New Westmoreland Museum curator hails from Southern California

The Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg announced on Tuesday that it has named Nicole Lampl as its new curator of American art.

“We’re excited to welcome Nicole to The Westmoreland in this lead curatorial role,” Richard M. Scaife Director/CEO Silvia Filippini-Fantoni, PhD., said in a news release. “She brings a forward-thinking approach that aligns with our strategic initiatives to grow our audience, foster belonging, and deepen community engagement.”

Lampl started in her new role on July 7.

“I’ve had a full week here,” she said on Tuesday. “The team here has been so amazing. They’ve really set me up for success and to really fully take on curatorial responsibilities for all of the shows.”

Lampl brings more than 15 years of experience in galleries, museums, research and education to The Westmoreland. A Southern California native, she attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in art history and studio art. Later, she furthered her education with a master’s degree in art history from Tulane University. Her career has spanned stints in both the private art world and museum work.

“(The Westmoreland) offers such a unique opportunity to combine my two passions for historical and contemporary art. In most bigger museums, you’re kind of siloed in one of many departments, but this is a really wonderful place to be able to do both,” she said.

Most recently, she served for nearly four years as the inaugural director and curator at the Reeves House Visual Arts Center in the Atlanta area.

“It was a brand new visual arts center, so I had a lot of amazing creative control, along with a lot of the challenges of starting a new space,” she said.

She curated 22 exhibitions at the arts center, including a favorite of hers, “Women’s Work: New Takes on Textile Art.” She also wrote her master’s thesis on late 19th-century artist Gustav Klimt’s portrayals of pregnancy. Lucky, then, that The Westmoreland is in the midst of its “Year of Women Artists.”

“It definitely just signaled to me that this is the right place for me,” Lampl said.

Currently in the midst of familiarizing herself with The Westmoreland’s collection, she’s been awed by the depth and breadth of available pieces.

“There’s so much more to explore right now. It is massive,” she said.

Generally, she gravitates towards art created from the late 19th century to the present.

“I have a really strong pull towards textiles in particular,” Lampl said. “I think historical and contemporary textile art is just really fascinating.”

Lampl has also done plenty of research and scholarly writing, especially during her time at Tulane and during the year she spent at Freie University in Berlin doing research for her master’s thesis. She has presented papers at conferences around the country and published articles in several journals.

She’s made her home in Edgewood outside of Pittsburgh, but at the moment, she’s perfectly fine with the about-40-minute commute.

“I’m originally from Los Angeles and just moved from Atlanta, so traffic is beautiful here in comparison,” she said.

She’s excited about her new role in Greensburg.

“It’s such a great community and I have so much to learn and get to know about the collection and about the community.

“What really drew me here is the commitment to both regional relevance and national conversation in the arts,” she said. “There’s such a strong opportunity here to deepen the museum’s role as the strong cultural anchor that it already is, also pushing towards fresh and ambitious programming.”