Susan Baley
Connecting diverse communities to creativity since 1988.
I connect
communities to creativity.
I believe in the power of art to transform lives. In a career spanning three decades, I have been committed to expanding access to art and visual culture for diverse communities.
For 25 years, I led a museum education department and taught art history and museum studies at the University of Oklahoma.
During the past eight years, I have applied my strategic thinking skills to leading nonprofit organizations, including an American art museum in Terre Haute, Indiana, a gallery dedicated to contemporary craft in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and a campus art museum in Grinnell, Iowa.
My greatest strength is my capacity for building and fostering productive relationships, which makes me an excellent collaborator.
Arts Administrator
I have a transformational leadership style, characterized by open communication, clear goals, and mentorship and motivation of my team.
Curator
I approach exhibitions from a visitor-centered perspective with an emphasis on relevance and participation while maintaining scholarly content.
Educator
I am dedicated to lifelong learning and connecting diverse communities to art and creativity. I excel at creating relevant cross-disciplinary connections.
Fundraiser
I consider fundraising through the lens of relationship-building. I enjoy doing the research to find the best connection between the donor's passions and the project.
My Story
I did not grow up visiting art museums. There were no cultural institutions in my small hometown in mid-Missouri; and although my family frequently traveled to urban areas, we did not visit an art museum until I was in my teens. At the suggestion of my high school art teacher, my family traveled to the Saint Louis Art Museum to view the exhibition Monet’s Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism. Being surrounded by Monet’s large scale water lily paintings was a pivotal moment in my life that surpassed years of studying art in classrooms. Afterwards, I declared my desire to work in an art museum to provide others with those kinds of powerful experiences. Years later I asked my mother why we had not visited an art museum before that momentous trip to St. Louis, and she replied by saying that she—an educator with a graduate degree—didn’t think she knew enough about art to attend a museum. My mother’s response has, in many ways, inspired my career which has been dedicated to making art accessible and relevant to diverse, multigenerational communities. I return to the Saint Louis Art Museum as often as possible, and I am always comforted by a quote by the 19th century poet Matthew Arnold that is carved above the rear entrance of the museum, "Art still has truth. Find refuge there."
Community Connections
Media
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Art-In-Fact | 2020 108 Contemporary
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The Haute | 2018 Swope Art Museum
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Art After Noon | 2014 Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art
Arts Alliance Tulsa produced The Art-In-Fact video series in 2020 to market the city's arts organizations. The March episode highlighted 108 Contemporary, a nonprofit arts space focused on contemporary craft.
The Haute showcases the greater Terre Haute/Vigo County, Indiana community. This episode features the Swope Art Museum, an AAM accredited museum dedicated to American art.
As the Director of Education at the University of Oklahoma's Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, I presented monthly talks about art from the musem's collection and special exhibitions.