000), co-curator
Buzz Spector: Authors and Thinkers (September 11–November 7, 1999)
Art is Life/Life is Art: The Graphic Work of Dieter Roth (Sept.11–Nov. 7, 1999); catalogue
Drawing as Document (June 4–August 22, 1999)
Old Master Prints (September 19–October 25, 1998)
Guest Curators and Projects Managed
Legacies for Iowa, A UIMA Collections Sharing Project, traveling exhibitions in the state of Iowa, 2004-2018
Graphic Language: The Art and Literature on Comics (Fall 2011); co-curator with three UI faculty
In the Footsteps of Masters: The Evolution of the Reproductive Print; curated by graduate assistant, Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa (January–May 2010); brochure
The Power of Line: European and American Etching Revival Prints from the Lee Collection (May 2008); curated by UI School of Art & Art History class; brochure; University of Northern Iowa Art Museum (Fall 2013)
Dark Matters: Max Klinger’s Print Cycle “On Death” and Other Ruminations (January–April 2007); curated by UI PhD candidate in Religious Studies
Animal Expressions: International Perspective from the Permanent Collection (October– December 2006); co-curated by five UI Obermann Center Fellows
Interventionist Collage: From Dada to the Present (February 12–April 3, 2005); co-curated by two UI faculty; website
The History of Iowa in the Art of Maps (October 29, 2004–January 30, 2005); guest curated; brochure
Major Loan Exhibitions Managed
Picturing Eden, George Eastman House (February–May 2007)
American Tableaux from the Collection of Walker Art Center (February 4–April 16, 2003)
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE continued:
Executive Director, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA, November 1989 to July 1998
Directed artistic, administrative, educational, and fundraising activities at this cutting-edge non-profit organization with a mission of supporting artists engaged with print media.
Curator of over 50 exhibitions, installations, and residencies with internationally renowned and emerging artists including Kara Walker, Jasper Johns, and Art Spiegelman; developed and implemented Crossing Over/Changing Places, an international program sponsored by the United States Information Agency and The Pew Charitable Trusts, 1991 to 1997; raised over two million dollars for capital projects and artistic and educational programming from individuals, foundations, and government agencies.
Executive Assistant to the Director, The Rosenbach Museum & Library, Philadelphia, PA, August 1986–November 1989. Rare book, print, and manuscript research library and house museum.
Assistant to the Director, Vermont Studio School, Johnson, VT, 1985
Muralist and art instructor, Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network, 1983–1985
Selected Teaching and Lecturing
Adjunct Professor, Cinema, University of Iowa, 2003–2017; course: Framing Photographs: Captions, Curating, Critical Writing
For My People: Elizabeth Catlett at Iowa and Beyond, for the Hancher Ralph Ellison project at the University of Iowa, December 1, 2011; and Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, April 25, 2013
A Midwest Matrix Family Tree, lecture for Midwest Matrix symposium, December 1, 2012
Panel participant: Emergency Response: Case Studies in Museum Crisis Management, Association of Art Museum Curators Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, May 2012
Lil Picard and Counterculture New York, Grey Art Gallery, New York University, April 24, 2010
I AM: Prints by Elizabeth Catlett; lecture, African American Historical and Cultural Museum, Cedar Rapids, IA, October 2007
Preservation 101: Photographic, Reprographic, and Printing Processes, Iowa statewide preservation satellite training program, May 2003
Rural Artistry, March 2003 and American Tableaux, March 2004, University of Iowa Alumni Association Senior Seminar
Print Traditions and the Digital Print, Grinnell College, IA, November 2001
Print Traditions and the Digital Print, Baltic Summer Institute, International Center, University of Iowa, July 2001
The Digital Print in Baltic Art or The Work of Reproduction in an Age of Mechanical Art for the panel Multiple Crossroads: Creativity and the Digit, College Art Association, Chicago, March 2001
Organizing and Curating Exhibitions, Visual Arts Management Certificate Program, Rosemont College, Summer sessions 1995 and 1996
Business Practices in the Arts, Visual Arts Management Certificate Program, Rosemont College, Fall semesters 1995 and 1994
Delegate of The United States Information Agency in Sofia, Bulgaria, January 1994; workshops taught: Non Profit Management and Monoprinting
American Print Workshops, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, October 1999
Philadelphia Prints, USA, Foreign Art Museum, Riga, Latvia, April 1995
Portfolio reviewer: U. Nebraska, November 1998; MA Institute College of Art, April 1998
Critic and portfolio reviewer, Fotofest, Houston, TX, February 1998
The Published Print and the Artist-Printed Print, Allentown Art Museum, August 1993
The Print Center Artist Residency Program, The National Gallery of Art, Wash., DC, July 1991
Print Organizations, Southern Graphics Council Conference, Baltimore, March 1991
Selected Writing
“Philip Guston and the WWII Years at the University of Iowa, 1941-1954,” for the symposium Philip Guston in Iowa, October 21, 2017
“Elizabeth Catlett at Iowa, 1938-1940” in Lena Hill and Michael Hill, eds., Invisible Hawkeyes, Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, October 2016
Editor, New Forms: The Avant-Garde Meets the American Scene, 1934-1949, Selections from the University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, September 2013
“Transitional Hybrids: Exploring Surrealism in the Iowa Collection,” in New Forms: The Avant-Garde Meets the American Scene, 1934-1949, Selections from the University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, September 2013
http://www.lilpicard.org, Iowa City: University of Iowa Museum of Art, 2009
Subject Matters: The Alan and Ann January Collection of American Prints and Drawings, Iowa City: University of Iowa Museum of Art, March 2006, 35 pgs.
