The Bolinas Museum has named Jessica Shaefer as its new executive director. The appointment comes just three months after Louisa Gloger left the position to lead Headlands Center for the Arts.
Shaefer’s background is predominantly in public art. She most recently worked at Google as a program lead for its artist in residence program, commissioning large-scale, site-specific art installations. Prior to that she was part of the Meta Open Arts team, leading programming and partnerships with organizations like the Hammer Museum, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and the art fair UNTITLED, Art.
Locally, her most publicly accessible work came about through Sites Unseen, a project to activate alleyways in downtown San Francisco with site-specific artworks and events, specifically around the Yerba Buena neighborhood. She has previously served as a board member at The Lab and for Artadia, a national granting nonprofit.
The Bolinas Museum, founded in 1983, operates four separate galleries around a shared courtyard in a historic building in “downtown Bolinas.” Always free, its exhibitions are dedicated to the art and history of coastal Marin. Upcoming shows include Charles Hobson’s artist books, Arline Mathieu’s meditative works on paper and photographic-based work by Mary Daniel Hobson, all opening Feb. 8.
“I am excited to continue to expand the museum’s role as a community-centered space and steward of the rich cultural heritage of the area while supporting deepened engagement with new voices and diverse artistic practices,” Shaefer is quoted saying in today’s announcement.
Shaefer’s track record of bringing artwork out of galleries and into everyday life, as well as her experience with public events, appears to represent a new chapter for the Bolinas Museum. Today’s announcement noted that plans are “already underway” to expand community-centered programming and “enhance the museum’s role as a dynamic cultural space.”