Director and Curator Bios

Meet Dr. Kim Sajet

New Director of the Milwaukee Art Museum

The Milwaukee Art Museum is delighted to welcome Dr. Kim Sajet as its new Donna and Donald Baumgartner Director. A passionate advocate for the arts with an international perspective, Kim believes museums are not only places to see extraordinary works of art, but also spaces where people come together to share ideas, spark curiosity, and celebrate creativity.

Kim joins Milwaukee after 12 years leading the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. There, she helped double attendance, raised support for major initiatives, and brought fresh energy to the collection with contemporary voices and stories. She was responsible for commissioning the acclaimed portraits of President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama, exhibitions that drew record-breaking crowds and traveled nationwide. Sajet’s strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in particular ensured that visitors to the museum—both onsite and online– experienced the richness and complexity of the American story, ensuring that visitors from all walks of life felt welcome to attend and could see themselves reflected in the galleries. In June, The Washington Post reported that Sajet had “expanded the definition of portraiture and widened the scope of people considered worthy of representation in the nation’s portrait gallery.”

Her career in the arts spans the globe. Born in Nigeria to Dutch parents and raised in Australia, Kim has led museums in both countries and worked at leading cultural institutions in Philadelphia. She holds degrees in art history, business, and museum studies, as well as a doctorate from Georgetown University, where her research explored the power of photography in shaping social change. She is also the longtime host of the Smithsonian’s PORTRAITS podcast, which brings together artists, historians, and cultural leaders for conversations about art, history, and representation.

Arriving at a milestone moment, Kim begins her tenure as the Museum celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Bradley Collection—nearly 400 modern masterpieces gifted by Peg Bradley that put Milwaukee on the cultural map. “What excites me most,” Kim shares, “is the Museum’s mission: to connect people with art and with each other. I look forward to creating experiences that inspire, bring joy, and share the Museum’s story with the world.”

With warmth, vision, and deep experience, Kim Sajet steps into her new role ready to guide the Milwaukee Art Museum into an exciting new chapter.

Elizabeth Siegel, Chief of Curatorial Affairs

Elizabeth (Liz) Siegel is the chief of curatorial affairs at the Milwaukee Art Museum, where she leads its curatorial and collections departments, spearheads its exhibitions program and scholarly publications, and oversees acquisitions. A member of the Museum’s senior leadership team, Siegel approaches her work with an emphasis on diversity and inclusivity and seeks to foster encounters that invite visitors to think and feel differently about the world.

Siegel came to the Museum in 2023 from the Art Institute of Chicago, where she served as the curator of photography and media for 25 years and established her international reputation for curatorial scholarship, integrity, and cross-disciplinary innovation. Her nearly 30 exhibitions include Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage (2009) and André Kertész: Postcards from Paris (2021). In addition to catalogues, she has authored Galleries of Friendship and Fame: A History of Nineteenth-Century American Photograph Albums (Yale University Press, 2010) and co-edited The Art Institute of Chicago Field Guide to Photography and Media (2023).

Recognized as a leader in and outside the museum field, she regularly presents at conferences, serves on panels, publishes articles, and teaches university courses. Siegel holds a BA in the history of art from Yale University and a PhD in art history from the University of Chicago.

Margaret Andera, Senior Curator of Contemporary Art

During her more than 30-year tenure at the Milwaukee Art Museum, Margaret Andera has facilitated significant acquisitions of contemporary and self-taught art, including works by Katharina Grosse, Rashid Johnson, Robert Longo, Truman Lowe, Carmen Neely, Edgar Tolson, and Kehinde Wiley. Among the many exhibitions she has curated are On Site: Andrea Zittel (2004), Uncommon Folk: Traditions in American Art (2014), Currents 37: Lawrence Weiner (2017), Rashid Johnson: Hail We Now Sing Joy (2017), William Kentridge: More Sweetly Play the Dance (2018), 50 Paintings (2023), and most recently Robert Longo: The Acceleration of History (2024).

Chyna Bounds, Assistant Curator of American Decorative Arts and Design

Chyna Bounds is an assistant curator at the Milwaukee Art Museum with expertise in the 20th- and 21st-Century Design and American collections. Since joining the Museum in 2019, she has curated Distinctive Individuality: George Mann Niedecken’s Milwaukee Interiors (2022) and Beyond Heights: Skyscrapers and the Human Experience (2024). Bounds assisted with Americans in Spain: Painting and Travel, 1820–1920 (2021), The Ashcan School and The Eight: “Creating a National Art” (2022), and Scandinavian Design and the United States, 1890–1980 (2023). Her recent projects include Homelands: Mnë’nának, Māēnāēwah, Tešišik (2025), a collection gallery installation developed in collaboration with the Native Initiatives Advisory Group.

Bounds previously served as a research assistant in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the Portland Art Museum, where she curated Associated American Artists: Prints for the People (2019). She holds a BA in art history from the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities and an MA in the history of art and architecture from the University of Oregon.

