By WKTV Staff
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park has appointed a new Chief Curator: Suzanne Ramljak, “a seasoned curator and art historian,” and a graduate of University of Michigan who has worked at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the institution announced Tuesday, March 29.
Ramljak, who started work March 28, will oversee Meijer Gardens’ expanding exhibition programing and acquisitions for the permanent collection. She joins an art team at the Gardens which includes Laurene Grunwald, Director of Sculpture, Art Collections, Exhibitions. Jochen Wierich, Assistant Curator and Researcher, has resigned his position as of the end of April, according to Meijer Gardens.
“In this newly created position, she (Ramljak) will lead our efforts to acquire and site sculpture and to curate engaging sculpture exhibitions,” David Hooker, Meijer Gardens President & CEO, said in supplied material. “Ramljak is ideally suited to help us realize Fred Meijer’s desire to create a world-class sculpture program. In addition, in this role she will serve as an officer of the institution.”
Ramljak comes to Meijer Gardens from the American Federation of Arts in New York City, where as curator for 10 years she organized numerous traveling museum exhibitions. Her own exhibition projects have centered on modern and contemporary sculpture, including “Natural Wonders: The Sublime in Contemporary Art”, “Case Studies: Art in a Valise” and the forthcoming “Mark Dion and Alexis Rockman: Journey to Nature’s Underworld.”
Ramljak has also worked in the curatorial departments of the Guggenheim, as well as the Detroit Institute of Arts and University of Michigan Museum of Art.
“I am delighted to join the outstanding team at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park to advance the mission of inspiring appreciation of sculpture and the natural environment,” Ramljak said in supplied material. “It is my fortune to be arriving during a time of impressive growth at Meijer Gardens and at a moment in our culture when the bracing forces of art and nature are more essential than ever.”
Meijer Gardens recently underwent a major $115 million expansion project that adds new major architectural features and renovations to current facilities.
A Michigan native, Ramljak earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in art history from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she also served as arts writer for the Ann Arbor News, according to the Meijer Gardens announcement. Ramljak pursued doctoral work and earned a Master of Philosophy in art history from the Graduate School, City University of New York, with dissertation research on the Venus de Milo in 20th-century art.
Along with her broad curatorial background, Ramljak has extensive publishing and writing experience. She was editor of Sculpture magazine for five years and held the editorship of Glass Quarterly and Metalsmith magazines. Ramljak has published widely on contemporary art.
Her writing on sculpture includes monographic essays on artists Louise Bourgeois, Michele Oka Doner, John Grade and Beverly Penn, among others. She has authored several books including “On Body and Soul: Contemporary Armor to Amulets” and, most recently, “Loaded: Guns in Contemporary Art”.
