Ryan N. Dennis
{{Short description|American curator and writer}}
{{Infobox artist
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Ryan N. Dennis
| honorific_suffix =
| image = File:Ryan Dennis.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Curator Ryan N. Dennis at Black Lunch Table + Project Row Houses Juneteenth Photobooth, 2021.
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| birth_name =
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Houston, Texas
| baptised =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| nationality = American
| education = * University of Houston
| known_for = Artistic director and chief curator
| notable_works = * Mississippi Museum of Art Center for Art and Public Exchange (CAPE)
| style =
| home_town =
| movement =
| spouse =
| partner =
| parents =
| father =
| mother =
| relatives =
| family =
| awards = * 2019 Center for Curatorial Leadership Fellowship
| elected = * 2019 Whitney Museum of American Art Bucksbaum Award Juror
- 2021 Texas Biennial Co-Curator
| patrons =
| memorials =
| website = [https://www.ryanndennis.com/][https://www.ryanndennis.com/ https://www.ryanndennis.com/]
}}
Ryan N. Dennis is an American curator and writer who currently serves as Senior Curator and Director of Public Initiatives at the Contemporary Art Museum Houston (CAMH). She was appointed in June 2023 after serving as Chief Curator and Artistic Director at the Mississippi Museum of Art's Center for Art and Public Exchange (CAPE).{{Cite web|date=2020-03-11|title=Project Row Houses' Ryan Dennis Heads To Mississippi Museum of Art|url=https://glasstire.com/2020/03/11/project-row-houses-ryan-dennis-heads-to-mississippi-museum-of-art/|access-date=2020-06-02|website=Glasstire|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|last=Green|first=Naima|date=2019-06-15|title=Opinion {{!}} These Are the Faces of Tranquillity|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/15/opinion/photography-nature-green.html|access-date=2020-06-13|issn=0362-4331}} She previously served as Curator and Programs Director (2017-2020) and Public Art Director and Curator (2012-2017) at Project Row Houses in Houston, Texas. Dennis focuses on African American contemporary art with an emphasis on site-specific projects and community engagement.{{Cite web|title=Ryan N. Dennis Named Chief Curator and Artistic Director of the Center for Art & Public Exchange|url=https://www.contemporaryand.com/magazines/ryan-n-dennis-named-chief-curator-and-artistic-director-of-the-center-for-art-public-exchange/|access-date=2020-08-20|website=Contemporary And|language=de}}
Early life and education
Ryan N. Dennis was born in Houston, Texas.{{Cite web |author=News Desk |date=2023-04-25 |title=RYAN N. DENNIS NAMED SENIOR CURATOR AT CONTEMPORARY ARTS MUSEUM HOUSTON |url=https://www.artforum.com/news/ryan-n-dennis-named-senior-curator-at-contemporary-arts-museum-houston-252674/ |access-date=2024-02-19 |website=Artforum |language=en-US}} In 2007, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Houston{{Cite web|title=Mississippi Museum of Art Names Ryan N. Dennis Chief Curator and Artistic Director|date=12 March 2020 |url=https://www.culturetype.com/2020/03/12/mississippi-museum-of-art-names-ryan-n-dennis-chief-curator-and-artistic-director/|access-date=2020-06-02|language=en-US}} where she was in the African American studies program and the art history program.{{Cite web|title=Ryan Dennis|url=https://www.uh.edu/kgmca/arts-leadership/profiles/ryan-dennis|access-date=2020-06-02|website=www.uh.edu|language=en}} She received a M.A. degree in arts and cultural management from the Pratt Institute in New York City in 2011. Dennis interned in the curatorial department of the Menil Collection in Houston, where she would later work professionally.
Professional career
Early in her career, Ryan N. Dennis worked as a curatorial assistant at the Menil Collection (2007-2009). She moved to New York City to pursue her degree, where she was a fellow at The Laundromat Project in 2009,{{Cite web|date=2014-10-16|title=Meet Ryan Dennis, '09 Program Intern|url=https://laundromatproject.org/ryan-dennis/|access-date=2020-06-13|website=The Laundromat Project|language=en-US}} worked in public programs at the New Museum, and was traveling exhibition and artists-in-residence manager at the Museum for African Art (now The Africa Center) from 2010 to 2012.
