Heather Ferrell, who has been the curator and director of exhibitions at BCA Center in Burlington for nearly a decade, is moving up the hill to become the new curator of collections and exhibitions at the University of Vermont’s Fleming Museum of Art. The role was last occupied by Kristan Hanson, who left in November. Ferrell starts next month.
In an interview, Ferrell, 55, said she has been inspired by recent changes at the museum, particularly since the launch of the 2022 “Fleming Reimagined” campaign that has sought to update and add social and historical context to how the museum displays parts of its collection for a modern audience.
“It’s got a lot of new staff and new leadership,” she said. “They literally have transformed every gallery in the space — it’s not your grandma’s Fleming.”
Hiring Ferrell makes sense for the museum’s new ethos. She has become known for her approach to public programming, regularly adding panel discussions, artist talks and opportunities for “learning” — her preferred term over “education” — alongside exhibitions at BCA Center. That was something the Fleming was seeking, according to executive director Sonja Lunde.
“Heather brings an exceptional track record of community-centered and thought-provoking programming and a real curatorial approach that makes art feel relevant and deeply connected to the everyday,” Lunde said.
Ferrell joined BCA in 2016, moving from Doha, Qatar, where she managed exhibitions and programs at the National Museum of Qatar. She worked with permanent collections there, at the Boise Art Museum in Idaho and at her alma mater, Utah State University, and said she is excited to once again find creative ways for students and the public to interact with historical and ethnographic objects.
“Our collection is really broad and diverse,” Lunde said. Hiring someone who can “contextualize all of that through a lens of contemporary art and work with living artists to bring that to life,” she added, “is really exciting.”
Ferrell said she is proud of what she’s done at BCA Center, particularly shows such as last fall’s “Do We Say Goodbye? Grief, Loss, and Mourning” and the current exhibition, “Human Impact: Contemporary Art and Our Environment,” both of which integrate works by Vermont artists and those from farther afield, as well as bringing in unusual partners such as the Vermont Association of Psychoanalytic Studies. “I love shows where I can invite community voices,” Ferrell said.
She feels good about how she’s leaving BCA, she said: “Whoever comes in will have a lot of space to build up, look ahead, find their vision.”
Who that might be remains an open question. Given the city’s current budget shortfall and a broader “period of contraction in our economy,” BCA executive director Doreen Kraft said, “we are just going to take a bit of a pause.”
Ferrell has already cocurated some upcoming BCA shows, including this fall’s “Dark Botanica” and a video installation by French artist Laurent Grasso. In the immediate future, Kraft said, she hopes to “fill those shoes with both staff stepping up as well as, perhaps, the introduction of guest curators.”
Kraft, Lunde and Ferrell hinted at possible future collaborations between the Fleming and BCA. “I have a lot of great resources, not only on campus but in the community,” Ferrell said. “I get to stay [local], which is really a privilege. I wouldn’t have taken a job where I had to leave Burlington.”
