Dr. Steven Nelson Appointed Inaugural Executive Director of Sam Gilliam Foundation
The Sam Gilliam Foundation’s Board of Directors today announced the appointment of Dr. Steven Nelson as its inaugural Executive Director. Nelson’s appointment ushers in the next chapter for the organization in advancing its mission of advocating the values and vision of pioneering artist Sam Gilliam through exhibitions, scholarship, and programs that elevate emerging artists and inspire the civic activism that was central to his practice and teaching. Nelson joins the Foundation following his tenure as Dean of the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (the Center) at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where he spearheaded one of the world’s leading research institutes dedicated to the history of art. In his new role, Nelson will oversee and expand the Foundation’s work in stewarding Gilliam’s legacy through institutional partnerships, research, and publications. He will also be responsible for developing programs that support artists, education, and social advocacy. Nelson will assume his new role immediately.
Nelson’s appointment signals the Foundation’s ongoing evolution and growth since it was established in 2023 by Foundation Founder, President, and Board Chair Annie Gawlak. Under Gawlak’s leadership, the Foundation published the first comprehensive monograph on Sam Gilliam, in collaboration with Phaidon; launched the Sam Gilliam Award in partnership with Dia Art Foundation; created the Gilliam Visiting Artist Program with the Speed Art Museum; and developed the Sam Gilliam Lecture Series in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg Center. The Foundation has also recently collaborated on an exhibition of Gilliam’s work and practice with the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, Ireland, and on several solo exhibitions with Pace and David Kordansky Gallery, who represent the artist.
“Steven is an extraordinary leader whose scholarship, strategic vision, and deep commitment to artists and institutions alike make him the ideal person to lead the Foundation into the future,” said Annie Gawlak, Board Chair of the Foundation. “As a distinguished scholar whose work has deepened understanding of African and African American art and its place within broader cultural and historical narratives, Nelson brings a perspective that resonates meaningfully with Gilliam’s own practice, which continually pushed the boundaries of abstraction while engaging broader questions of race, freedom, social justice, and American life. Through his prestigious teaching, research, and leadership roles at UCLA and the Center at the National Gallery of Art, Steven has helped shape the study of African and African American art while mentoring generations of scholars, curators, and cultural leaders. This combination of scholarship, mentorship, and institutional leadership will be invaluable as the Foundation continues to steward Gilliam’s legacy while investing in future generations of artists and scholars.”
“I am thrilled to join the Sam Gilliam Foundation and to advance Sam’s legacy,” said Nelson. “His groundbreaking work inspired us to see art in new ways. His community engagement served as a provocative base from which to support emerging artists and scholars in new ways of making art, producing research, and building a more just world.”
An internationally respected art historian, curator, and institutional leader, Nelson brings more than two decades of experience spanning arts leadership, higher education, and cultural strategy. Widely recognized for his scholarship examining African and African diasporic art, architecture, urbanism, visual culture, and queer studies, Nelson has helped shape critical conversations around art history, institutional practice, and cultural equity across the field.
As Dean of the Center from 2020 to 2025, Nelson shepherded its fellowships, convenings, research initiatives, and publications. Before being appointed Dean, Nelson served as the Andrew W. Mellon Professor at the Center.
Nelson is professor emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he also served as director of the African Studies Center, and has held visiting appointments at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He currently serves on the Boards of Trustees of the Kress Foundation, the Bard Graduate Center, and Educare DC and has been recognized by both the Association of Art Historians and the Society of Architectural Historians. Nelson holds a Ph.D. and A.M. in art history from Harvard University and a B.A. in studio art from Yale University.
About the Sam Gilliam Foundation
Established in 2023, the Sam Gilliam Foundation advances the vision and values of abstract artist Sam Gilliam by organizing and supporting significant exhibitions of the artist’s work, fostering new research and publications, and collaborating with arts organizations and institutions on initiatives that extend Gilliam’s generosity and enthusiasm for supporting emerging and longtime artists, art students, scholars, curators, and the cultural ecosystem at large. Helmed by Annie Gawlak, the Foundation serves as a primary resource on the artist and a steward of his collection and archive, with important holdings of Gilliam’s work in a variety of mediums and original papers and materials pertaining to his life and work. Since its activation, the Foundation has expanded its mission to champion rising artists and foster critical cultural dialogue through initiatives including the Sam Gilliam Award, established in partnership with Dia Art Foundation in 2023; the Gilliam Visiting Artist Program, launched in collaboration with the Speed Art Museum in 2024; and the Sam Gilliam Lecture Series, created with Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg Center to convene leading artists and thinkers at the intersection of contemporary art, social justice, and civic life. Learn more at samgilliamfoundation.org.