MOUNTAINVILLE, NY.- Storm King Art Center announces the appointment of Eric Booker as Associate Curator, joining the curatorial team led by Nora Lawrence, Artistic Director and Chief Curator. In this role, Booker will contribute to Storm King’s artistic program through the deveopment of special exhibitions and collection presentations, including scholarly research, writing, publications, and interpretation. Booker will also work closely with the Department of Education and Public Programs on the development and implementation of the Art Center’s public program offerings.
Nora Lawrence said, “Eric Booker will be a true asset to Storm King’s growing curatorial team and play a pivotal role in the Art Center’s work with artists. His experience presenting exhibitions and projects across mediums such as performance, site-specific installations, and public art commissions will bring immense value to Storm King’s artistic program, particularly as we look forward to new possibilities for art through our capital project.”
Booker said, “I’m thrilled to be joining the team at Storm King Art Center, a place that I’ve long admired for its uniquely expansive program. Storm King is esteemed for the support and collaboration they offer artists—a deep engagement that fosters important opportunities for artists of all backgrounds. I look forward to contributing to this artist-driven mission and all that we will accomplish together.”
Booker comes to Storm King from The Studio Museum in Harlem, where he held the position of Assistant Curator & Exhibition Coordinator since 2016. Committed to working alongside artists of diverse backgrounds and with underrecognized histories, he has cultivated ambitious projects through critical research, collaboration, and care. While at the Studio Museum, Booker organized an array of exhibitions, performances, and site-specific installations, as well as guided the institution’s public art commissions by artists including Firelei Báez, Chloë Bass, Kevin Beasley, Maren Hassinger, Simone Leigh, and Thomas J Price. He also managed the Museum’s partnership with NYC Parks and worked alongside artists and curators to forge innovative projects in public space.
As part of his ongoing work to center artists challenging dominant histories and institutional structures, his first book, Smokehouse Associates, brings the underrecognized work of the artist collective formed by William T. Williams, Melvin Edwards, Guy Ciarcia, and Billy Rose to the fore. Published by the Studio Museum and distributed by Yale University Press, Smokehouse Associates expands the narrative of public art and social practice in the United States to include the contributions of artists of African descent. Booker received a Graham Foundation Grant for the project in 2019.
Booker’s curatorial credits include Method Order Metric at The National Academy of Design (2016); Jamel Shabazz: Crossing 125th, Smokehouse 1968–1970, and Regarding the Figure at The Studio Museum in Harlem (2017); Inside, Out Here at La MaMa Galleria (2018); and Autumn Knight: WALL at the Studio Museum and Danspace Project (2019). He has held positions at the Guggenheim Museum, The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, The Calder Foundation, and The National Academy of Design.
