Iris Williamson (she/her) is a curator, arts administrator, and educator. She is currently the Director of Exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design (Portland, ME), as well as the Founding Partner and Director of HOLDING Contemporary (Portland, OR). Her previous experience includes serving as a 2021-2022 Curator-in-Residence at the University of Oregon’s Center for Art Research (Eugene, OR), Director and Curator of New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art at the University of Southern Indiana (New Harmony, IN), Program Director at Converge 45 (Portland, OR), Assistant Director and Curator at the Center for Contemporary Art & Culture at Pacific Northwest College of Art (Portland, OR), Studio Manager at Allied Works Architecture (Portland, OR/New York, NY), and Associate Director at HAP Gallery (Portland, OR). Williamson has an extensive history of running alternative exhibition spaces, music and performance-based events, and radio programs, including enter:gallery (NYC), Dugg Dugg (Charlotte, NC), Southern Holiday (Charlotte, NC), The Wild Theory (Cocoa, FL), and programming for the 2012 DNC in Charlotte, NC. She has taught in MFA in Studio Art programs at Maine College of Art & Design (Portland, ME) and Portland State University (Portland, OR). Williamson received an MA in Critical Studies from Pacific Northwest College of Art (Portland, OR), a BFA in Studio Art and Art History from the University of Florida (Gainesville, FL), and a certificate in Museum Studies from Northwestern University (Evanston, IL).
Photo credit: Kari Herer/Maine College of Art & Design
