DENVER, COLORADO.-The Denver Art Museum (DAM) announced today that Dr. Margaret Young-Sánchez, Frederick and Jan Mayer curator of pre-Columbian art, has been named chief curator. The position of chief curator was previously held by Dr. Timothy J. Standring, who was appointed to the position of deputy director of collections and programs this past July.

As chief curator, Young-Sánchez acts as the designated representative of the Museum’s curatorial division, facilitating communication between curatorial departments, staff and administration. She is also responsible for supervising all curatorial activities.

Young-Sánchez has been with the Denver Art Museum since 1999, as curator of pre-Columbian art and head of the New World department. She is a nationally-renowned expert in the field of pre-Columbian art, specializing in the art of Mesoamerica and ancient South America.

“As one the world’s premier scholars of pre-Columbian art with an extensive publication record and experience in collections management, Dr. Young-Sánchez brings great strength to the curatorial departments of the museum,” said Standring.

Most recently Young-Sánchez organized and curated Tiwanaku: Ancestors of the Inca, the first comprehensive art exhibition ever to focus on the Tiwanaku civilization. She was the primary author of its exhibition catalogue of the same name. Young-Sańchez is credited with spearheading a reinstallation of the pre-Columbian galleries at the Cleveland Museum of Art, where she was an associate curator during the 1990s.

Young-Sańchez has received multiple fellowships and grants, most recently in 2002 when she received a major National Endowment for the Arts Grant to support the Tiwanaku exhibition. A pre-Columbian curator since 1989, she has authored many acclaimed publications and has taught at the collegiate level at the State University of New York at New Paltz. Proficient in three languages, Young-Sańchez received undergraduate and graduate degrees in Anthropology from Yale University and earned her doctorate in art history from Columbia University.

In addition to her duties as chief curator, Young-Sańchez will remain curator of pre-Columbian art. Dr. Donna Pierce, Frederick and Jan Mayer curator of Spanish Colonial art, will assume the position of department head for the New World department. Pierce came to the Denver Art Museum in 1999, from the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in Santa Fe where she was chief curator. Pierce has organized, directed and consulted on eight Spanish Colonial exhibitions throughout the United States and has authored or edited over 16 publications on Spanish Colonial art and history.