Larson comes to the museum from the Art Museum of Western Virginia in Roanoke, where she has been executive director since 1998. Her accomplishments include increasing the annual fund by 200 percent, preparing to launch a capital campaign for a new facility, and adding $20 million of acquisitions to the permanent collection from gifts and bequests. From 1985 to 1998, Larson was curator of American art at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, where she organized exhibitions including Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People, John Twatchman: American Impressionist, Mary Cassatt: Art in the Making, and American Women of the Etching Revival. She also created a collector’s support group and helped build the American art collection, publishing the first catalogue of that collection. Under her tenure, the American collection traveled to Japan as part of the 1996 Olympics international outreach effort.

Larson has served in consulting positions at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Canada, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. She also worked for the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Mass., and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She has had several teaching positions and has published extensively. Larson has a Ph.D. from the Institute of Liberal Arts, an interdisciplinary program at Emory University in Atlanta, where Women’s Studies was one of three areas of expertise. Her B.A and M.A. in art history are from UCLA.

As NMWA celebrates its fifteenth anniversary with the launch of a redesigned and expanded web site and other activities to enhance its outreach and visibility, Larson will work with trustees and staff to fund and promote the museum’s collection, exhibitions, education and public programs, and other projects.

"I have followed the progress of the National Museum of Women in the Arts since its inception fifteen years ago. This museum holds a very special place in the art museums of the world with its unique and important mission of integrating women into the history of art," Larson commented. "I look forward to representing NMWA as we continue to celebrate and advocate for the role of women in the arts."

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