Research Interests

• interdisciplinary inquiry
• commissions of new creative work in and beyond museums
• sustainability, ecology, and the environment
• artistic freedom

Recent & Ongoing Projects

Saralyn Reece Hardy, the first Marilyn Stokstad Director of the Spencer Museum of Art, has led the Museum since 2005. Prior to her arrival at the Spencer, Reece Hardy served as director of Museums and Visual Arts at the National Endowment for the Arts and director of the Salina Art Center in Salina, Kansas. Reece Hardy spearheaded the Spencer’s Phase I and ongoing Phase II renovation projects, which included transforming the Museum’s galleries, introducing multi-use object study rooms, expanding the teaching gallery, as well as updating storage and research facilities. She currently supervises a team in support of the Integrated Arts Research Initiative, and serves on various public art advisory boards, including art at the KU Medical Center campuses in Kansas City and Salina, as well as the KU School of Business. Reece Hardy recently led the Spencer’s initiative to highlight the work of renowned light and space artist James Turrell and pioneering conceptual artist Sol LeWitt. Among her ongoing projects is a series of interviews exploring aging and legacy with artists represented in the Museum’s permanent collection who are 70 years old or older.