Dennis joined Project Row Houses in 2012 as Public Art Director and Curator.{{Cite web|date=2018-11-02|title=Houston's Most Successful Community Experiment — the Real Story of Project Row Houses: And the Three Wonder Women Charged With Keeping the Magic Going|url=https://www.papercitymag.com/arts/project-row-houses-houston-community-experiment-25-years-new-wonder-women-leaders/|access-date=2020-08-20|website=PaperCity Magazine|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=Ryan N. Dennis - Collaborators - Independent Curators International|url=https://curatorsintl.org/collaborators/ryan-n.-dennis|access-date=2020-12-24|website=curatorsintl.org}} In 2017, she was promoted to Curator and Programs Director. During her tenure at Project Row Houses, she organized and co-organized ten rounds of exhibitions,{{Cite web|title=Ryan N. Dennis (CCL 2019) named Chief Curator and Artistic Director of the Mississippi Museum of Art's Center for Art and Public Exchange|url=https://www.curatorialleadership.org/news/ryan-n-dennis-named-chief-curator-and-artistic-director-mississippi-museum-arts-center-art-and-public-exchange/|access-date=2020-06-13|website=Center for Curatorial Leadership|date=16 March 2020 |language=en}} including Round 41: Process and Action: An Exploration of Labor (2015),{{Cite web|title=Art cities: How Houston became a hotbed of contemporary art {{!}} Christie's|url=https://www.christies.com/features/Art-cities-how-Houston-became-a-hotbed-of-contemporary-art-9568-1.aspx|access-date=2020-06-13|website=www.christies.com|language=en}} Round 43: Small Business/ Big Change: Economic Perspectives from Artists and Artrepreneurs (2015), Round 44: Shattering the Concrete: Artists, Activists, and Instigators (2016), Round 45: Local Impact (2016), Round 46: Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter at Project Row Houses (2017), Round 47:The Act of Doing: Preserving, Revitalizing and Protecting Third Ward (2018),{{Cite web|title=Round 47|url=https://projectrowhouses.org/past-artist-rounds/round-47|access-date=2020-06-13|website=Project Row Houses|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|last=Rhodes|first=Syan|date=2017-11-30|title=Click2Daily: Protecting Third Ward|url=https://www.click2houston.com/news/2017/11/30/click2daily-protecting-third-ward/|access-date=2020-06-13|website=KPRC|language=en}}{{Cite book|title=Collective creative actions : Project Row Houses at 25|others=Dennis, Ryan N.,, Jackson-Dumont, Sandra|date=November 2018|isbn=978-0-692-12642-4|location=Houston, TX|oclc=1060194912}} Round 48: Beyond Social Practice (2019), Round 49: penumbras: sacred geometries (2019), and Round 50: Race, Health and Motherhood (2019). Artists who have participated in these rounds include Simone Leigh, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, Autumn Knight, Lovie Olivia, Ayanna Jolivet McCloud, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Martine Syms, Erika DeFreitas, Michelle Barnes, Robert Pruitt, and Regina Agu.
