Cassandra Coblentz

CASSANDRA COBLENTZ BIO

Cassandra Coblentz has a diverse curatorial practice that champions the artistic process and forefronts creating meaningful, engaging experiences for audiences with works of art. As an independent curator she continues to take innovative approaches to collaborating with artists, curating exhibitions and building community. She has recently been researching a project for the Getty Pacific Standard Time initiative Art x Science x LA entitled Sea Change: New Currents of Sustainability, Art, and Action in the Pacific Ocean. For six years she was Senior Curator and Director of Public Engagement at the Orange County Museum of Art where she curated the 2017 California Pacific Triennial: Building As Ever and authored its accompanying catalogue. She also designed and implemented the program concept for the museum’s temporary location, OCMAExpand, Santa Ana and curated twenty exhibitions within this framework and organized numerous public programs. Coblentz has curated more than thirty other exhibitions including solo projects with Kirsten Everberg, Jean Shin and Brian Ripple, Pae White, and Lyle Ashton Harris. In 2016 she curated Ellen Lesperance, Helen Mirra, Traversing for the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, California. She has authored and managed the production of several exhibition catalogues and publications including How Deep Is Your, a mid-career survey of the work of Julianne Swartz, published in 2012. Coblentz also served as curator at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and her professional experience also includes appointments at the Hammer Museum, DIA Center for the Arts, and The J. Paul Getty Museum. She received her BA in Art History and English from Cornell University and her MA from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College.