Post-event follow-up: Watch a video of the Oct. 21 event.

Lauren Lessing became the director of the UI Stanley Museum of Art in July 2018. Her experience includes many years working in art museums, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, and the Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, Maine, where she built the education department and created a host of innovative educational programs. 

Her parents, both artists, were students of the UI museum’s first director, Ulfert Wilke, and she has loved the UI and Iowa City since her first visit here in 2002. Lessing has shaped an ambitious vision that includes a mission to transform lives by connecting the UI community, Iowans, and the world with extraordinary works of art. 

A native Midwesterner, Lessing earned a B.A. in fine art at Earlham College and completed her PhD in art history at Indiana University under the guidance of Sarah Burns. She has curated exhibitions and authored many books, articles, and catalogue essays on various topics in American art.