After consideration of seven major candidates, Holly Moye was chosen to take on the role of visual arts director at the Norick Arts Center.
Coming from Boston, where she received her master’s of fine arts, Moye has worked as the director of Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition for the last two years and has worked with nonprofit and arts-oriented organizations in the area. Moye also has a minor in art history.
Her education and capacity for community outreach made her the winner out of seven applicants, four of which were major considerations, said Mike Wimmer, distinguished artist in residence.
“She’s very educated, very much a people person and has a great amount of energy,” he said. “She’s someone I think will really fit in well with the university, especially with our kind of liberal arts mindset.”
Moye is the Norick Arts Center’s first visual arts director. Her many responsibilities were divided up between different individuals in the Norick faculty, but the admission of Moye to the role will centralize recruitment, fundraising, management of gallery programs, and the everyday affairs of the school of visual arts into one role.
“In the past, we’ve been sharing all these same projects and jobs with full-time faculty members,” Wimmer said. “I’ve been a full-time faculty member, artist in residence and gallery director, and to do all of that was almost impossible. So now, all of that coordination will be under one title.”
Moye said what drew her to the university was the openness of OCU’s visual arts program to change in their already established order, which would, in Moye’s eyes, lead to growth.
“I’m really hoping to set a vision for this school that hopefully can set it apart from other programs in this state,” Moye said. “There’s nothing about the faculty here that makes them seem stuck in their ways, they are so open to anything. And that’s a path to success, right?”
Moye officially began her OCU career Jan. 20. The small but sociable department of visual arts has anticipated her arrival, ready to admit and accept her into the Norick family, said Kelly Mogilka, studio arts junior.
“The teachers have always been super open, and have always wanted to make it a really relaxed setting and to make everyone comfortable here,” Mogilka said. “So I’m sure we’ll welcome her with open arms.”
Leave a Reply