Big picture: Hartz takes over in Oregon
Congratulations to Jill Hartz.
The woman who ran the University of Virginia Art Museum for 11 years has been named the new executive director of the University of Oregon’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.
It’s big.
Big in size. Big in staff. Big in budget.
With 23,000 square feet of exhibition space, the JSMA is the biggest museum between Portland and San Francisco.
But this big move for Hartz also could have an extraordinarily big impact on Charlottesville.
Aside from the fact that Hartz is leaving town, there is the very real possibility that her family will want to go with her.
So, Hartz and her husband, Richard Herskowitz, are planning a little exploratory trip to Oregon later this month.
Herskowitz, as local movie buffs should know, has been the director of the Virginia Film Festival since 1994.
The artsy couple was at Cornell before arriving in Charlottesville. She was the exhibition coordinator and PR person for the university’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum. He spent 12 years directing the Cornell Cinema Program.
Their skills certainly have made a major impact on our viewing pleasures.
Word has it that he is still committed to this October’s festival, perhaps more.
Time will tell.
But, we wish them both the best.
And, hey, a Charlottesville-to-Eugene commute wouldn’t be out of the picture.
Would it?
Posted by Mary Alice Blackwell at 03:36 PM. Filed under:
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Mary Alice Blackwell was a sportswriter for 11 years before turning in her scorebook to cover cops and courts. The Virginia Tech Hokie joined the staff of The Daily Progress in 1987 and has spent the past dozen or so years writing about actors, musicians, artists, authors and, occasionally, her running buddies. 
