Leadership

Julia Szabo

Founding Director, Acting Chief Curator

The daughter of an artist (Martha Szabo) and a noted art historian (George Szabo, first curator of the Robert Lehman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art), Julia has worked the culture and style beat for four decades, her byline appearing in publications ranging from Gallery & Studio Arts Journal to The New Yorker. Always highlighting the exquisite artistry of work by women, from architecture and fashion to silversmithing and floral design to the culinary and healing arts, Julia has energetically identified and promoted her creative sisters for the past four decades. Selected works: a profile of Agnes Martin for Newsday (where Julia also served as an art critic, honored to follow in the footsteps of Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Emily Genauer); the first feature on Kara Walker for The New York Times Magazine; Portia Munson for View on Colour; features on Rei Kawakubo and Yeohlee for ID (International Design); the first mainstream media coverage of Linn Meyers (Newsday) and “Memorial to a Marriage,” the historic mortuary sculpture created by Patricia Cronin, depicting Cronin and partner Deborah Kass (in The New York Post); an article celebrating the life of curatorial legend Henry Geldzahler through the eyes of the artists he championed shortly before his death, among them Michelle Charles (“Regarding Henry,” New York Magazine); interviews with Parrish Art Museum Director Dr. Monica R. Montagut and film director Phyllis Nagy (Call Jane) for The Purist; and features for various international editions of >Vogue on Anh Duong, Mouna Ayoub, Veronica Webb, Kazuko Oshima, Siri Hustvedt, Candace Bushnell, and Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez.

Kathleen Hulser, 1953–2024

Remebering Kathleen Hulser Executive Director, Chief Curator

Curator, public historian, writer, consultant, poet, and activist, Kathleen’s scholarly focus is rebellious women: “Incorrigibles,” for example, a history of incarcerated girls, explores institutions of juvenile confinement and justice (particularly the New York State Training School for Girls in Hudson, NY, where jazz great Ella Fitzgerald did juvenile time in 1933). Kathleen’s charisma is on full display in her Substack, Rambling Humanist as well as her public talks and expertly mapped walking tours of New York (“Bad, Rad and Boho Women of the Village”). Previously, she served as curator at the New York Transit Museum (2016-2021) and as public historian at the New-York Historical Society (1999-2011), where acclaimed projects she worked on include the exhibition “Petropolis: A Social History of Animal Companions” and the 2005 publication Legacies: Contemporary Artists Reflect on Slavery (co-written with Cynthia R. Copeland and the redoubtable Lowery Stokes Sims). Kathleen has taught Urban Studies and American History at NYU, The New School, and Pace University. Editor of ArTour, a forthcoming culture magazine, and co-author (with Alison Cornyn) of “The Trouble with Troubled Girls” (Public Art Dialogue, 10:1, 2020), she has penned numerous catalogs for artists (among them Pamela Sztybel, Karen Gentile, Patricia Udell, Helice Carris-Bernstein, and Janet Adler Schur) and is a frequent contributor to Gallery & Studio Arts Journal. Her new book, I Don’t Write Poetry and You Can’t Make Me is forthcoming from Press22 Publishing.

Dana King

Co-Chair, Advisory Board

An outstanding sculptor who has committed her talent to conjuring "Black Bodies in Bronze," Dana is our queen of contemporary creativity and consciousness raising. Have a look at her work and curriculum vitae, and you'll see why we're superfans. A distinguished broadcast journalist, she decided to dedicate herself to her first love: art, earning her MFA after two decades in journalism. The African Ancestors she celebrates and brings to life in bronze are the very definition of immortal. They include the Women of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, who come alive in Alabama, in Dana's powerful monument, "Guided by Justice." A true national treasure, she is the pure heart, soul, and conscience of MSeum. We couldn't have begun to realize our mission without her - and we can't wait to see the first of many Dana King monuments rise at our campus: an eight-foot tribute to her sister sculptor, Edmonia Lewis. "I am honored to be included to help elevate MSeum's wonderful vision in statuary," says Dana, an Artadia Award winner (2021) who also serves on the Boards of the Oakland Museum of Art and Illuminate The Arts (San Francisco). "What better place to lift up the genius, courage, drive, determination and the many sacrifices made by women than at MSeum!"

Suzanne Marie Musho, AIA, NCARB

Co-Chair, Advisory Board

As Founder and Partner of M [musho architecture and design llc], Suzanne works with corporations, private clients and institutions to develop their sustainability planning, art and exhibition planning, business development, and project leadership for their active projects and within divisions of their firms. A sought-after mentor and thought leader, she has served as Adjunct Professor in the School of Architecture and Design at New York Tech (the New York Institute of Technology), as the University's Chief Campus Architect and inaugural Vice President of Real Estate Development and Sustainable Capital Planning. Prior to that, Suzanne was Vice President at Zubatkin Owner Representation; Director of Facilities and Operations and Chief Architect at Columbia University; and Associate at Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. Not only her educational background in architecture, psychology and design, but additionally her joyful, 360-degree global perspective - always sharpened by frequent and tireless international travel - have made her a cherished and invaluable MSeum team member.