{"id":276923,"date":"2026-05-03T07:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T07:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/276923\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T07:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T07:36:08","slug":"dallas-contemporary-undergoing-period-of-transition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/276923\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Contemporary Undergoing Period of Transition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following the departure of Lucia Simek as Executive Director and the cancellation of a major survey exhibition of Dallas artist Ike E. Morgan, the Dallas Contemporary is undergoing a period of transition.<\/p>\n

Ms. Simek was appointed Interim Executive Director<\/a> in September 2024 following the departure of Carolina Alvarez-Mathies, then was hired in the official role<\/a> in February 2025. She announced her departure<\/a> less than a year later, in December, citing a desire to practice independently. Subsequently, the planned Ike E. Morgan exhibition Sometimes People Need Moonlight, curated by Bradley Petty and scheduled for April through August 2026, was canceled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Contacted by Glasstire, Julie Webb, proprietor of Webb Gallery in Waxahachie, which represents Mr. Morgan<\/a>, expressed ongoing support for DC and told Glasstire the cancellation was due to \u201csimply timing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>An installation view of \u201cYou Stretched Diagonally Across It: Contemporary Tapestry\u201d at Dallas Contemporary, April 2025<\/p>\n

Dallas gallerygoers have noted that sections of DC\u2019s interior exhibitions space have remained unused during shows and events, including the recent Dallas Art Book Fair<\/a>, which only filled half the space it had occupied in previous iterations. Though rumors have circulated that this was due to roof issues, Tammy Cotton Hartnett, DC Board Vice President, told Glasstire that while the roof has recently undergone routine maintenance, no exhibition spaces have been affected. She explained that DC\u2019s four galleries are apportioned depending on the exhibition schedule and are programmed in concert with artists depending on their needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you can imagine, the operations of a [37,000-square-foot] building requires constant maintenance to make sure our art loans are safe and visually well presented,\u201d Ms. Hartnett said.<\/p>\n

She noted that the Francisco Moreno solo exhibition Historia Sint\u00e9tica, scheduled for the same period as the Ike E. Morgan show, opened successfully on Friday, April 17, and has welcomed \u201ca record number of visitors.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AFrancisco Moreno, \u201cWCD Project,\u201d 2012-2015, acrylic on panel, oil enamel on 1975 Datsun 280Z, 144 x 288 x 60 inches and 47 x 155 x 64.5 inches. Image courtesy of the artist. Photo: Kevin Todora<\/p>\n

While Mr. Moreno\u2019s show is open to DC visitors, the Gallery 1 space is being used to store artwork from the recent exhibition You Stretched Diagonally Across It: Contemporary Tapestry<\/a>. Ms. Hartnett explained that utilizing available space for storage has so far saved the institution approximately $250,000. She said DC has also recently launched a rental program, making the space available after regular hours and between exhibitions, in part to draw in new audiences.<\/p>\n

While no details are available yet on the search for a new executive director, Ms. Hartnett emphasized that DC is fully operational, with films currently running in its black box theater, and more exhibitions, activations, and programming in the works, though details were unavailable prior to publication.<\/p>\n

Regarding the potential for revisiting an exhibition of Mr. Morgan\u2019s work, Ms. Hartnett praised the dedication of the Webb Gallery to the artist and said, \u201cWe\u2019re hopeful to revisit timing when the gallery owners have fully cataloged and preserved the extraordinary works and we\u2019ve named our new interim director.\u201d<\/p>\n

Visit the DC website<\/a> for information on the Historia Sint\u00e9tica exhibition and other programming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following the departure of Lucia Simek as Executive Director and the cancellation of a major survey exhibition of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,77207,104,103,102439,102440,102441,102442,102443,102444],"class_list":["post-276923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-contemporary","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-francisco-moreno","tag-ike-e-morgan","tag-julie-webb","tag-lucia-simek","tag-tammy-cotton-hartnett","tag-webb-gallery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}