Susan Gallo is the new curator of art and technology at The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens.
WHAT DO YOU DO?
“I’m an ambassador. I explain technology to the art people and art to the technology people. I find ways to bring both into a larger community.”
Developing innovative distance learning programs and serving as a liaison between the organization and the Schultz Center for Teaching and Leadership round out her job description.
COMING TO THE CUMMER
Starting at the museum as a volunteer curator in 1999, Gallo has since functioned as the adjunct curator prior to assuming her current role. Gallo accepted the task of launching the museum’s website and has coordinated technical projects ever since involving the curatorial and educational departments and off-site technical advisors.
B.C. (BEFORE CUMMER)
Gallo worked at the Smith College Museum of Art in North Hampton, Mass. while she was studying for her art history degree. Both the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City offered her positions on a fellowship after graduation.
WHY GO INTO THIS FIELD?
“It was an immediate love. I always thought I’d be a lawyer but as soon as I got to the art history department, I fell in love. In order to understand art history, you have to be able to understand the world and the whole path of human civilization. You can teach anything with art: math, literature, religion.”
HOMETOWN
Manhasset, N.Y.
FAR FROM HOME
As a young doctor, Gallo’s husband was assigned to do a clerkship in an Eskimo village north of the Arctic Circle. Gallo volunteered at the domestic violence center there during their stay.
WHAT’S REWARDING ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?
“It’s wonderful to be able to make technology work for the museum and bring technology to people who have never experienced it before. The Cummer realizes though that technology will never replace the museum visit.”
WHAT’S CHALLENGING ABOUT YOUR JOB?
“Finding enough hours in the day to devote to it.”
FAMILY
Gallo and her husband James Fulmer reside on the Westside with their son and daughter. She also does fundraising for the Stanton High School Robotics Team of which her son is a member.
HOBBIES
A die-hard swimmer, Gallo is doing laps outside until Thanksgiving. She is also an avid reader; “To Kill A Mockingbird” is her favorite novel. Traveling, especially to dine at Vecchia Roma in Italy, is her favorite pastime.
AFFILIATIONS
Gallo is chair of the Community Advisory Council of the University of North Florida College of Education and a member of both the Midwest Art History Society and the Southeast College Art Conference.
WHO’S THE MOST INTERESTING PERSON YOU KNOW OF?
“Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement. Her work [with the disadvantaged] had a tremendous impact. How much can you give up for something you believe in?”
—by Monica Chamness