The Metropolitan Museum of Art has hired its first full-time Native American curator

For the first time in its 150-year history, the the Metropolitan Museum of Art has hired a full-time Native American curator.

Patricia Marroquin Norby has been named Associate Curator of Native American Art at The Met.

Norby holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, with a specialization in Native American art history and visual culture. She also earned an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in printmaking and photography.

Norby will work on collection development and exhibition programming that focuses on Native arts and is “in dialogue with culturally diverse production.” She is also tasked with overseeing the formation of partnerships with Indigenous American communities, scholars, artists and audiences.

“I am deeply honored to join with American Indian and Indigenous artists and communities in advancing our diverse experiences and voices in The Met’s exhibitions, collections, and programs,” Dr. Norby said in a press release. “This is a time of significant evolution for the Museum.”

Norby has extensive teaching experience, having served as assistant professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. There, she taught historical and contemporary Native American art history and culture.

“I am excited to welcome Patricia Marroquin Norby to The Met after a long and competitive search for our first-ever full-time curator in Native American Art, a position made especially relevant by the landmark 2017 gift of historical Native arts from Met trustee, Charles Diker, and his wife, Valerie,” Max Hollein, Director of The Met, said.

“Dr. Norby, an award-winning scholar of Native American art history and visual culture, is also an experienced museum professional, and we look forward to supporting her scholarship and programmatic collaborations with colleagues across The Met as well as with Indigenous communities throughout the region and continent for our diverse international audiences.”

Norby has an upcoming book called “Water, Bones, and Bombs.” The publication examines 20th century Southwest art production and environmental conflicts among Native American, Hispano and White communities in the northern Rio Grande Valley.