MARK NIELSEN

Director, Slusser Gallery & Work • Ann Arbor

Contact

Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Office: 1103 AA
Phone: (734) 368-1095

Curriculum Vitae

B.F.A., Minneapolis College of Art and Design, 1981

Biography

Mark Nielsen worked as a freelance designer before joining the A&D staff to redesign the public display areas in the School's hallways. Now an exhibitions director, Nielsen works with a faculty committee and as part of an exhibitions team to oversee the School's exhibitions program.

After graduating from college, Nielsen spent a few years in San Francisco working as a production designer for stage shows by the Rolling Stones, Genesis, Pink Floyd and others. After returning to Minneapolis, the skills developed in this field translated easily to the requirements of the Walker Art Center's exhibition program. He worked closely with curators and visiting artists such as Jennifer Bartlett, Saul Lewitt, Claus Oldenberg and Frank Stella to design and install their exhibitions.

Nielsen's exhibition talents were honed at the UM Museum of Art, where he was exposed to a wider array of art, including old masters paintings and Asian and European artifacts and works on paper. These presented design and archival concerns that were new and challenging and provided an informal hands-on art history education. Nielsen won awards for several designs, including an architectural reconstruction of an ancient Sephoris Ark and an interactive Tea House, which later became a tourist destination, complete with a daily tea ceremony performance.

Nielsen has served as a consultant to a number of campus galleries, including the Kelsey Museum and the Institute for the Humanities, in the areas of gallery development, design and maintenance. Also an exhibiting artist, Nielsen appears on occasion in area galleries under the pseudonym Uncle Art.