OLIVIA LAHS-GONZALES

Photography - Drawing - Video


olivia lahs-gonzales



CV - Art Practice





Olivia Lahs-Gonzales is a curator, artist, photographer, writer and arts administrator. Most recently, she was Associate Director of Artist Programs at the Regional Arts Commission, St. Louis. From 2001 to 2019, Lahs-Gonzales was director of the Sheldon Art Galleries, where she curated exhibitions, directed educational programs, and assisted in fundraising for six gallery spaces devoted to photography, architecture, music, St. Louis artists and collections, and children's art. From 1992-2001, she worked at The Saint Louis Art Museum in her final years there as Assistant Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs. She received her M.F.A. from Columbia College, Chicago, where she worked at the Museum of Contemporary Photography for three years as Curatorial Assistant and in her final year there as Education Manager. Lahs-Gonzales has also taught the history of photography at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, where she was Adjunct Assistant Professor. She is currently Curator and Grant Administrator at the San Francisco Historical Society.


She received her B.A. Honors from West Surrey College of Art and Design, Farnham, Surrey, England and has exhibited her photographs and drawings in Chicago, London, Taipei Tokyo and in St. Louis at Kranzberg Arts Center Gallery (2019) Gallery 210 (2016 and 2008) Regional Arts Commission Gallery (2014) Schmidt Contemporary Art (2010 and 2009) Contemporary Art Museum Flatfiles exhibits (2006, 2010) Eliot Smith Contemporary Art and the Ethical Society (2004) Philip Slein Gallery (2003) The Martin Schweig Gallery (1997) and the Bonsack Gallery (1996) among others. Lahs-Gonzales has taught the history of photography at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, where she was Adjunct Assistant Professor.


EDUCATION

M.F.A. Columbia College, Chicago (Photography, Art History, Museum Studies)

B.A. (Honors), West Surrey College of Art and Design, Farnham, Surrey, England (Photography, Art History)


EXHIBITIONS

2019 (June-July) "Rise: New Work by Paula Lincoln and Olivia Lahs-Gonzales," Kranzberg Arts Center Gallery 2019 (Mar/Apr) "Woman: Contemporary Artists from the Santo Foundation Collection" (group)

2016 (August) "Presence" in "Exposure: 10 Years," Gallery 210, University of Missouri-St. Louis (group)

2014 (November) Remains in TOYing with Digital, (Remains) Regional Arts Commission Gallery (group)

2012 (July) Video: "Garden" 12th Annual Whitaker St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase. (group)

2010 (July) Selected works in Life in "Decay," Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis (group)

2010 (May-August) Photographs in Summer Group Show, Schmidt Contemporary Art, St. Louis

2009 (June) Drawings and Photographs at Schmidt Contemporary Art, St. Louis (with Stuart Arends)

2008 (July 31-Sept 20) "Exposure 11" with Andrew Millner and Snail Scott), Gallery 210, University of Missouri, St. Louis (group)

2007 (July-Oct) "Millions Taken Daily," University of Maine Museum of Art (group)

2007 (May) Flatfiles Selection chosen by Katie Holten, Contemporary Art Museum, StL (group)

2006 (Summer) "Intertwined/St. Louis/Japan/Taiwan," Regional Arts Commission Gallery, (group)

2006 (July) Flatfiles Group Show (Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis) (group)

2005 (June) "Cultural Exchange Exhibition," National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taiwan (group)

2005 (March) Arts Desire Auction, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (group)

2004 (November) "New Works," Ethical Society of St. Louis, New Work, (one-person)

2004 (August) Local Women and Exotic Places, Regional Arts Commission Gallery, (group)

2004 "Women Only," Elliot Smith Contemporary Art (group)

2003 "Schmidt’s Picks," Philip Slein Gallery (group)

2002 "Art Cache," Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (group)

2002 "New Work," Innsbrook Gallery, New Work (one person)

2002 "Regarding Nature," Meramec Art Gallery (group)

1999 Group Exhibit, The Mayor’s Office, St. Louis. (group)

1998 "Exposure I," Hunt Gallery, Webster University, (three person)

1998 "IN/FORM," Lemp Brewery, St. Louis, (group)

1997 "New Work," Martin Schweig Gallery, St. Louis (one-person)

1996 "American Landscapes," Bonsack Gallery, St. Louis (one-person)

1995 "Edenic Fictions - Insidious Realities," R. Duane Reed, St. Louis (one-person)

1995 "Edenic Fictions - Insidious Realities," Fermilab Art Gallery, Batavia, IL, (one-person)

1994 "Edenic Fictions - Insidious Realities," Martin Schweig Gallery (one-person)

1992 "Master of Fine Art Thesis Exhibition," Columbia College Art Gallery

1992 "College Art Association M.F.A. Exhibition," Gallery 2 School of the Art Institute, Chicago

1991 "Paper Press Fellowship Recipients," Paper Press Gallery, Chicago

1991 "End of the Year Student Honor Exhibition," Columbia College Art Gallery, Chicago

