Arts District: Leadership at CMA

Newly appointed interim director of the Cleveland Museum of Art
Deborah Gribbon resigned in 2004 from her most recent post as
director of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles over
“disagreements” with former Getty Trust president Barry Munitz. Noted
art blogger Tyler Green wrote that on her last day — though they
were effectively prevented by Munitz from giving her a proper send-off
— her colleagues organized on the sly to give her a standing
ovation. She’s been retired since. Two years later, Munitz would be
forced out of the Getty Trust over charges of improper use of the
trust’s money.

As a result, just two months after CMA director Timothy Rub’s
surprise announcement that he is leaving to become director of
Philadelphia Museum of Art, CMA has attracted a top-tier director (with
ethics and a spine, to boot) out of retirement to come here from Los
Angeles — at least for the year the museum plans to search for a
permanent director. The museum has given no indication whether Gribbon
is in the running for the job, though they simultaneously announced
that the New York-based arts executive headhunting firm Phillips
Oppenheim has been retained to conduct the search.

Gribbon is a Harvard-educated PhD in art and art history. Her
dissertation was on the art of Edouard Manet. Her arrival comes just a
few months before the museum’s trustees will assess finances and vote
on whether to proceed on their multi-year construction project, which
is roughly at its halfway point. She starts September 14, one week
before Rub’s departure.

Cleveland Scene art critic Douglas Max Utter is one of
30 artists selling work at Artsyism, a garden party to benefit
awareness-raising organization Autism Speaks and AIDS Task Force of
Greater Cleveland’s food pantry. It’s organized by Donald Bingham
Schmidt and Shari Goldberg, and presented at Schmidt’s Cleveland
Heights home. In addition to the art sale, one of the region’s most
innovative dancer/choreographers Lisa Locke will perform
in Schmidt’s pool. Other artists selling work include jewelry designer
Gai Russo and photographer Larry Coleman. It’s from
noon-5 p.m Sunday, August 30. For information, contact Shari Goldberg
at 440.449.9922. Admission: two non-perishable food items.