The American Folk Art Museum recently announced that Dr. Emelie Gevalt, the museums curatorial chair for collections and curator of folk art, has been promoted to deputy director and chief curatorial and program officer. In her expanded role, Gevalt will oversee all aspects of the museums exhibition programs, art collections, and learning and engagement activities, including continuing to curate exhibitions, author scholarship, and maintain and expand the museums holdings through strategic acquisitions and major gifts. Jason T. Busch, Becky and Bob Alexander Director and CEO of the American Folk Art Museum, commented on the promotion: In the six years since I joined the museum, our exhibitions have achieved new heights in ambition, scale, and academic rigor, which is due in no small part to Emelies curatorial vision and collaborative spirit. Emelie has quickly earned recognition within the field as one of the leading American art curators of her generation, whose fresh perspective on folk art and American history continues to advance new interpretations and perceptions in the 21st century. She has also been a tremendous partner in expanding the museums network to new and prospective patrons, including playing a pivotal role in significant financial gifts and acquisitions that have greatly enhanced our collection. I am delighted to expand the scope of my responsibilities as a curator at the museum. Under Jasons leadership, AFAM has embraced and fostered a culture that seeks a more expansive understanding of folk and self-taught art, allowing the museum to tell new stories through our exhibitions and engage with the public to rethink their understanding of art history. I am excited to collaborate more closely with all of my colleagues at AFAM, including our exceptional curatorial, collections, and learning and engagement teams, to further advance this mission going forward, remarked Gevalt. Gevalt is also responsible for the museums accessioning of major new works that have greatly expanded the scope of the collection. Among them are Ammi Phillips celebrated Portrait of Frederick A. Gale, which joins the museums extensive holdings of the artists work, including the famed Girl in a Red Dress with Cat and Dog and the first works to enter the museums collection by the itinerant artist John Brewster Jr. (1766-1854), as well as significant acquisitions to the museums quilt collection, including several examples by 20th-century African American makers (for instance, a denim Housetop quilt by Gees Bend quilter Lucy Mingo) and by other living artists, such as Tomie Nagano, and a rare sampler featuring a Black figure, which was featured in Unnamed Figures. These acquisitions, among others, were completed as part of a comprehensive and strategic review of the collection recently conducted by Gevalt and Dr. Valrie Rousseau, AFAMs Curatorial Chair and Senior Curator of 20th-Century & Contemporary Art, to guide the museums future acquisitions.