Lorie Mertes

Lorie Mertes, Executive Director at Locust Projects since May 2017, has more than twenty years of experience as an arts administrator, curator, and educator. Most recently she was Director of Public Programs at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington, D.C. Prior to moving to Washington, D.C., she was Curatorial Consultant and Interim Director of Programs at the McColl Center for Art + Innovation in Charlotte, NC where she oversaw the residency and exhibition programs. From 2007 to 2011, she was the Director and Chief Curator of The Galleries at Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, the first and only visual arts college for women in the United States. She was the Assistant Director and Curator at the Miami Art Museum, now Pérez Art Museum of Miami, where, in addition to serving as a curator from 1994 to 2006, she was a senior manager responsible for new programs, publications, and outreach initiatives to increase visibility and engage new audiences. She got her start in the art world in the early 1990s working as Gallery Manager at Jason Rubell Gallery in Palm Beach and Miami Beach.