Jenny Gibbs and Helen Toomer to Spearhead the IFPDA and Fine Art Print Fair’s Vibrant New Chapter

The Board of Directors of the International Fine Print Dealers Association has announced that art fair veteran Helen Toomer will join Executive Director Jenny Gibbs at the helm of the Fine Art Print Fair as Fair Director. Gibbs, who became Executive Director of the International Fine Print Dealers Association, the Fine Art Print Fair and the IFPDA Foundation in February 2019, says, “I am thrilled we were able to recruit Helen to head the IFPDA Fine Art Print Fair! Her expertise and flair are just what we need to stand out in this crowded art-fair landscape”.

President of the IFPDA, David Tunick, says “Jenny and Helen make a formidable team -- their breadth of experience and energetic leadership is what we need to advance the mission and objectives of the IFPDA at this pivotal time for the organization and for the Fair.”

Helen Toomer brings a comprehensive background of over fourteen years in the US and UK organizing art fairs and exhibitions, as the former Director of PULSE Contemporary Art Fair and the Collective Design Fair, which she helped launch in 2013. She has experience in promoting and working with artists as the co-Founder of STONELEAF RETREAT, an artist residency in the Catskill Mountains (now in its third year) and as co-founder of the much-admired Lower East Side gallery, toomer labzda. Toomer taught the Business of Art Fairs and Social Media and Marketing at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and has lectured at Christie’s Education, New York Academy of the Arts, Bournemouth Arts University, and Pratt Institute. “I am excited to be working with Jenny and focusing our resources on furthering the success of the renowned Fine Art Print Fair, presented by the IFPDA,” comments Ms. Toomer. “The fair provides the perfect place to view old masters alongside the most current contemporary printmakers, and I look forward to bringing my experience to cultivate tomorrow’s collectors to love and live with prints.”

Prior to becoming the IFPDA’s Executive Director in February, Jenny Gibbs was Director of the MA in Art Business Program at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, where she continues to teach as adjunct faculty. Prior to Sotheby’s, she served as Executive Director of Elmhurst Art Museum, leading the Chicago-area institution through a period of significant growth with major gifts and grants, developing the vision and planning for the restoration of Mies van der Rohe’s McCormick House (1952) and presenting acclaimed exhibitions including Kings & Queens; Chicago, Imagists and Pinball and Playboy Architecture: 1953-1979. Before joining Elmhurst Art Museum, Gibbs headed the graduate programs at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston and worked with Bard College as the Executive Director of the Lacoste School of the Arts in France. Gibbs began her career at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and at Christie's as an old master painting specialist.

The International Fine Print Dealers Association is a nonprofit organization with 160 expert art dealers and publishers in 18 countries. The annual IFPDA Fine Art Print Fair is the largest international art fair focused exclusively to printmaking and is noted for its historical depth, exhibiting works from the 15th through the 21st century. Proceeds from the Fine Art Print Fair benefit the IFPDA Foundation, which awards museum acquisition grants and curatorial internships. The Fine Art Print Fair will take place October 23-27, 2019 at the I.M. Pei-designed River Pavilion Javits Center, NYC. For further information on the Fine Art Print Fair, please visit www.printfair.com and follow @ifpda on Instagram.

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