SHEBOYGAN, WI.- The John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wis., announced today that Arts Center Director Sam Gappmayer will retire February 28, 2022, and Associate Director Amy Horst will assume the directorship on March 1, 2022.

Gappmayer has served as director since 2016. He followed long-time Director Ruth DeYoung Kohler II, who had stepped aside to focus on creating a second JMKAC building dedicated to the presentation and study of artist-built environments. Horst has been with the Arts Center since 2005, when she joined the staff as a community arts coordinator.

“Thanks to Sam’s leadership, the Arts Center continues to fulfill Ruth Kohler’s vision that art, in all iterations, has the power to change lives for the better,” said JMKAC Board President Tony Rammer. “Amy Horst, with her years of working beside Ruth in the creation of programs and exhibitions, is uniquely qualified to carry that legacy forward.”

Highlighting Gappmayer’s leadership at the Arts Center is the June 2021 opening of the Art Preserve. After Kohler’s death in November 2020, Gappmayer led the Art Preserve project to completion. Upon its opening, the Art Preserve immediately began drawing praise from national and international press, the public, and museum professionals for its innovative presentation of JMKAC’s renowned collection of art environments.

During Gappmayer’s tenure, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center also achieved American Alliance of Museums accreditation, developed an online model of art engagement that will expand access points beyond the pandemic, and instituted a plan to institutionally address diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Amy Horst worked closely with Ruth Kohler in mission fulfillment and program development initially as community arts coordinator and later as associate director. Horst has led all programming areas of the Arts Center, including exhibitions and collections, the Arts/Industry residency program, education, community arts, and performing arts since 2012.

Under Horst’s direction, Arts Center exhibitions have regularly drawn critical praise, including citation by Artforum as among Best of 2020 (Lenore Tawney: Mirror of the Universe and Best of 2017 (Things Are What We Encounter). Hers was a critical voice in the creation of the Art Preserve and her interpretation of Kohler’s vision guided the development of online and hybrid community engagement during the pandemic. In addition, her advocacy for the activation of a blighted city property as a venue for the Arts Center’s free summer concert series is credited with providing the impetus for a $10-million private investment in housing for downtown Sheboygan.

“My time at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center has been filled with admiration for the accomplishments of Ruth Kohler and the hard work of the staff in realizing her vision of what can be achieved through the arts,” said Gappmayer. “I am so pleased to be handing the reins over to someone as accomplished and dedicated as Amy Horst.”