1990 "End of the Year Student Honor Exhibition," Columbia College Art Gallery, Chicago

1989 "Assumption," N.A.M.E. Gallery, Chicago

1989 Hofner and Hofner Accountants Gallery, Wheaton, Illinois (one-person)

1988 West Chicago Public Library Gallery, West Chicago, Illinois (one person)

1988 "Photography '88," Evanston Art Center, Evanston, Illinois Evanston and Vicinity

1988 "Bachelor of Arts Degree Exhibition, The Photographer's Gallery, London

1987 Touring Group Exhibition for Oxfam Charity, England

1986 The New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham, England

1986 "The People of Farnham," Johnson Wax Kiln Gallery, Farnham, England

1985 "Women in Photography," Battersea Community Center Gallery, London

1985 "Menorca," HTV Cardiff, Wales (Audio-Visual Presentation-group)


COMMISSIONS

1990 Chicago Historical Society An Old-Fashioned Fourth of July

1989 Environmental Study, Public Art Projects, Southeast England for Dr. Malcolm Miles

1988 Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Photographs for Conference Room and Restaurant

1987 Public Art Feasibility Study, South East Arts, England, for author Dr. Malcolm Miles

1985 Redgrave Theatre, Farnham. Audio-visual effects and Photographer for Alice In Wonderland


REVIEWS AND PUBLISHED WORKS

Riverfront Times, Sept-Oct, 2004, Exhibition Review

Riverfront Times, Dec. 17 – 23, 2003, Exhibition Review

St. Louis Post Dispatch, Mar. 2002, Exhibition Review

St. Louis Post Dispatch, June 1999, Exhibition Review

St. Louis Post Dispatch, Oct. 1997, Exhibition Review

St. Louis Post Dispatch, Sept. 1994, Exhibition Review

Chicago Tribune, Friday, April 24, 1992, Reproduction, Arts Section

New Art Examiner, 1989, Exhibition Review

New Art Examiner, 1989 Summer Issue, Portrait Illustration

Art For Public Places, Winchester Press, 1989, Photographic Illustrations

Posters: Fermilab Arts Series, Oct. 1981, Aug. 1982 Sept. 1987 July, 1988 Jan. 1992

The Wednesday Journal, Chicago 1983-84, Freelance Work

Fermilab Annual Report, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988


SCHOLARSHIPS AND FELLOWSHIPS

1990 Educational Opportunity Award - Full Scholarship for Graduate Study

1990 Paper Press Fellowship - Fellowship and Studio Space at Paper Press Chicago

1989 Follett Fellowship - Full Scholarship for Graduate Study

1986 Oakdale Trust - For Environmental Issues Photographic Project, England


COMPETITIONS AND AWARDS

1991 President's Purchase Award, Columbia College

1990 President's Purchase Award, Columbia College

1989 Best of Show, Artist’s Guild, Wheaton, Illinois

1987 Fuji Film Award, England

1986 Polaroid Award, England

1980 Ball State Journalism Workshop, "Award of Excellence"


COLLECTIONS

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Chicago

Columbia College Chicago

Polsinelli Sheldon Wete Shulthaus, Kansas City

The Santo Foundation

Various Private Collections


OTHER

2006-2010 Work on file in Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis Flatfiles

2005 Arts Desire benefit auction invitational, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis





Olivia Lahs Gonzales



CV - Curatorial Practice





Skilled, strategic, museum professional with experience at large museums, smaller non-profit art spaces, college museums, and arts granting agencies. Worked as a non-profit director, curator, exhibit project manager, writer, educator, and grant writer/administrator. Leadership and curatorial philosophies are weighted on diversity, inclusion, community, and collaboration. Published 25 essays and edited/coordinated 6 books. At The Sheldon Art Galleries, a non-profit arts institution with over 7,000 square feet of gallery space, developed and curated a diverse exhibition program of 13-20 exhibitions annually drawn from international, national, and local sources including private collectors, museums, galleries, and individual artists Provided curatorial expertise, museum best-practices, collection management, and donor cultivation at The Sheldon Art Galleries Art Galleries, and as Assistant Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the Saint Louis Art Museum. Worked as a grant administrator and curator in the role of Associate Director of Artist Programs at the Regional Arts Commission, St. Louis, serving over 300 artists with $500,000 in yearly grant funds. Managed administrative processes, incl. operations, IT, HR, curatorial, and programming at the non-profit SF Camerawork Currently working at the San Francisco Historical Society as curator and grant administrator.


Key career strengths include: leadership strategic planning grant writing project management curatorial expertise collection management incl. cataloguing and digitization research marketing marketing analytics and social media marketing publication project management and design essay-writing press releases exhibit didactics education program development lectures and panel discussions working with artists, collectors, and donors fundraising event and online benefit auction planning and execution budgeting demographic data analysis art appraisals negotiating auction consignments deaccession strategy German language translation coaching and mentoring.