Dennis was selected for the 2019 Center for Curatorial Leadership annual Fellowship, where she completed a weeklong residency at the Brooklyn Museum.{{Cite web|title=CCL Fellowship|url=https://www.curatorialleadership.org/participants/ccl-program/?name=dennis&institution_id=&year=&location_id=&program=ccl-program|access-date=2020-06-13|website=Center for Curatorial Leadership|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=2018-11-06|title=PRH's Ryan Dennis Selected to Attend Curatorial Leadership Program|url=https://glasstire.com/2018/11/06/prhs-ryan-dennis-selected-to-attend-curatorial-leadership-program/|access-date=2020-06-13|website=Glasstire|language=en-US}} In 2019, she was selected, along with Evan Garza, to co-curate the seventh edition (2021) of the Texas Biennial,{{Cite web|title=Ryan N. Dennis and Evan Garza to Curate 2020 Texas Biennial|url=https://www.artforum.com/news/ryan-n-dennis-and-evan-garza-to-curate-2020-texas-biennial-81233|access-date=2020-06-13|website=www.artforum.com|date=5 November 2019 |language=en-US}} a "geographically-led, independent survey of contemporary art in Texas."{{Cite web|title=About – Texas Biennial|url=http://texasbiennial.org/about|access-date=2020-06-13|website=texasbiennial.org}} She was a juror for the 2019 Whitney Museum of American Art Bucksbaum Award, which every two years awards $100,000 and is one of the largest cash awards for individual visual artists.{{Cite news|last=Roberts|first=Sam|date=2015-08-18|title=Melva Bucksbaum, Art Collector and Curator, Dies at 82|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/19/arts/design/melva-bucksbaum-art-collector-and-curator-dies-at-82.html|access-date=2020-08-30|issn=0362-4331}}
In April 2020, she became the Chief Curator and Artistic Director at the Mississippi Museum of Art's Center for Art and Public Exchange (CAPE).{{Cite web|title=Mississippi Museum of Art Announces Senior Staff Appointments|url=https://www.artforum.com/news/mississippi-museum-of-art-announces-senior-staff-appointments-82444|access-date=2020-06-13|website=www.artforum.com|date=13 March 2020 |language=en-US}} It is the largest art museum in the state.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=4 October 2019|title=Mississippi Museum of Art presents Nick Cave: Feat., a vibrant survey of work in variety of mediums|url=https://www.meridianstar.com/news/lifestyles/mississippi-museum-of-art-presents-nick-cave-feat-a-vibrant-survey-of-work-in-variety/article_b4003cb2-96fc-5d40-9024-2a2c06d65fed.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-08-30|website=Meridian Star|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=2020-08-09|title=Mississippi Museum of Art's new curator, Ryan Dennis: A sit-down Q & A|url=https://mississippitoday.org/2020/08/09/mississippi-museum-of-arts-new-curator-ryan-dennis-a-sit-down-q-a/|access-date=2020-12-24|website=Mississippi Today|language=en-US}}
Ryan N. Dennis' written works appear in Prospect.3 Notes for Now (2014) as part of Prospect New Orleans, Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts (2015),{{Cite web|title=Art for the People's Sake 1 - Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts|url=http://gulfcoastmag.org/journal/27.1/art-for-the-peoples-sake/|access-date=2020-06-13|website=gulfcoastmag.org}} the Miami Rail (2017).{{Cite web|date=2017-04-02|title=Art, Economics and Biscayne: Interview with Ryan N. Dennis and William Cordova|url=https://miamirail.org/spring-2017/art-ecomonics-and-biscayne-interview-with-ryan-n-dennis-and-william-cordova/|access-date=2020-06-13|website=The Miami Rail|language=en-US}} She also contributed to the monograph of Autumn Knight published in 2018.{{Cite book|last=Knight, Autumn, 1980-|title=Autumn Knight : in rehearsal|others=Powell, Amy L.,, Dennis, Ryan N.,, Doyle, Jennifer,, Oliver, Cynthia,, Ruiz, Sandra,, Gilkey, Eureka|date=19 February 2019|isbn=978-1-883015-50-3|location=Urbana, Illinois|oclc=1085573412}}
Other activities
- Whitney Museum of American Art Bucksbaum Award, juror (2019){{Cite web|title=Bucksbaum Award|url=https://whitney.org/About/BucksbaumAward|access-date=2020-08-20|website=whitney.org|language=en}}
- The Kenneth Rainin Foundation Open Spaces Program grants, member of the jury (2019){{Cite web|last=Communications|date=2019-02-06|title=Foundation Awards $625,000 For Community-Based Public Art Projects|url=https://krfoundation.org/foundation-awards-625000-for-community-based-public-art-projects/|access-date=2020-06-13|website=Kenneth Rainin Foundation|language=en-US}}
- Houston Artadia Awards, member of the jury (2017){{Cite web|date=2017-06-09|title=Artadia Announces Winners of Unrestricted $10K|url=https://glasstire.com/2017/06/09/artadia-announces-winners-of-unrestricted-10k/|access-date=2020-06-13|website=Glasstire|language=en-US}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dennis, Ryan}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:University of Houston alumni
Category:African-American writers
Category:American women curators
Category:Women arts administrators
Category:American art curators
Category:Pratt Institute alumni