DirectorGillian Jagger FoundationLocation: Kerhonkson, New York (Ulster County)Full time, permanent or fixed-term contractMinimum of 3 days per week onsite Benefits include paid time off, travel, and support for professional development Position overview The Gillian Jagger Foundation is seeking a bold and imaginative leader to be its first director. This is an opportunity to envision the future of a newly established foundation and create a dynamic program of exhibitions, events, and publications that preserve and celebrate the legacy of Gillian Jagger (1930–2019). The candidate will be a passionate advocate for Jagger’s work, in support of the Foundation’s goal of inspiring a new and inclusive audience to engage with her art.About the Gillian Jagger FoundationThe Gillian Jagger Foundation, established in 2025, is dedicated to the advancement of Jagger’s exceptional artistic legacy. Over a career spanning six decades, Jagger created an innovative and moving body of work in the mediums of sculpture, painting, drawing, and installation art, which fearlessly addressed the fragility, transience, and dignity of all living beings and the worlds they inhabit. Her sculptures and installations, many of them grand in scale, incorporate a diverse range of materials, including found objects such as manhole covers, fossils, and trees, and invite us to discover a “shared sense of wholeness” with the natural world and the “in-commonness of our mutual interconnected survival.” Gillian Jagger (1930–2019) was an artist of significant acclaim whose work was regularly exhibited in New York City from 1956 on, and today is in many art museums and private collections. Beginning in 1961, Jagger had solo shows at Ruth White, The Loft, Lerner Heller, Anita Shapolsky, Trans-Hudson, Phyllis Kind, and David Lewis galleries. At the end of 2002 the Elvejehm Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (now the Chazen Museum of Art) mounted a major retrospective, The Art of Gillian Jagger; and in 2011, an award-winning, one-hour documentary, Casting Faith: A Portrait of Gillian Jagger, by Barbara Gordon and Richard Schlesinger, was shown on PBS television. Jagger taught sculpture at the Graduate School, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, for forty-five years, becoming a professor emeritus in 2009. For many years she was also a Visiting Critic at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. In 1978 Jagger made the life-changing decision to buy a farm in Kerhonkson in New York State’s Hudson Valley. In the city, Jagger felt like an “outside observer.” Living 60 to 70 percent of the time at the foot of the Catskills, among forests and quarries, fields and animals, she closed the gap between what she saw and what she knew. The inner life and fate of a particular tree, deer, or horse was often the starting point for one of her remarkable sculptures; and yet the works are rarely “about” those particular living things or the places in which she discovered them. Indeed, Jagger hoped that her work would reveal connections that transcend the specific. She wanted sculpture to enable people to experience affinities between themselves and the rest of the natural world and to reflect back to viewers “interaction[s] between each of us with each other.” The studios and outbuildings at Boice Mill Road in Kerhonkson, where Gillian Jagger built a life with Consuelo Mander, her partner and spouse, are currently just as they left them. There, Jagger installed dozens of her sculptures, paintings, and drawings in a series of carefully curated indoor and outdoor spaces, transforming her studios and outbuildings, and indeed the entire eleven-acre property. into a kind of private art museum. The new director will develop a strategic plan for Boice Mill Road, including an assessment of the long-term viability of sustaining these displays and the practicality of opening the buildings and the artist’s archive to the public and using the site for public education and events. Key goals and responsibilities include: • Work with the Board of Directors to develop and implement the Foundation’s vision to promote Gillian Jagger\'s legacy and to position the Foundation as a center for sculptural and ecological studies and artistic excellence.• Develop an innovative and compelling artistic program of events and exhibitions and website, that make optimal use of the Foundation’s collection of sculptures, paintings, drawings, and archives in ways that position Gillian Jagger in a broad artistic, cultural, historical, and political context. • Create a partnership with an art dealer to generate greater interest in and develop a market for Gillian Jagger’s diverse and far-ranging work.• Improve the documentation of Jagger’s oeuvre with a long-term goal of publishing in print and/or online a catalogue raisonné of Gillian Jagger’s sculpture. • Work toward mounting a retrospective of Jagger’s work accompanied by a substantial catalogue or book.• Develop a grant and/or residency program that will honor Jagger’s interest in educating and supporting young artists. • Conduct a review of the Foundation’s financial position, and develop a five-year strategic plan in consultation with the Board of Directors that will include evaluating the revenue potential of the body of Gillian Jagger’s works of art; assessing the financial viability of maintaining and developing the site at Boice Mill Road as a place to store and exhibit the works and archive; and explore additional revenue streams, including grants, donations, and commercial opportunities.• Plan and execute fundraising strategies, including the development of relationships with trusts, foundations, and private donors, as well as with other arts organizations in the thriving artistic culture of the Hudson Valley, to secure long-term support and ensure the Foundation’s financial stability and growth.QualificationsMaster’s degree in art history, curatorial studies, or a related field Expertise in modern and contemporary art Experience with and knowledge of collection management, art handling, and conservationStrong organizational and multitasking abilities Familiarity with digital resources and digital engagement in managing and promoting art and collections and in using new technologies to increase audience participation and access to art and collectionsConfident decision-maker, with excellent interpersonal and organizational skills, an ability to meet deadlines and to manage concurrent tasks and prioritiesCompensation and benefitsThe salary range will be between $90,000 and $135,000, depending on the applicant’s experience and qualifications.Benefits include travel and professional development opportunities.10 days of paid vacation and 5 days of paid sick leave.The office will be closed for all major holidays and between Christmas and New Year’s Day.How to applyPlease email your CV, cover letter, and writing sample(s) to Gillian.Jagger.Foundation@proton.me .Include three references. People you provide as references will be approached only for job finalists. Application deadlineApplications are due by August 1, 2026.
