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, 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 led the Spencer’s Phase I renovation project that transformed the Museum’s galleries, introduced a multi-use object study room, and expanded the teaching gallery and storage and research facilities. She currently serves as the primary investigator for the Integrated Arts Research Initiative, an interdisciplinary effort funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Upcoming curatorial projects will explore the outdoor spaces beyond the Spencer Museum in historic Marvin Grove. Reece Hardy recently spearheaded 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.