Editor’s Note: Kimberly Bush Tomio is the new executive director of Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, and she started in this position on Monday, August 29.
She has been warmly welcomed by Ethan Klepetar, president of the Museum’s Board of Trustees, with these words:
“Kim brings an invaluable new perspective to the Berkshire Museum. I am very excited to see her contributions to our capital projects, regular programming, and our work with the community. The Museum has a bright future and I can’t wait to see it continue to thrive under Kim’s stewardship,” and by “Craig, Miriam and I are grateful to the board for entrusting us with interim leadership of the museum for the past year. We’re proud of what we accomplished together and now look forward to partnering with Kim to make our exciting renovation plans a reality. It will be wonderful to work with such an accomplished leader and to continue and expand our programming in the Berkshires and beyond.”
Hilary Dunne Ferrone, Chief Engagement Officer: has also expressed enthusiasm on behalf of the museum’s senior staff :
“Craig Langlois (Chief Experience Officer), Miriam Kronberg (Chief Operating Officer) and I are grateful to the board for entrusting us with interim leadership of the museum for the past year. We’re proud of what we accomplished together and now look forward to partnering with Kim to make our exciting renovation plans a reality. It will be wonderful to work with such an accomplished leader and to continue and expand our programming in the Berkshires and beyond.”
The Edge asked Wendy Tarlow Kaplan, an art curator who lives in Lenox and Manhattan, to help us get to know Kimberly, and she has provided us with the following interview.
WTK: Welcome to the Berkshires and the Berkshire Museum. As an art curator myself, I am impressed with your extensive experience, first as director at the Tyler (Texas) Museum for 12 years, and then as Director of Museum Services at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco for 10 years. What were the most meaningful achievements of those institutions during your leadership?
KBT: When I arrived at the Tyler Museum (TMA), it was a somewhat sleepy institution, with a handful of staff, a dedicated board of trustees, and a very modest budget. The primary focus of the collection and exhibits was contemporary Texas art, reflecting the importance the museum had had for regional artists in the past when opportunities for showing their work were very limited, unlike today. It was a steppingstone for eventual national recognition for the regional artists. The museum also collected other American artists, of course, and relevant European artists of the past. I worked to broaden the scope of the collection and special exhibitions while maintaining the primary focus.
The challenge for any museum, and especially smaller regional museums like the TMA, is how to maintain and develop active relationships with the community. You cannot expect people to come visit over and over again with the same permanent collection on display all the time. Maintaining excellent education programming is the key to meeting this challenge but timeliness, or relevance, of your offerings to what is happening in the world is also very important.
A poignant example is when we were able to “intercept” a magnificent work by William Adolphe Bouguereau, the Pietá, from a local private collector to have it put on special display at the TMA for several weeks before it was scheduled to be shipped to the West Coast. This was immediately after the tragic events of September 11, when the whole country was in mourning. Many people from the community came to see the Pieta, sitting quietly in the gallery for a while. A community museum needs to be a place of gathering, providing joy, comfort, and solace as the occasion demands.
During my tenure at TMA, the budget increased three-fold and we added over 1200 works to the collection, and memberships and local support increased significantly. The first capital campaign since the museum opened in 1971 was launched in 2007—seven years after I became the director—to support plans for a new building and increased endowment. Unfortunately, after the initial success in securing significant support, the recession interfered, and in 2010 the campaign was suspended. Still, the excitement and support during the planning stages were encouraging for the TMA’s future.
I wanted the TMA to provide the most exciting exhibitions to local east Texas communities but also to attract visitors from major metropolitan centers like Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston, where there are well-known destination museums. It was important for me to cultivate support from philanthropists, collectors, and artists. Despite its challenge of being a small museum with a modest budget, we were able to attract some major exhibitions, one of which was The Devonshire Inheritance: Five Centuries of Collecting at Chatsworth, along with a visit by the Duke of Devonshire himself.
The TMA also became the recipient of a gift of over 500 pieces of contemporary Mexican folk art from Dallas collectors Dan and Laura Boeckman. This area of the collection was important to the community and Texas’s close relationship to Mexico.
An exhibit drawn from the Boeckman collection titled Past/Present/Future: Folk Art of Mexico was a major success, and the gift itself garnered national attention. Additionally, other exhibits organized by the TMA, such as Texas in My Soul: A.C. Cook and the Hock Shop Collection (the single most important private collection of Texas regionalist art) traveled to the San Angelo Museum of Art, and The Wyeths Across Texas featuring works by N.C., Andrew and Jamie Wyeth borrowed from Texas collections both private and public, literally “traveled across Texas” to the El Paso Museum of Art after closing in Tyler.
Prior to joining the TMA’s staff, I was the director of the Trammell and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art (CCAA) in Dallas. My husband Ken Tomio, who was teaching at Southern Methodist University in Dallas at the time, worked at the CCAA as a curator and exhibition designer. We were also extremely fortunate to have the collection reviewed in person by the late Sherman Lee. Dr. Lee was one of the “Monuments Men” and a longtime director of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Having the opportunity to spend several days with such a renowned art historian discussing the qualities of the CCAA’s collection was an amazing and inspirational experience and one I will never forget.