Thomas Busciglio-Ritter, Abert Family Associate Curator of American Art

Thomas Busciglio-Ritter joined the Milwaukee Art Museum in 2025 as the Abert Family Associate Curator of American Art, overseeing the research, exhibition, and acquisition of American art from the 18th to the mid-20th century. His projects include the upcoming exhibition Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World Is a Mystery (2026).

Before Milwaukee, Busciglio-Ritter served as assistant curator of American Western art at the Joslyn Art Museum, where he played a pivotal role in reinstalling the American galleries during its expansion and curated All Aboard: The Railroad in American Art, 1840–1955 (2025). He has authored scholarly articles in journals such as Revue de l’art, Panorama, Early American Studies, and Print Quarterly. Busciglio-Ritter is a native of France and a trilingual scholar fluent in French, English, and German. He holds a PhD in art history from the University of Delaware and advanced degrees from École du Louvre and Sciences Po Paris.

Kristen Gaylord, Herzfeld Curator of Photography and Media Arts

Kristen Gaylord is the Herzfeld Curator of Photography and Media Arts, overseeing the research, preservation, and presentation of the Museum’s photography and new media collections. Since joining MAM in 2023, she has served as site curator for Arresting Beauty: Julia Margaret Cameron (2024) and curated Erin Shirreff: Permanent Drafts (2025). Her upcoming projects include Currents 40: Widline Cadet (2026) and a major survey on the relationship between photography and extractive industries in the U.S., which opens at the National Gallery of Art next year.

Previously, Gaylord was associate curator of photographs at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art and held multiple curatorial roles at the Museum of Modern Art, where she contributed to over a dozen exhibitions and publications. Gaylord holds an MA and a PhD in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.

Nikki Otten, Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings

Nikki Otten is the associate curator of prints and drawings at the Milwaukee Art Museum, where she is responsible for works on paper from the 15th to the 21st century. Since joining the Museum in 2018, Otten has curated Landfall Press: Five Decades of Printmaking (2019), Always New: The Posters of Jules Chéret (2022), and Currents 39: LaToya M. Hobbs, Carving Out Time (2024), in addition to several rotations of American and European art drawn from the collection. Her recent projects include Reviving the Dance of Death (2025) and an upcoming exhibition on German Romantic prints and drawings.

Previously, Otten held fellowships and internships at the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, the Chrysler Museum of Art, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. She holds an MA and a PhD in art history from the University of Minnesota.

Tanya Paul, Isabel and Alfred Bader Curator of European Art

Tanya Paul is the Isabel and Alfred Bader Curator of European Art, overseeing the Museum’s collection of European art from the Late Medieval Period through World War I. Since joining MAM in 2013, she has curated From Rembrandt to Parmigianino: Old Masters from Private Collections (2016); Bouguereau & America (2019); A Very Strong Likeness of Her: Portraiture and Identity in the British Colonial World (2023); and Art, Life, Legacy: Northern European Paintings in the Collection of Isabel and Alfred Bader (2023), among other exhibitions and rotations. In 2014, Paul organized the reinstallation of the European collection.

Paul previously held curatorial positions at the Philbrook Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the University of Virigina Art Museum. She holds an MA and a PhD in art history from the University of Virginia, with a specialization in seventeenth-century Dutch still life painting.

Shoshana Resnikoff, Demmer Curator of 20th- and 21st-Century Design

Shoshana Resnikoff joined the Milwaukee Art Museum in 2023 as the Demmer Curator of 20th- and 21st-Century Design, overseeing the collection’s holdings of design, decorative arts, and craft made after 1900. In 2025, she presented Meadow by DRIFT, the second installation of the Winter Series in Windhover Hall. Her projects include the upcoming exhibition The Shakers: A World in the Making (2026).

Prior to MAM, Resnikoff was curator at The Wolfsonian–Florida International University, where she focused on modern design, decorative arts, and material culture. There, she co-curated A Universe of Things: Micky Wolfson Collects (2019) and curated Street Shrines (2022), among other projects. She has held curatorial positions at the Peabody Essex Museum, Terra Foundation for American Art, and Cranbrook Art Museum. Resnikoff holds an MA in American material culture from the Winterthur Program at the University of Delaware.

Catherine Sawinski, Assistant Curator of European Art

Catherine Sawinski is the assistant curator of European art at the Milwaukee Art Museum, researching ancient and European art before 1900. During her 20+ years at the Museum, she has curated Intimate Images of Love and Loss: Portrait Miniatures (2010), Gods and Heroes: Classical Mythology in European Prints (2017), The Art of Devotion: Illuminated Manuscripts from Local Collections (2019), and Light and Shadow: John Constable’s English Landscapes in Print (2024) and assisted with Bouguereau & America (2019), among other feature exhibitions.

Sawinski holds a BA in art history and classics from Lawrence University and an MA in art history and two certificates in museum studies from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.