Meet the New Curator of Islamic and Medieval Art at the DMA

Dr. Agust?n Arteaga, the Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art, announced Dr. Heather Ecker as the DMA?s first Marguerite S. Hoffman and Thomas W. Lentz Curator of Islamic and Medieval Art bringing nearly two decades of diverse curatorial, teaching, and institutional experiences to the role. Dr. Ecker officially assumed her role on Monday, July 30, 2018.

?I am delighted to be joining Dr. Agust?n Arteaga and the staff of the Dallas Museum of Art at this important moment in its mission to serve the amply diverse publics of Dallas ? Ft. Worth. The magnificent Keir Collection presents tremendous possibilities for research and thus for bringing new narratives from the historical Islamic world to people of our times. The interdisciplinary nature of the curatorial role, encompassing the Islamic world and medieval Europe with its own diversity, including the production of Jewish arts, builds in capacity to cross traditional boundaries to reveal creative relationships between works of art and communities. I could not feel more inspired by this exceptional opportunity,? said Ecker.

With the long-term loan of the Keir Collection in 2014, the DMA became the third largest repository of Islamic art in the United States. As the new Curator of Islamic and Medieval Art, Dr. Ecker will oversee the presentation, research, conservation, and growth of the museum?s holdings in these areas, including the Keir Collection, which encompasses almost 2,000 works that span thirteen centuries of arts from the Islamic world.

Ecker tells Patron the Keir collection offers adds to the intrigue of her new post:  ?I can?t wait to get started looking into the Keir Collection of Islamic Art in greater detail?the collection comprises objects that are wonderful examples of well-known types, but also objects that are unusual and have not yet been well identified or understood. I am also excited about developing programming around the Islamic collection and its relationship with medieval Europe possibly through other media, such as horticulture, as I love plants and gardens and the climate here in Dallas is similar to parts of the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin.? 

Ecker received undergraduate degrees from Harvard College and the Institute of Archaeology at the University of London, as well as an MPhil and DPhil from the University of Oxford in Islamic Art and Archaeology. Ecker brings along er significant experience at international museums, as well as an interdisciplinary and global approach to the study and presentation of Islamic and medieval art history. Currently a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University, she previously served as the first Head of Curatorial Affairs and member of the management team at the Aga Khan Museum, a new museum start-up sponsored by His Highness the Aga Khan that opened in Toronto in 2014. She was responsible for the design and content of the permanent collection galleries, working with a team that included designers Studio Adrien Gard?re, based in Paris. She also managed the museum?s collections and conservation projects in several international locations. For six years prior, she led The Arts of Asia and the Islamic World Department and served as Curator of Islamic Art at the Detroit Institute of Arts, where she oversaw the reinstallation of the Gallery of Islamic Art and the restoration of the gallery space and preliminary re-installation of the collection of Ancient Middle Eastern Art. 

Ecker trained in objects conservation at the Institute of Archaeology, University of London, and held conservation internships and fellowships at leading institutions, including the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London. Ecker?s extensive knowledge of conservation practices and oversight will be integral to her new role at the DMA.

Additionally, she has written and taught extensively on the visual cultures of the Islamic world. Her work has primarily focused on the Mediterranean basin, especially medieval and early modern Spain. She frequently contributes to exhibition catalogues, academic journals, and symposia, and is the author of several books examining Spanish Islamic and medieval art and architecture, including the exhibition catalogue Caliphs and Kings: The Art and Influence of Islamic Spain: Selections from the Hispanic Society of America (Washington, DC: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 2004), and forthcoming titles The Frescos from San Baudelio de Berlanga, Urbanism in Seville in the Islamic and Post-Conquest Periods, and Spanish Carpets. She has also written on contemporary artists from the Middle East, including San Francisco ? based Shiva Ahmadi.

As to any new acquisitions, research or exhibitions ideas that she has in mind emphasizing the DMA’s collection of Islamic and Medieval art and the Keir Collection Ecker enthused, ?I have already started talking with DMA Director Agust?n Arteaga and other colleagues about some ideas, and all I can say at this point is stay tuned!?