Betsy Johnson, Assistant Curator

Betsy Johnson, Assistant Curator, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Betsy Johnson joined the Hirshhorn’s staff in January 2016 and was appointed Assistant Curator in March 2018, with responsibilities for overseeing the Museum’s photography collection. She organized Tony Lewis: Anthology 2014–2016 (2018), The Evidence Room (2019), and Feel the Sun in Your Mouth: Recent Acquisitions to the Hirshhorn Collection (2019). She has supported a wide array of projects at the Museum, including Rirkrit Tiravanija: (who’s afraid of red, yellow, and green) (2019), Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Pulse (2018), Tino Sehgal: This You (2018), Does the body rule the mind, or does the mind rule the body? (2018), Mark Bradford: Pickett’s Charge (2017), Ai Weiwei: Trace at Hirshhorn (2017), Ragnar Kjartansson (2016), and Robert Irwin: All the Rules Will Change (2016).

Prior to coming to the Hirshhorn, Johnson worked from 2011 through 2015 for Glenstone, where she guided the development of their visitor experience and education programs. She holds a master’s degree in art history from Pennsylvania State University and is ABD in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at the University of Maryland, College Park. She has curated exhibitions across the region for institutions such as the Maryland Institute College of Art, Washington Project for the Arts, Arlington Arts Center, McLean Project for the Arts, Metro Micro Gallery, and the Art Gallery at the University of Maryland, College Park.