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Robert G. Workman, a 30-year museum professional with a comprehensive background in all aspects of museum management, is the Executive Director of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
Intimately involved with the project since its inception, Workman previously held the title of project director for the museum. He began his association with Crystal Bridges in December 2003, working as a consultant to assist with early-stage planning, acquisitions, building design and pre-construction processes.
In his role as executive director, Workman is responsible for the planning, organization, construction and implementation of the entire museum project. Specifically, he oversees the key areas of governance, building design and construction implementation, development of the museum’s collections and programs, and operations and outreach activities once the museum is open.
Prior to joining the Crystal Bridges project, Workman was deputy director of the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, where among other things, he oversaw all museum outreach including development and membership, special events, public relations and marketing, education, the library and archives and publications. All together, Workman spent eight years (1995 – 2003) at the Amon Carter holding various museum management positions. Most notably he led the museum’s $39 million renovation project and expansion.
Workman has extensive exhibition management experience including a seven-year tenure with the American Federation of Arts in New York (1988 – 1995). During this time, Workman was responsible for directing the programmatic component of the AFA, supervising a staff of 18 to identify, develop and implement as many as 20 simultaneously traveling national and international circulation exhibitions with an additional 50 exhibitions under development. Through his work at the AFA, Workman enjoyed significant success in establishing collaborations with other art museums. Several exhibitions designed by Workman – particularly those highlighting American art -- traveled extensively including: American Originals: Selections from Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, which traveled to seven museums from 1990-92; American Prints in Black and White: Selections from the Reba and Dave Williams Collection, with P. Andrew Spahr, AFA circulating exhibition to nine museums, 1990-93.
Prior to joining the AFA, Workman gained curatorial experience as curator of 19th century art with The Hudson River Museum in Yonkers and assistant curator of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence.
Workman has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, graduating magna cum laude from Wichita State University in 1978. He holds a master of arts in art history, graduating with honors from Boston University in 1983. He also holds a certificate of museum studies from Boston University and attended the Museum Management Institute in Berkeley, Calif., in 1991.
Chris Crosman is Crystal Bridges’ Chief Curator. He most recently worked as the executive director of the William A. Farnsworth Library and Art Museum in Rockland, Maine, a position he held for 17 years until he became director emeritus earlier this year after stepping back from the top spot to focus more on research and consulting activities. Crosman’s major accomplishments at the Farnsworth include developing a 10-year master plan, tripling the physical plant and leading a $20 million capital and endowment campaign.
During his tenure at the Farnsworth, he defined the focus of the museum’s collection on Maine artists and national artists who worked in Maine. Of particular note is his extensive work researching and writing about the Wyeth family as well as establishing exhibition space and education facilities to house, interpret and show works by three generations of Wyeths in Maine.
Crosman was responsible for numerous major acquisitions by artists with significant ties to Maine such as: Robert Feke, Fitz Hugh Lane, Winslow Homer, George Bellows, Edward Hopper, Alex Katz, Louise Nevelson, David Salle, Rackstraw Downs, Jennifer Bartlett, Jamie and Andrew Wyeth.
In addition, Crosman has an established track record of collaboration with other art museums and significant experience creating exhibitions, particularly highlighting artists making important contributions to American art. Several of his exhibitions have traveled to other museums including the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington, Del., and the Naples Art Museum in Naples, Fla.
To honor his many accomplishments at the Farnsworth, the museum’s board of directors in 1998 named a gallery in his honor. Prior to his work at the Farnsworth, Crosman worked at the Heckscher Museum and Albright-Knox Art Gallery, both in New York.
Crosman has a bachelor’s degree in American history from Washington and Lee University and he has completed graduate studies in art history at Oberlin College. He was active in the Rockland business community as well as in the local and regional art and tourism industries, serving on several boards and also as chair of the Maine Arts Commission. In 2002, he received an award from the governor of Maine for his work in stimulating tourism through the Farnsworth Art Museum.
Moshe Safdie was born in Haifa, Israel, in 1938. He later moved to Canada with his family, graduating from McGill University in 1961 with a degree in architecture. After apprenticing with Louis I. Kahn in Philadelphia, he returned to Montreal, taking charge of the master plan for the 1967 World Exhibition, where he also realized an adaptation of his theses as Habitat ’67, the central feature of the World’s Fair.
In 1970, Mr. Safdie established a Jerusalem branch office, commencing an intense involvement with the rebuilding of the ancient city. He was responsible for major segments of the restoration of the Old City and the reconstruction of the new center, linking the Old and New Cities. Over the years, his involvement expanded and included the new city of Modi’in, the new Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, and the Rabin Memorial Center. During this period, Safdie also became involved in the developing world, working in Senegal, Iran, Singapore, and in the northern Canadian arctic.
In 1978, after teaching at Yale, McGill, and the Ben Gurion Universities, Safdie relocated his residence and principal office to Boston and became Director of the Urban Design Program and the Ian Woodner Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. In the 1980s, he was responsible for the design of six of Canada’s principal public institutions, including the Quebec Museum of Civilization, the National Gallery of Canada, and Vancouver Library Square.
In the past decade, Safdie’s major cultural and educational commissions in the United States have included: the United States Institute of Peace Headquarters on the Mall in Washington, D.C.; the Skirball Museum and Cultural Center in Los Angeles; Exploration Place in Wichita, Kansas; educational facilities such as Eleanor Roosevelt College at the University of California in San Diego; civic buildings, such as the Springfield, Massachusetts and Mobile, Alabama, Federal Courthouses; and performing arts centers such as the Kansas City Performing Arts Center.
Major complexes currently under construction include the Khalso Heritage Memorial Complex, the national museum of the Sikh people in the Punjab, India; the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia; and the Federal Building in Washington, D.C.
Moshe Safdie and Associates
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