Alison Ferris has been a curator of contemporary art for more than 30 years. Most recently, she was the Director of Curatorial Affairs/Senior Curator at the Des Moines Art Center. She curated Ruptures (2017), a group exhibition featuring art with visible punctures, cracks, and fractures that physically express—through the poetic use of materials—contemporary feelings of threat, anxiety, unrest, instability, and impending loss. It was followed by Drawing in Space (2018), consisting of four large-scale installations, all made with tape, strategically sited in the Art Center’s three architecturally significant buildings. She organized the first major solo exhibitions in the United States for British artist Susan Collis (2019) and Scottish artist Karla Black (2020).
Prior to her appointment at the Art Center, Ferris was Curator at John Michael Kohler Arts Center and the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. Ferris served as guest curator for the 2015 Biennial at the Portland Museum of Art. In addition to having organized more than 50 solo, group, and thematic exhibitions, Ferris has written catalog essays and articles on contemporary art and served on numerous public art and grant review panels. Ferris holds an M.A. in Art History from Binghamton University, New York, and a B.A. in Art History from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. In 2018, she was a fellow at the Center for Curatorial Leadership.