Courtesy The Hyde
The Hyde Collection has appointed Bryn Schockmel, Ph.D., as the museum’s new curator of the permanent collection.
Schockmel, a curator specializing in Italian Renaissance and Baroque art, comes to The Hyde from the Oklahoma City Museum of Art (OKCMOA) and joined the museum staff on Jan. 9.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Dr. Schockmel to The Hyde Collection team. A dynamic expert in her field, she is joining The Hyde at an incredibly exciting time as we celebrate the museum’s 60th anniversary,” said Norman Dascher Jr., CEO. “Dr. Schockmel shares our passion for the mission of The Hyde to maintain a museum for the exhibition of the permanent collection and to promote and cultivate the improvement of the fine arts for the education and benefit of the residents of Glens Falls and vicinity and the general public.
“Through her work at other museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Harvard Art Museums, and The Clark Art Institute, she has applied her academic rigor to bring new insights to art collections that forge interdisciplinary conversations about important topics.”
As curator of the permanent collection, Schockmel will advance the vision of Charlotte Pruyn Hyde by ensuring the 5,000-plus works in the collection advance a greater understanding and appreciation of the museum’s collection among all audiences through research, lecture, and writing. She will plan and execute exhibitions related to the permanent collection.
“I am excited to return to The Hyde Collection, now in the role of curator, as it will provide the opportunity for me to engage with an exceptional collection of art and develop exhibitions that can foster interdisciplinary conversations,” Schockmel said. “I am energized by the museum’s mission and commitment to diversity and inclusion.”
Originally from upstate New York, Schockmel earned her B.A. from Skidmore College, her M.A. from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, and her Ph.D. in Italian Renaissance art history from Boston University. After graduating in 2019, Schockmel moved to Oklahoma City to begin her Kress/AAMD Fellowship for Provenance Research at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
In the fall of 2020, she began her new position as curator at OKCMOA. Her first major project was coordinating curator for the large-scale traveling exhibition The Painters of Pompeii: Roman Frescoes from the National Archaeological Museum, Naples. That was followed by an original exhibition, The Perfect Shot: Walter Iooss Jr. and the Art of Sports Photography. The monographic retrospective featured 85 works spanning the over 50-year career of legendary Sports Illustrated photographer Walter Iooss Jr. At OKCMOA, Schockmel also curated several smaller exhibitions and gallery rotations, offered tours to the public and school groups, gave lectures, and taught a class on early modern women artists.
Before moving to Oklahoma City, Schockmel worked at several museums in the Northeast, including The Clark Art Institute and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and had an internship at The Hyde Collection in 2013-14.
While in Boston, she taught classes at Boston University, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and Boston College. She also spent a summer volunteering at an Etruscan archaeological excavation in Caere, Italy, run by Queen’s University.