Oakland, CA - Mills College announces the appointment of Jessica Hough as the new director of the Mills College Art Museum. Hough comes to Mills from the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, CT, where she achieved distinction for more than nine years, most recently as the curatorial director. 

She will be responsible for overseeing the Mills College Art Museum program of contemporary art exhibitions and a collection of more than 8,000 objects. Having worked as part of the team responsible for the rebuilding of the Aldrich Museum, Hough will be the lead person in bringing the planned new wing of the Mills College Art Museum to reality.

Hough is known for her outstanding interpretive vision in creating exhibitions of contemporary American and international art. She was responsible for organizing the highly acclaimed show of the photography of Catherine Opie, “In and Around Home.” She also collaborated on organizing “Karkhana,” an exhibition of six contemporary Pakistani artists recently featured at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. She brings to Mills particular expertise in identifying and working with emerging and mid-career artists to develop innovative projects and successful exhibitions of their work.

“I am excited about the opportunity to conceptualize exhibitions that have resonance for the Mills College community, and also contribute to the broader dialogue around contemporary art. The Mills College Art Museum is uniquely positioned to make a fresh contribution to the art world—to think about what it means to mount exhibitions in a politically active environment focused on women, located in the increasingly important art world hub of the Bay Area,” said Hough.

In addition to working on major exhibitions each year, Hough will oversee the senior exhibition for studio art majors, and the MFA show for studio art graduates. In her course on Museum Studies, she will teach Mills students numerous aspects of the museum world including exhibition history, curation, collections, accessions, and registry. 

Hough received her MA in curatorial studies from Bard College and her BA in art history from Occidental College. In 2006, she was selected to participate in the Museum Leadership Institute with a group of 30 museum directors and senior staff from around the country at the Getty Leadership Institute. 

The Mills College Art Museum features the largest permanent collection of any liberal arts college on the West Coast. The Museum collection includes Old Masters and modern American and European prints and drawings; Asian textiles, Japanese, Ancient American, and modern ceramics; and California regionalist paintings. Roi Partridge, the first director (1925-1935), helped to establish the Museum (formerly the Mills College Art Gallery) as an important West Coast center for visual arts. Alfred Neumeyer assumed the directorship in 1935, and during his 25-year tenure, led seminal exhibits including the first U.S. exhibition of Lyonel Feininger’s work, as well as major shows by Fernand Leger and Max Beckmann.

Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering innovative degree programs for undergraduate women, and graduate degree and certificate programs for women and men. Consistently recognized as one of the top 100 liberal arts colleges in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, Mills currently ranks among the top 20 most diverse liberal arts colleges. The New York Times recently selected Mills as one of three leading California colleges for students to consider.

In 2006, the Washington Monthly College Rankings named Mills a leading liberal arts college based on community service, research spending, quality of preparation for graduate education, and social mobility. In addition, The Princeton Review’s annual guide, the Best 361 Colleges (2007) included Mills for the second year in a row among top U.S. institutions offering students an outstanding undergraduate education.

Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California, on 135 lush acres, Mills provides a dynamic liberal arts education fostering women’s leadership, social responsibility, and creativity.

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