New staffer and a promotion at deCordova

The Trustees of Reservations recently announced a new face and a promotion involving the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. Tess Lukey, who will be based at the deCordova and the Fruitlands Museum, is The Trustees of Reservations’ first-ever Associate Curator of Native American Art, and Sarah Montross has been promoted from Senior Curator to Chief Curator, The Trustees.

Lukey, an Aquinnah Wampanoag tribal member and lifelong New Englander, will develop exhibitions and research initiatives related to The Trustees’ Indigenous art collections.

“We are entering a new period in the history of this organization with Tess’s arrival as Associate Curator of Native American Art. We are eager to learn from her, to work with her, and to support her as she develops new partnerships with Native artists and communities throughout North America,” said Jessica May, Managing Director of Art and Exhibitions and Artistic Director at deCordova. “The stories of community and connection that Tess is poised to tell are so important for our organization and our culture.”

“Whether it’s collecting new Native American artists or reinterpreting existing works, my goal is to help expand the narratives, examine stereotypes, and confront biases around Native American art,” she said. “This is a critical and unique inflection point for museums and I’m grateful organizations like The Trustees are hiring Native American staff members to more fully tell Indigenous stories.”

Lukey has worked for the Museum of Fine Arts and the Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston, and the John Sommers Gallery in Albuquerque, N.M.  bachelor’s degree in ceramics and art history from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and a master’s degree in Native American art history with a minor in museum studies from the University of New Mexico. In her spare time, she is a traditional potter and basket weaver practicing the techniques of her own Indigenous community. She currently lives in Sutton, Mass., the ancestral home of the Nipmuc Nation, with her partners and children.

Montross has successfully organized numerous exhibitions, publications, and outdoor commissions at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum over the past seven years. Notable exhibition projects include Jeffrey Gibson: INFINITE INDIGENOUS QUEER LOVE (2021); Visionary New England; and co-curating the New England Triennial (formerly Biennial) in 2016, 2018 and 2021. She has also activated deCordova’s outdoor sculpture program with loans and new commissions. She’s currently organizing an exhibition and outdoor commission with the artist Hugh Hayden that will open in April 2023.

As Chief Curator, Montross will continue to shape the exhibition and sculpture park program at deCordova while also broadening her oversight of and collaborations with the exhibitions team and guest curators for projects at Fruitlands and across the state.