Julia Marciari-Alexander, deputy director for curatorial affairs at the San Diego Museum of Art, has been appointed executive director of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. Ms. Marciari-Alexander is replacing Gary Vikan, who is stepping down after more than 27 years at the Walters, 18 of them as its director.
The board approved Ms. Marciari-Alexander’s appointed on Wednesday morning. “We were looking for a dynamic leader to enhance our mission of bringing art and people together in Baltimore and beyond through education, exhibitions and innovative use of technology, and we’ve found that and more in Julia,’’ Ellen Bernard, a Walters trustee who was chair of the search committee, said in a statement.
Ms. Marciari-Alexander joined the San Diego Museum in 2008 as deputy director for curatorial affairs. Before that she had spent more than 10 years at the Yale Center for British Art, first as assistant/associate Curator of paintings and sculpture and ater as associate Director of programmatic affairs and associate director for exhibitions and publications.
When Ms. Marciari-Alexander begins her new job on April 1 she will become the second woman to lead a major art museum in Baltimore. The first, Doreen Bolger, has been the director of the Baltimore Museum of Art since 1998.