At the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (AAMSF), some of the most challenging and exciting exhibitions we organized included TeamLab: Continuity (an interactive digital experience created by the Japanese art collective and a tremendous popular success), The Emperor’s Treasures: Chinese Art from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and China’s Terracotta Warriors: The First Emperor’s Legacy. From contemporary to ancient Asian art, the AAMSF’s collection is among the most important of its kind in the United States.
WTK: Now you have made the leap to a northern museum that has had a controversial recent past based on its decision in 2017 to sell some of its most valuable art—a Bierstadt, two Norman Rockwells and works by Calder—against the rules of the American Museum Association. You have inherited a giant responsibility to repair the public’s respect. Many individuals, local and distant, particularly patrons, have withdrawn their support of the museum because of this violation of those rules. This has been especially troublesome given the museum’s long-term relationship with Rockwell and Calder. What are your thoughts as to how to reinstate relationships in this county and with other museums?
KBT: Those “rules” you speak about have been the credo of my life as a museum professional. Yet, seeing the devastation of museums due to the pandemic, I must say that I, like others in the profession, have adopted a more nuanced position. When the survival of the institution is at stake and all possible efforts have realistically been made by the trustees and the broad range of supporters, selling objects in the collection may be justifiable as a last resort to ensure institutional continuity. It is not only the collection, but the physical facility and the staff, without which the collection could not be maintained. I hope to respond in a more concrete way as I learn more about the actual circumstances under which the museum made and acted upon this painful decision. One thing that is clear is that the Berkshire Museum continues to be beloved by many in the community, and that is very positive and bodes well for its future.
For the immediate moment I’m focusing on getting up-to-speed on the current renovation planning, which is well underway, and looking forward to the completion of the third phase of an extensive upgrade project that the museum has undertaken.
Another priority is to continue community outreach. Important exhibitions and educational programs can become a catalyst for change and promote discussion on the mission of the museum. For example, perhaps we could consider opening the museum on specific nights and invite members, staff and community to engage in dialogue and tackle relevant topics. The world has changed due to the pandemic as well as the impending risk of climate change, and of course the war in Ukraine. You need to highlight the value of community by repeatedly inviting their participation, and we must jointly mend the fabric of our relationship where it got frayed or torn.
WTK: In addition to a focus on traditional exhibitions of painting, sculpture and works on paper, the Berkshire Museum is special in its effort to maintain exhibitions based on science and exploration, nature and hands-on play, to attract younger audiences. It was the original intent to establish this museum devoted to science, nature and art. What kind of balance or priorities would you ascribe to these efforts?
KBT: I look forward to learning more about these collections which are important to the Berkshire Museum and finding a happy balance. That balance needs to be found – or founded – in the relationship the areas of science, nature and art actually have, as well as can have in our imagination. Nature is the object of science, as well as a source of inspiration for art. Science gives us knowledge of nature and impacts art, but art also influences the way nature is seen and consequently influences science. In this relationship, we may want to keep in mind the fact that art is an expression of individuals as individuals, whereas science strives to define universal laws. The museum needs to be a place where the balances and priorities of these areas are brought together in the same space.
I also want visitors to find occasional “surprises” in the exhibits that are presented—something not expected in traditional displays—and encourage return visits to see what is new vs. static installations.
WTK: In today’s museum climate, it is remarkable and heartwarming to see that so many female directors and curators are being given the opportunity to succeed. Who have been your inspirations or mentors?
KBT: The late Anne d’Harnoncourt, who was a longtime director of the Philadelphia Art Museum, and Emily Sano, previous director of the Asian Art Museum, have both inspired me over the years. Dr. Sano in particular has continually supported my professional goals (we worked together at the Dallas Museum of Art), sharing her expertise and knowledge about Asian art and museum administration. D’Harnoncourt was accessible, inspirational, and energetic to generations of museum professionals, and, along with Sano, by example encouraged my own goal to a become museum director.
WTK: Was it always an ambition of yours to take on this kind of challenge? Is your husband as eager as you to make the move from the San Francisco area to Pittsfield, Massachusetts?
KBT: I’m not afraid of a challenge. It is always an opportunity. I am confident that what the museum brings to this community will be continued. New generations will always present challenges, as will critics. I am looking forward to working with the trustees and staff and community.
My husband has been very supportive of my career goals, and we worked together for many years at both the CCAA and the TMA. We are both art lovers and committed to supporting museums and what they bring to the communities they serve. Ken has also taught at colleges in Maine and Connecticut and we both love this part of the country. He’s not afraid of the cold weather, having spent many years in Chicago where he was in the PhD program at the University of Chicago.
WTK: There is a lot at stake for the Berkshire Museum going forward. Do you think planning for a serious art exhibition of a local hero that would involve the whole community would help repair the museum’s reputation and help to reinstate it with fellow institutions?
KBT: Yes…this would be positive and is certainly a conversation to be continued!
WTK: Louise Bourgeois, an esteemed artist, has said, “Art is the guarantee of sanity.” What do you consider to be your first priority in your new role as director of a challenged institution?
KBT: Getting to know the staff, the trustees and the museum building and collection and—of course—the community it serves and the generous people who support it!
