Kristin Makholm, who has been director of the Minnesota Museum of American Art for more than a decade, has been released from her position, according to a news release from the museum late Tuesday afternoon.
Board chair Gregory Page said an interim director will be announced soon and the M will begin a national search for a new director. He declined to comment on reasons for Makholm’s departure.
Makholm played a key role in the museum’s extensive remodeling and move to the Historic Pioneer Endicott Building in downtown St. Paul in 2018. When she started at the M in 2009, the museum did not have a permanent home.
The first phase of the M’s facility on Robert Street is 18,700 square feet and includes galleries, public spaces and a center for creativity. The $12.5 million space opened in December 2018. A second phase, which was expected to be completed in 2020, will add more galleries and fill the first floor of the Pioneer Endicott building complex.
In the news release, Page said the board is evaluating the timing of the second phase construction, which has an estimated cost of $10.5 million.
Recent exhibitions in the new building have included community collaborations including “History is Not Here: Art and the Arab Imaginary,” co-hosted with the Arab cultural organization Mizna; and “Choice of Weapons, Honor and Dignity: The Visions of Gordon Parks and Jamel Shabazz,” co-curated by Robin Hickman-Winfield and SoulTouch Productions.
The M is currently closed due to COVID-19 restrictions and health concerns. The museum had previously announced it would not reopen until early 2021.
