Anna Wager, the Clarence A. Davis Visual Arts Curator and gallery director at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, has been named curator of exhibitions at the UB Art Galleries.

In her new role, Wager will conceptualize and implement UB Art Galleries’ exhibitions and programs of contemporary art with a commitment to supporting art and ideas that are urgent and relevant to our time and place.

“We’re thrilled and delighted that Wager has joined our team,” says Robert Scalise, director of the UB Art Galleries. “She brings important experience of working with art historical research, contemporary artists, and connecting students to the work.”

Wager says she’s excited “to be joining, and learning from, the vibrant arts and intellectual community at UB and in Buffalo.”

“I look forward to facilitating access to a vast range of exhibitions and artists, and collaborating with artists, students, and community organizers from across the region,” she says. “There is so much incredible potential at an academic institution to question, expand and deepen what art-making can do, and I am energized by expanding the pedagogical potential of the galleries as sites of critical inquiry and spaces for students to gain valuable experience.”

While at Hobart and William Smith, Wager worked on solo exhibitions by contemporary artists including John Opera (UB assistant professor of art), Amanda Maciuba, Andrew Ellis Johnson, Rebecca Murtaugh and Sarita Zaleha, as well as collections and thematic group exhibitions around such topics as art and labor, craft and democracy, Afrofuturis, and portraiture as a form of institutional critique.

She also supervised and taught students as gallery assistants and curatorial interns. Her previous curatorial projects and fellowships include work at the Delaware Art Museum, the Seattle Art Museum, and the Henry Art Gallery.

Wager holds a PhD in art history from the University of Washington in Seattle. Her research interests include critical museum studies, book arts and material culture, typography, textiles and fabric art, contemporary craft and collection ethics.