Acting Out: Invented Melodrama in Contemporary Photography, Iowa City: University of Iowa Museum of Art (distributed by University of Washington Press), March 2005, 75 pgs.
Art is Life/Life is Art: The Graphic Work of Dieter Roth, Iowa City: University of Iowa Museum of Art, November 1999, 22 pgs.
Selected Print Center exhibition publications:
Works on Paper 2000, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, February 2000
Anne Skoogfors, New Work on Paper, Philadelphia: The Print Center, 1997
Latitudes, Cullowhee: Western Carolina University, 1996
Isaiah’s Prints, Philadelphia: The Print Center, 1995
Philadelphia Prints, USA, Riga: National Library of Estonia, 1995
The Contemporary Print in the USA, Riga: Foreign Art Museum, Riga, Latvia, 1995
Selected Exhibition Reviews
Claire Barliant, “Lil Picard,” Art in America, October 2010
“Lil Picard and Counterculture New York,” Goings on About Town, The New Yorker, May 3, 2010
Amanda Gordon, “Lipstick Traces on the Art World,” Art Talk, ARTnews, April 2010, 26
“Subject Matters: The Alan and Ann January Collection of American Prints and Drawings,” Journal of the Print World, Vol. 30 No. 4, Fall 2006, 42–43
Roberta Smith, “Wandering in a Forest of Poses,” The New York Times, Friday, Sept. 2, 2005, 23–24
“Digging Deeply into the History of Sculpture: The Stoner Collection of Drawings by Sculptors,” Art on Paper, May–June 2004, 32–33
Selected Committees and Jurying
Publication Committee, Art Jewelry Forum, August 2016-2017
Photography contest committee chair, Iowa Humanities Festival, April 10-11, 2015
Advisory Committee, Charlotte Moorman exhibition, Block Museum, Northwestern University, spring 2014
Judge, 2013 Amarillo Museum of Art Biennial: Printmaking, Spring 2013
Juror, with Alec Soth, The Iowa Review Photography Contest, February 2013
Judge, Grinnell College Salon, May 2012
Advisory Board, Midwest Matrix, 2008–present
Judge, Academy of Fine Arts, Lynchburg, VA, April 2010
Judge, Southeastern Juried Exhibition 2006, Mobile Museum of Art, AL, October 2006
Judge, The President’s Best, 2006, Hoover Presidential Library Association, August 2006
Judge, The Altered Image: Digital Photography in the Midwest, September 2003
Award juror, Iowa Mini Print International 2002
Award juror, photography competition, Blanden Art Museum, Fort Dodge, Iowa, October 2000
Award juror, regional works on paper competition, Pella Art Center, Iowa, April 2000
Judge, Works on Paper 2000, Louisiana State University, February 2000
Judge, photography exhibition, Art in Philadelphia City Hall, April 1997
Visual Arts and Media panel member, The Philadelphia Cultural Fund, 1996 and 1997
New Jersey State Council on the Arts grants panels: Arts Basic to Education, May 1994; Visual Arts Organizations, April 1993; Graphic Arts, April 1992
University Service
Chair, Search Committee, UIMA Assistant Curator, Legacies for Iowa Collections Sharing Project, spring 2014
Board of Directors, Midwest Matrix, 2012-2017
Search Committee, UIMA Curator of African and Non-Western Art, Spring 2011
Search Committee, UIMA director, 2010
Envisioning Committee for UIMA, 2009–2010
Art in State Buildings Committee, September 2006-2016
Review Committee, UI Arts and Humanities Initiative Grants, April 2006 and 2007
Professional Memberships
Print Council of America, elected 2000, Emeritus 2018-present
College Art Association, 1998-2018
Association of Academic Museums and Galleries, periodic
Association of American Museum Curators, from 2002; Governance Committee, 2010–2011
Education
Certificate, The Pew Charitable Trusts Non-Profit Management Program, 1996
M.A. Art Education, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA, May 1985; Thesis: An Investigation of Materials and Techniques for Contemporary Works on Paper: A Guide to Preservation; recipient of the Faculty Award for Excellence in Art Education
B.A. Art History and Studio Art, University of Richmond, Virginia, May 1979
