Veronica Roberts, the Blanton Museum’s curator of American and contemporary art, is leaving the University of Texas museum to lead the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University.
Roberts, 45, has been with the Blanton since 2013.
“I am delighted that Veronica Roberts will join Stanford arts leadership as the new director of the Cantor,” said Deborah Cullinan, Stanford vice president for the arts, in press materials released by Stanford. “She brings a deep connection to her hometown Bay Area region and a solid reputation as a collaborative and generous leader. She is eager to lead the development of a new strategic vision for the Cantor that invigorates and amplifies the role that an art museum can play in its campus community, its region and its field.”
At the Blanton Roberts has curated the nationally touring exhibitions “Nina Katchadourian: Curiouser” and “Converging Lines: Eva Hesse and Sol LeWitt.” She also presented projects with artists Vincent Valdez, Donald Moffett, Susan Philipsz, Ed Ruscha and Diedrick Brackens, and co-curated an exhibition of Charles White works jointly acquired by the Blanton and Art Galleries at Black Studies. Her exhibition, “Day Jobs,” featuring work by Emma Amos, Larry Bell, Mark Bradford, Tishan Hsu, Jim Campbell, Genesis Belanger and many others, will open at the Blanton in early 2023.
She also co-conceived the first-ever outdoor sound art gallery, opening in 2023 on the Blanton grounds, and during the pandemic, co-created Texas Talks Art, a weekly 30-minute virtual conversation between a curator and artist to provide visibility to Texas artists and collaboration among museums across the state.
“I am thrilled to be returning to the Bay Area and to a museum I visited countless times with my grandmother, who volunteered for the Cantor,” said Roberts in press materials released by Stanford.
Roberts steps into her new position role July 5, succeeding Susan Dackerman, who resigned November 2020, following an investigation into allegations of a toxic work culture.