Laura Parsons, president of the Board of Trustees of the American Folk Art Museum, has announced that Maria Ann Conelli, PhD, has been appointed to the position of director of the American Folk Art Museum. Conelli succeeds Gerard C. Wertkin who in April 2004 announced his intention to retire at the end of 2004 after 24 years of service, 13 of them as director. Wertkin has been named director emeritus.

Conelli will join the museum in June. In the interim, Linda Dunne, the museum’s chief administrative officer, will serve as acting director.

Parsons said of the appointment, “After a thorough and careful search, I am delighted to welcome Maria Ann Conelli. She brings leadership skills that include – but certainly are not limited to – the development of programs in collaboration with other organizations, fundraising, an understanding of artistic, curatorial and conservation issues, and a track record of facilitating the physical and intellectual growth of institutions. As a distinguished art scholar and exemplary administrator, Maria is the perfect choice to lead this museum in the Twenty-First Century.”

Conelli expressed her pleasure in accepting the appointment, saying, “I am honored to serve as the new director of the American Folk Art Museum. I look forward to continuing its fine tradition of outstanding exhibitions and public programs and will work to bring the museum to a wider audience through enhanced collaborations and partnerships.”

Maria Ann Conelli comes to the museum from the Fashion Institute of Technology where she is currently the dean of the School of Graduate Studies and acting dean of the School of Art and Design. Prior to her position at FIT, from 1991 to 2001, Conelli was the chair of the Smithsonian’s graduate programs in the history of decorative arts offered in collaboration with Parsons School of Design and Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in New York and The Smithsonian Associates in Washington, D.C. She also held positions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and is a trustee and an education liaison for The Skyscraper Museum.

Conelli holds a PhD in architectural history from Columbia University and an MA from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She received her BA in art history from Brooklyn College.

She has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including the National Endowment for the Arts, J. Paul Getty Postdoctoral Fellowship in the History of Art and the Humanities and is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome. She has taught in both the United States and Europe, curated exhibitions focusing on architecture, fashion and decorative arts, and lectured widely on Sixteenth and Seventeenth century art, architecture and landscape design.