News Release

Curator of Viva Vetro! Glass Alive! Venice and America

April 19, 2007

Pittsburgh, PA. Sarah Nichols is curator of Viva Vetro! Glass Alive! Venice and America and an adjunct curator at Carnegie Museum of Art, where from 1992 to 2006 she served as curator of decorative arts and was also chief curator.

Nichols has installed many distinguished exhibitions, most notably Aluminum by Design: Jewelry to Jets, which traveled to seven international venues between 2000 and 2003, and was accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue and web site. Other exhibitions organized by Nichols include: Very Familiar: Celebrating 50 Years of Collecting Decorative Arts; Contemporary Directions: Glass from the Maxine and William Block Collection; Pittsburgh Collects Clay; Michael Lucero: Sculpture 1976-1995; Designing Modernity: The Arts of Reform and Persuasion, 1885-1945; Silver in America, 1840-1940: A Century of Splendor; Made in America: Ten Centuries of American Art; and Formed by Fire.

Nichols served as assistant curator of decorative arts at Carnegie Museum of Art from 1982 to 1986 and returned to the museum staff as curator of decorative arts in 1992. Prior to rejoining the museum Nichols was keeper of education services and keeper of Lotherton Hall at Leeds City Art Galleries from 1986-1989, and director of York Art Studies from 1989-1992.

Born in Manchester, England, Nichols studied at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England, where she received a First Class Honors B.A. degree in art history. She was a Winterthur Program Fellow in early American culture at the University of Delaware, Newark, where she received her M.A. in decorative arts and museum studies.

Nichols has written and lectured extensively on a wide range of decorative arts topics from 18th century furniture to contemporary ceramics and glass.

Support
Viva Vetro! Glass Alive! Venice and America is supported by Pittsburgh Celebrates Glass, which is made possible by the generosity of many foundations and corporations, including Richard King Mellon Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, and presenting sponsors PNC and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield. Additional support for the exhibition is provided by the Henry L. Hillman Fund, the Fellows of Carnegie Museum of Art, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Carnegie Museum of Art
Located at 4400 Forbes Avenue in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh and founded by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1895, Carnegie Museum of Art, one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, is nationally and internationally recognized for its distinguished collection of American and European works from the 16th century to the present. The Heinz Architecture Center, part of Carnegie Museum of Art, is dedicated to the collection and exhibition of architectural representations and to the study of all aspects of the built environment. For more information about Carnegie Museum of Art, call 412.622.3131.

Contact:
Tey Stiteler
412.688.8690
stitelert@carnegiemuseums.org