Valerie Cassel Oliver, Sarah Jane Hardrath Kramer Lecture 2011 Valerie Cassel Oliver, is senior curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Cassel Oliver has organized numerous solo and group exhibitions including the acclaimed Double Consciousness: Black Conceptual Art Since 1970 (2005), Black/Light/White Noise: Sound and Light in Contemporary Art (2007), and, with Dr. Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, Cinema Remixed and Reloaded: Black Women Artists and the Moving Image (2008/09). Prior to her 10-year tenure at CAMH, she was director of the Visiting Artist Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and program specialist at the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2000, she co-curated the Biennial for the Whitney Museum of American Art. Most recently, she was named the 2011 recipient of the David C. Driskell Prize by the High Museum of Art. This annual lecture series honors the memory of Sarah Jane Hardrath Kramer and her many years of tireless, enthusiastic, and dedicated service to the Dulin Gallery of Art and the Knoxville Museum of Art. The event is made possible by the Sarah Jane Hardrath Kramer Fund and is supported by The Rogers Foundation, The Melrose Foundation, and Wayne R. Kramer.
The Knoxville Museum of Art collects, exhibits, and interprets outstanding works by artists of regional, national, and international significance; provides diverse audiences with opportunities for learning and personal growth; and serves as a community gathering and celebration place. The museum is strongly committed to providing experiences that enable people to enjoy and value the visual arts as an expression of the best of a civilized society. The KMA’s landmark facility, designed by renowned architect Edward Larrabee Barnes and opened to the public in 1990, overlooks World’s Fair Park in downtown Knoxville. For more on the museum and its exhibitions and other programs, go to www.knoxart.org.