CURATORIAL HIGHLIGHTS
● Bea Nettles: A Harvest of Memory, (Catalogue, Essay, NEA and MO Humanities Grants) co-organized by the Sheldon Art Galleries and the George Eastman Museum. Opens Fall, 2019 Travels to the George Eastman Museum and the Krannert Art Museum, Champaign/Urbana.
● Larry Fink: Attraction and Desire (Catalogue, Essay, The Sheldon (2011)
● Ralston Crawford and Jazz (Catalogue, Essay, NEA grant, Panel participant) Traveled to the New Orleans Museum of Art, (2011-2012)
● Josephine Baker: Image and Icon (Catalogue, Essay, NEA grant, Symposium) traveled to National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C., Fall 06. Loans from the Getty Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Portrait Gallery, Bibliothèque Nationale and others, 2006)
● Defining Eye: Women Photographers of the 20th Century. (Catalogue, Essay, Panel discussion, Traveled to the Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, National Museum for Women in the Arts and others, 1997 and beyond.
● Printmaking in St. Louis Now (39 artists, 67 works, exhibition catalogue, The Sheldon, 2016)
● Imagining the Founding of St. Louis (major loan exhibit with catalogue, The Sheldon 2014)
● Steve McCurry: The Importance of Elsewhere (The Sheldon, 2017)
● Larry Fink: Attraction and Desire – 50 Years in Photography (catalogue, The Sheldon, 2011)
● William Christenberry: Southern Artifacts (The Sheldon, 2010)
● Uncovering the Path to Freedom: Photographs of Underground Railroad Sites by William Earle Williams (The Sheldon 2010)
● Anthony Hernandez: The Seventies and Eighties (The Sheldon 2008)
● Image and Identity: Portraits by Philip Kwame Apagya, Samuel Fosso, Seydou Keita and Malick Sidibe (The Sheldon, 2004)
● Lee Friedlander: American Musicians (Traveled to Toledo Museum of Art, 2003)
● Tina Barney: European Photographs (2003)
● POP! Prints, Drawings and Multiples from the Collection (Saint Louis Art Museum 2001)
● Staged and Manipulated: Photographic Fictions from the Permanent Collection (Saint Louis Art Museum 2000)
● Currents: 81: Glenn Ligon (Brochure) (Saint Louis Art Museum 2000)
● My Nature: Works with Paper by Kiki Smith (Saint Louis Art Museum, 1999 / Catalogue)
● Seydou Keita Photographs 1945-1974 (Saint Louis Art Museum, 1998)
● Defining Eye: Women Photographers of the 20th Century. (Saint Louis Art Museum, 1997 / Catalogue)
● Mythologies: Photographs by Ruth Thorne-Thomsen (Saint Louis Art Museum, 1997)
● Photography in Modern Europe. (Saint Louis Art Museum, 1996 / Catalogue)
● The Experience of Place: Travel and Photography (Saint Louis Art Museum, 1995)
● Currents 63: Peter Fraser - Ice and Water. (Saint Louis Art Museum, 1995 / Brochure Essay)
● First Light: Prints by James Turrell (Saint Louis Art Museum, 1993)
● Golf the Galleries I and II, organized and commissioned 9 artists each summer to design experiential artistic playable mini-golf holes, bringing in new audiences and raising summer attendance significantly (The Sheldon, 2018, 2019. First summer over 10,000 visitors).
● Brought in by donation an important collection of over 2,600 historical world musical instruments and related works valued at over $2 million to The Sheldon.

EMPLOYMENT
12/2022 - Present Curator and Grant Administrator, San Francisco Historical Society
Ongoing: CEO, OLG Ventures, LLC. Art Consultant
8/2021-7/2022 Executive Director, San Francisco Camerawork
10/2019-10/2020 Associate Director of Artist Programs, The Regional Arts Commission, St. Louis
10/2001-6/2019 Director and Curator, the Sheldon Art Galleries, St. Louis
11/1992-10/2001 Assistant Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs, The Saint Louis Art Museum
8/1998-12/1999: Acting Department Head, Prints, Drawings and Photographs, The Saint Louis Art Museum
11/1992-10/2001: The Saint Louis Art Museum - Assistant Curator, and Curatorial Assistant, Department of Prints, Drawings and Photographs, (Photography Specialist)
1996-1998: The University of Missouri, St. Louis - Adjunct Assistant Professor (Taught the History of Photography)
9/1989-11/1992: The Museum of Contemporary Photography Chicago - Curatorial Assistant, Education Manager and Graduate Intern


PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
​
Regular Oracle (photography curator’s group) attendee (Since 1993)
Elected Board Member, Print Council of America (2003 -2005), Member of Print Council since 1998.
Past Commissioner, St. Louis City Commission for Heritage and Urban Design
Past Advisory Board member, Center for Advanced Imaging, St. Louis Community College, Meramec
Past Advisory Board Member, Center for the Humanities, Washington University in St. Louis


LANGUAGES: German (Fluent)


* Selected list of exhibits and subjects curated at the Sheldon Art Galleries and the Saint Louis Art Museum, list of publications, lectures, and professional affiliations available upon request.



contact olivia lahs-gonzales





i'd love to hear from you!








send >



Social Media Presence