W. Rod Faulds
W. Rod Faulds is the Director of the University Galleries at Florida Atlantic University where he also teaches Museum Studies and Gallery Practices. Since 1980 Faulds has worked as an art museum administrator, a curator and an exhibition and graphic designer. He earned an undergraduate degree in Studio Art from California State University, Humboldt, an M.A. degree in exhibition design, a Certificate of Museums Studies from California State University, Fullerton, and studied in the Graduate Program in the History of Art at Williams College, Williamstown, Massachussetts.
As the Associate and Acting Director of the Williams College Museum of Art Faulds designed and provided project management for a number of major exhibitions and programs. In 1993 and 1994 Faulds was the Assistant Director for Operations and Public Programs at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and in 1995 and 1996 he was the Chief Designer at the Brooklyn Museum.
In 1997 Faulds relocated to Florida to become the Director of the University Galleries at Florida Atlantic University. He has curated numerous contemporary art exhibitions and engaged younger curators such as Barbáro Martínez-Ruiz, Omar Lopez Chahoud, Gean Moreno and Diana Shpungin among many others to create exhibitions for the University Galleries. Faulds has developed exhibitions and related programs through collaborations with diverse academic departments to foster cross disciplinary perspectives and also collaborated with many community organizations. Since 2000 Faulds has developed the University Galleries Museum Education Program that trains FAU students to provide interactive exhibition tours and outreach activities for middle and high school aged children. Through collaboration with the Boys and Girls Clubs of both Broward and Palm Beach Counties the Museum Education Program has presented several children's art and photography exhibitions and also provided other arts education services for these young community members.
Graduate Studies with designer and curator Dextra Frankel at California State University Fullerton provided Faulds with opportunities to design, build, curate and install exhibitions like Itchicu Kubota - designed by Frankel (above left), Light and Space, the Wortz Collection - works by Larry Bell, Robert Irwin and Hap Tivey pictured (above), Visions and Figurations (graduate thesis project) - works by Jonathan Borofsky, Roy deForest and James Surls pictured.
Faulds' exhibition design, project management and curatorial experiences have been developed through a wide variety of projects. At the Williams College Museum of Art Faulds often designed exhibition installations and exhibition catalogues - like American Abstract Artists (above left) - while managing the museum's daily operations. At The Brooklyn Museum he designed major exhibition installations like the 1996 Converging Cultures (above) while running a design department of 8 employees. At the University Galleries, FAU he has curated numerous exhibitions like the solo exhibition of the internationally known artist Michal Rovner (left) while creating an engaging learning laboratory for FAU students.