Caitlin Doherty’s childhood was filled with the arts.
Family vacations — or holidays, as the Scotland native calls them — were spent in and out of museums. Art was absolutely fundamental to everything.
Doherty loved drawing and painting, but admits her brothers “are infinitely better artists than me.”
When it came time to decide between art college or a university, she chose the latter and earned master’s degrees in art history and museum and gallery studies in Scotland.
“At the time, I thought it was very normal that your parents would encourage you to follow your heart and education and life, instead of saying you must go study ‘X’,” Doherty said.
That freedom to choose led her to become a teacher and gallery director in Ireland, exhibition and speaker curator in Qatar and chief curator in Michigan. She collaborated with universities along the way, encouraging and developing the next generation of artists.
Doherty is bringing that wide breadth of experience next month to the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, where she will take over as director.
Her parents’ encouragement proved to be true: “You go study what sets you on fire, using your heart and you’ll do good.”
Finding a director with worldwide experience
Alison Lee was selected to head the search committee to find a new director for the Downtown institution after Marcelle Polednik left last year to head the Milwaukee Art Museum.
She said early talks among committee members centered on the “pretty dramatic progress” MOCA had made over the past five years, along with where they wanted the museum to go.
That included taking further advantage of being an institute of the University of North Florida, such as increasing engagement with the students and faculty.
A search firm helped the board identify potential candidates.
Lee said members probably discussed 10 in more detail, then conducted videoconference interviews with three finalists.
Each of the three visited Jacksonville for a quick trip of one day and one night, or as Doherty called it, “a whistle-stop.”
They met with MOCA staff, interviewed with the search committee, spent time at UNF and talked with patrons of the museum.
Lee said Doherty’s personality is well-suited to be the museum’s No. 1 ambassador.
“She has this really kind of bright enthusiasm for contemporary art and she’s able to convey that on a very personal level,” Lee sad.
The committee also was impressed by Doherty’s connections with higher education institutions in Qatar at a branch campus of Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts and at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University.
Doherty and her family returned to town for a longer visit as they were working through an offer.
It turns out she was equally impressed with MOCA and Jacksonville.
Right timing for potential and growth
Doherty said she feels the museum is at a point where it is poised to grow and has the desire to do so.
“It feels like the museum is not constricted, it still has malleability, potential and growth,” she said.
Doherty believes the institution can lead on a national and international level.
She was thrilled to see children at MOCA, something unusual in other cities where arts aren’t a priority and are typically the first victim of budget cuts.
“There were so many little kids going through the museum, making, creating understanding,” Doherty said.
The link with UNF provides an array of opportunities for collaboration, with students, faculty and the community.
“MOCA really is seen as a bridge between the university and the community,” she said.
Doherty also is looking forward to working with other cultural entities, such as the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, the Jacksonville Symphony and the Florida Theatre.
“We need to be mutually supportive of one another’s agenda and specialties and emphases,” she said.
As for Jacksonville itself, Doherty said it has a “big-city attitude, big-city drive and small-town heart.”
“I’m a bit of a country girl so that is very attractive to me,” she said.
Returning to the Atlantic Ocean
The decision to accept the job in Jacksonville was made by her family — her musician husband, Brendan, and their two children, Jessie-Ellen, 12, and Thomas, 8.
“It’s always been very important to me and my husband that anything either of us do professionally marries with the family as a whole,” she said.
The family found a couple of early favorite spots during the visit to the area. They had burgers and shakes at M Shack in Atlantic Beach and pizza at Mellow Mushroom in St. Augustine.
The children were especially impressed with the “massive alligator on the wall” at Mellow Mushroom. “It caused all sorts of chaos,” Doherty said.
While exploring their new home, they visited something that felt familiar.
A trip to the beach here wasn’t the first time they had walked along the Atlantic Ocean. They had done it 4,000 miles away when they lived in Ireland, as well.
@editormarilyn
(904) 356-2466