Loyola Marymount University has announced the selection of Los Angeles arts leader Karen Rapp as director of the Laband Art Gallery on its Westchester campus.
Rapp, who will oversee the production of all Laband exhibitions, including the annual juried student art exhibition, is the former director of the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College. There, she led the expansion of the museum into a stand-alone, 40,000-square-foot facility and curated a rotating project series called HOY SPACE that received critical attention for its focus on underrepresented artists in the community.
“Karen has been recognized throughout her career for her interdisciplinary approach of finding innovative ways to connect the arts with other academic disciplines, which is something we value greatly at LMU,” said Bryant Keith Alexander, dean of the College of Communication and Fine Arts. “We believe that art is a powerful form of communication that can inform and expand many areas of study in unique ways. With Karen’s hire, we further our commitment to helping LMU students and faculty explore the various ways of knowing through engaging art in the Laband Art Gallery.”
Rapp also served as assistant director, curator and director of the Sweeney Art Gallery at UC Riverside from 1998 to 2005, and has curated exhibitions for artists including Pearl C. Hsiung, Ken Gonzales-Day, Carlos Almaraz, Shizu Saldamando and Lorenzo Hurtado-Segovia.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in history and art history from UCLA and a master’s degree in public history from the UC Riverside.
