Museum’s new curator has ‘got what it takes’

ROCKPORT – The Center for Maine Contemporary Art has announced its newest acquisition. But rather than hang on a wall or sit on a pedestal, the newest member of CMCA’s collection will be hard at work behind the scenes, defining exhibition strategies and advocating for Maine’s contemporary artists.

In September, Britta Konau will begin work as the nonprofit center’s new curator. Konau, currently the associate curator of modern and contemporary art at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., will replace Bruce Brown, who plans to retire in December after 20 years with CMCA.

Friday’s announcement is the culmination of a national search that began last October. Oliver Wilder, CMCA’s president and chief executive officer, said the search panel was looking for someone with a curatorial background, specifically with contemporary art. Konau (pronounced COE-now) was the right fit.

“She has substantial experience in exactly the realm we were looking for,” Wilder said Monday. “She has a positive spirit, she’s a clear thinker, she has passion for what she’s doing and she’s got what it takes to continue on this positive trajectory.”

Konau’s interest in the job is both personal and professional. She has visited Maine several times and is “totally attracted to the state and the water.”

“That was one reason,” Konau said Monday, by phone from Washington. “I also wanted to be more involved directly with artists. I thought this would be a wonderful experience to be involved with artists of all disciplines, and in my case, of all genders.”

Konau and Brown will overlap as curators for three months, during which time Brown will introduce Konau to the state’s artists and museum staffers. Konau said she plans to continue Brown’s tradition of traveling the state, visiting studios and keeping a close eye on what other museums are doing.

“I will honor Bruce’s legacy,” Konau said. “I know he’s made a big difference for the state and for a lot of artists up there.”

Though she has yet to tour the state, her initial impressions of the Maine art scene are positive. She said she enjoys the broad spectrum of styles, from traditional to edgy.

“There’s no overarching, ‘This is Maine art,'” she said.

She attributes this to the fact that many artists who call Maine home move to the state later in life or spend several months here and several months elsewhere. She said the influx of artists encourages dialogue.

The dialogue among CMCA’s trustees and the search committee also struck her. She admires their savvy, intelligence and vision for sustaining the center. Her own vision for the center includes incorporating work from artists outside the state while continuing to show the work of Maine artists. And she has no plans for the center cultivating a permanent collection.

“But I don’t like to make rules that I then afterwards break,” Konau said, laughing.

She most recently curated “Dreaming Their Way: Australian Aboriginal Women Painters,” which is on view at

NMWA and will travel to the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. She has worked at the NMWA for nine years, since 2002 as associate curator.

Konau worked in the curatorial department of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, where she was the assistant to the curator of contemporary art, and the Ackland Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she received her master’s degree in art history.

The position at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art will fulfill Konau’s longtime desire to settle down in Maine while fulfilling her professional desires, as well.

“I have the feeling this is an institution carried by so many people who are so passionate about contemporary art,” she said. “It’s wonderful.”

For more information, call 207-236-2875 or visit www.cmcanow.org.