The Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement (MAACM) has announced that Kevin W. Tucker has been named the first director of the Museum, to be located in St. Petersburg, Florida. Tucker assumes his role with the MAACM on August 17, 2015.

The Museum, scheduled for completion in 2017, will be the home of the collection of the Two Red Roses Foundation, a private, non-profit educational institution in Palm Harbor, Florida, formed to promote an understanding of the American Arts and Crafts movement through the acquisition, preservation, and interpretation of the decorative and fine arts. Established by retired businessman Rudy Ciccarello in 2004, the Foundation’s extensive collection includes unparalleled works of furniture, metalwork, lighting, ceramics, paintings, prints, photography, and other objects produced between 1900 and 1930.

"When considering this most important position, I couldn't think of a more qualified, capable and knowledgeable museum professional to lead this effort," said Ciccarello. "His understanding of the Arts and Crafts movement, the objects and the artists who created them, is exemplary and is based on his nearly 25 years of experience working in the field."

“I am honored to have been selected as the director of the Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement,” said Tucker.  “I have long been fascinated by the early twentieth century and the contemporary resonance of its creative struggles to reconcile art, craft, industry, and rapid cultural change. The subject is deeply compelling to me, but even more so is this opportunity to work with Mr. Ciccarello and the Two Red Roses Foundation to lead this new museum for the St. Petersburg community, its many visitors, and all with an interest in such astounding expressions of creativity.”

Tucker previously served as The Margot B. Perot Senior Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA), having joined that institution in 2003. During his tenure, he organized numerous exhibitions on the subject of early 20th-century design including Gustav Stickley and the American Arts & Crafts Movement (2010), Modernism in American Silver: 20th-Century Design (2005), and the recent Modern Opulence in Vienna: the Wittgenstein Vitrine (2014).In addition to authoring catalogue essays for each of those efforts, he has lectured and written extensively on the subject of Arts and Crafts design including an essay on Newcomb metalwork in Women, Art, and Social Change: The Newcomb Pottery Enterprise (2014). His achievements included conceiving and overseeing comprehensive reinstallations of the American and European design holdings, more than doubling the endowment for decorative arts acquisitions, and working to bring major works to the DMA including the recent gifts of the Wittgenstein Vitrine and the Rose-Asenbaum Collection of modern jewelry.

Prior to his work at the DMA, Tucker served as deputy director, chief curator, and curator of decorative arts at the Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, South Carolina, where he helped guide the creation of a new 90,000 square-foot museum building that opened in 1998. In addition to his work in Columbia, Tucker had previously served as Curator of Decorative Arts and the Owens-Thomas House at the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia. 

Tucker has served on the board of the Curators Committee (CURCOM) and has been involved with various regional and national professional committees, including that of the Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC). He holds an MA degree in Applied History/Museum Studies and a BA in History from the University of South Carolina, and was the recipient of a 2007 Winterthur Research Fellowship for his work on Gustav Stickley and the American Arts & Crafts Movement.

About the Two Red Roses Foundation and the Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement

The Two Red Roses Foundation (TRRF) is a private, non-profit educational institution located in Palm Harbor, Florida, established by retired businessman Rudy Ciccarello in 2004 to promote an understanding of the American Arts and Crafts movement through the acquisition, preservation, and interpretation of the decorative and fine arts. The Foundation’s extensive collection includes more than 1,700 unparalleled works of furniture, metalwork, lighting, ceramics, paintings, prints, photography, and other objects produced between 1900 and 1930. Examples of artists, craftspeople, and organizations represented include Gustav Stickley, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles Rohlfs, Byrdcliffe, Dirk van Erp, Grueby, Saturday Evening Girls, Rookwood, Newcomb College, Marblehead, Frederick Hurten Rhead, Adelaide Alsop Robineau, Arthur Wesley Dow, Margaret Patterson, and the Roycrofters,. The holdings also feature photographs and photogravures from noted artists from the Pictorialist and Photo Secessionist movement, including Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, and Alvin Langdon Coburn.

The Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement (MAACM), scheduled for completion in 2017, will be the home of the collection of the Two Red Roses Foundation. The MAACM will be located in the thriving downtown arts district of St. Petersburg, Florida, close to Arts and Crafts-era homes and bungalows of the historic Old Northeast and Kenwood neighborhoods. Situated on a 3.5 acre site, the museum will be housed in a four-story, 110,000-square-foot building designed by award-winning Tampa architect Alberto Alfonso.

In addition to galleries for collections and changing exhibitions, the museum will include a lecture hall, education center, reference library and archive, gift shop, cafe and restaurant.

For additional information, visit www.tworedroses.com or contact: email@craftsmanmuseum.com.