INDIANAPOLIS.-The Indianapolis Museum of Art announced today that it has appointed R. Craig Miller to the newly-created position of Curator of Design Arts. Miller, formerly Curator of the Department of Architecture, Design & Graphics at the Denver Art Museum , will take the lead in the development of a new IMA department dedicated to the collection, preservation, and interpretation of 20th and 21st-century European and American design in October 2007.

In his new role at the IMA, Miller will build the Museum’s Design Collection, and will develop a series of exhibitions to highlight new design initiatives at the IMA. Miller is currently organizing EuroDesign 1985–2005, an international exhibition which will examine two decades of design from fourteen countries across Western Europe . The exhibition will premiere at the IMA in 2009. Miller will also take on the role of Director of Design Initiatives, working with the IMA to incorporate design into its institutional programming.

Over the course of his 30-year career, Miller was responsible for the building of an expansive and significant design collection at the Denver Art Museum , as well as at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he held the position of Associate Curator of 20th Century Art from 1983-1990. He has curated more than 40 exhibitions including the currently-showing Design Arts of the 20th and 21st Centuries at the Denver Art Museum ; and the 2002 exhibition USDesign 1975-2000, which traveled from the DAM to the Museum of Arts and Design in New York and the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in Memphis . Miller has also lectured extensively at venues including New York University , the Royal College of Art in London , UK , and The Bard Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts in New York City .

“Craig Miller is renowned for his ability to build exceptional collections from scratch,” said Maxwell L. Anderson, the Melvin & Bren Simon Director and CEO of the IMA. “In his 17 years at Denver and 12 years at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Craig built deeply significant design collections. We are thrilled to bring his talents to Indianapolis, and to have Craig oversee our design initiatives and help us in building a compelling and fully-rounded department of 20th-21st Century Design.”

The new Design Department initiative will center on collecting, preserving, and interpreting European and American design, with the possibility of later expanding programming to include the design innovations of Asia, Africa, and Central and South America . The creation of the Design Department is part of an institutional restructuring at the Museum, which also included the merging of the IMA Decorative Arts department into its European and American Art departments. The Museum has also retained Bruce Mau Design, which has recently opened a studio in Chicago , to assist in mapping a plan for integrating design and education initiatives into its overall visitor experience.

“Craig Miller forged one of the definitive collections of 20th-century design during his tenure at the Denver Art Museum ,” said Denver Art Museum Director Lewis Sharp. “He will be a wonderful asset to the Indianapolis Museum of Art as they begin to develop their design collections, and we look forward to his continued scholarship in the field.”

Miller’s appointment comes on the heels of several recent initiatives to strengthen the IMA’s focus on modern and contemporary art, including the commissioning of a site-specific installation series in the museum’s Efroymson Pavilion and the ongoing development of the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park .

Miller said: “In 1990, I was given the great opportunity by Lewis Sharp to come to the Denver Art Museum and create a new kind of design department. With the extraordinary support of the trustees, patrons, design professionals, and the Design Council, we have achieved a new model for a historical decorative arts collection, as well as having formed one of the most important modern design collections in an American museum. Denver is now known as one of the most vital centers in the United States for the design arts, and it has been a great honor to be a part of these exciting projects. I now look forward to an exciting new opportunity at the Indianapolis Museum of Art as the Curator of Design Arts and Director of Design Initiatives.”