Blaffer Director Sultan Leaving to Assume Parrish Museum Post

Advisory committee will conduct national search for replacement

After seven and a half years as director of Blaffer Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Houston, Terrie Sultan will leave the museum in April 2008 to assume the directorship of the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, N.Y.

Sultan has led the Blaffer since 2000, initiating efforts to double the operating budget and staff while the museum has showcased notable exhibitions of contemporary art, including "Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration" in 2003, "Jessica Stockholder: Kissing the Wall" in 2004, "James Surls: the Splendora Years" in 2005, and "Chantal Akerman: Moving through Time and Space," now at the gallery before touring nationally.

"Personally, my time in Houston has been extremely rewarding," Sultan said, "and the community has been welcoming and generous. The state of the museum is strong. We have established a world-class exhibition and educational outreach program. I'm confident the Blaffer will continue as a jewel in the city's cultural community."

In recent years, Blaffer Gallery has originated more than a dozen exhibitions with accompanying publications, developed an extensive traveling exhibition schedule and created a unique educational outreach program emphasizing mentorship and creativity. "During Terrie's tenure, Blaffer Gallery has become a benchmark for what a non-collecting university art museum can achieve and contribute regionally, nationally and internationally. She has made significant contributions to the University of Houston and the city at large. We wish her the best in her new post," said John Antel, dean of the UH College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.

The museum will form a committee, led by Antel and Russell Sherrill, the Blaffer Gallery advisory board chairman, to conduct a national search for Sultan's replacement. "We seek creative leadership to guide the museum in the ambitious plans already embraced by the advisory board and the university," Sherrill said. "Today, Blaffer Gallery is at the best in its 35-year history, and its contributions to the arts and our community only will increase in the coming years." For more information about Blaffer Gallery, see http://www.class.uh.edu/blaffer/.