CURATORIAL TEAM

Julian Cox joined the AGO as Deputy Director & Chief Curator in 2018. He leads the curatorial team in designing meaningful art experiences that embrace multiple—and often challenging—points of view. He focuses on exhibition planning in addition to developing the AGO’s significant collections, positioning Toronto and Ontario’s rich artistic landscape in the widest context possible to ensure the Gallery is inclusive and welcoming, and  reflects the diversity of the communities we serve.

Before joining the AGO, Julian was Chief Curator of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), working across two museums, the de Young and the Legion of Honor. In this role, he led curatorial activities in art of the Americas, Oceania and Africa, Ancient art, European Paintings and European Decorative Arts and Sculpture, Prints and Drawings, American art, contemporary art and international textiles and costume. He also managed FAMSF’s conservation, library and publications staff.

Prior to that, he served as Curator of Photography at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia and held several positions in the Department of Photography at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Julian holds a Master of Philosophy degree in the history of photography from the University College of Wales, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in art history from the University of Manchester.

Selected AGO exhibitions:
Cassatt—McNicoll: Impressionists Between Worlds (2023)
Naudline Pierre: Written in the Sky (2023)
Steam: Impressionist Painting Across the Atlantic (2022)
Impressionism in the Age of Industry (2018)
Reinstallation of the European Art permanent collection (2017, 2022)

Background: Prior to joining the AGO in 2017, Caroline Shields held various curatorial roles at the National Gallery of Art, Washington; the Musée d’Orsay, Paris; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She holds a Doctorate in art history from the University of Maryland with expertise in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century European painting, with a particular interest in the history of memory.

Selected AGO exhibitions:
Faith and Fortune: Art Across the Global Spanish Empire (2022)
Meditation and the Medieval Mind (2021)
European Art on First Nations Land (2020)

Background: Prior to becoming Assistant Curator of European Art in 2020, Adam Harris Levine held various curatorial roles at the AGO and conducted extensive work with the Thomson Collection of European Art. He is currently finalizing his doctoral dissertation at Columbia University, where he has also taught extensively. Levine’s area of specialty is medieval and renaissance sculpture and decorative arts.

Selected AGO exhibitions:
Mickalene Thomas: Femmes Noires (2018)
Free. Black. North (2017)
Women in Focus Collection Rotations (2017-ongoing)

Background: Prior to joining the AGO in 2017, Julie Crooks curated exhibitions for many organizations including BAND (Black Artists Networks in Dialogue) and the Royal Ontario Museum’s Of Africa project. She holds a PhD from the Department of History of Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, U.K. Crooks’s area of specialty is vernacular photography of West Africa and the diaspora.

Selected AGO exhibitions:
Magnetic North: Imagining Canada in Painting, 1910-1940 (Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt) (2020-2021)
Naak silavit qeqqa? (2022)
Florine Stettheimer (2017)
Georgia O’Keeffe (2017)
Introducing Suzy Lake (2014)
The Passion of Kathleen Munn (2011)
Betty Goodwin: Work Notes (2010)

Background: Prior to joining the AGO in 2002, Georgiana Uhlyarik held curatorial various roles at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, The Power Plant and the Gershon Iskowitz Foundation. She earned an Honours Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Toronto and a Master’s Degree in art history from York University. She is currently an adjunct faculty member at York University and University of Toronto. As co-lead of the AGO’s department of Indigenous and Canadian art, Uhlyarik’s area of specialty is the work of 20th-century women artists.

Selected AGO exhibitions:
Denyse Thomasos: just beyond (2022)
Kim Ondaatje: The House on Piccadilly Street (2021)
Betty Goodwin: Moving Towards Fire (2019)

Background: Prior to joining the AGO in 2018, Renée van der Avoird held positions as Associate Curator/Registrar at the MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie; Assistant Director of Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto; and Curatorial Mentor at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto. She holds an Honours Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Fine Arts and French Language & Literature from Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, and a Master’s Degree in Museum Studies from the University of Toronto. Van der Avoird’s area of specialty is modern and contemporary Canadian women artists.

Background: Prior to joining the AGO in 2023, Adam held various curatorial roles at the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Museum at the University of Toronto and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Recent curatorial projects include the 2022 retrospective General Idea, Joseph Beuys (2015–17), The Advent of Abstraction (2016­–17), and the Indigenous and Canadian Galleries at the NGC (2017). He holds an MA from Columbia University, and a PhD in the history of art from the University of Toronto. His dissertation, Borderline Research: Art between Canada and the United States, 1965–75, explored relationships between artists, curators, and dealers across the Canadian-American border.

Selected AGO exhibitions:
Moments in Modernism (2024)
Bright Signs: Spotlight on Video Art (2024)

Background: Prior to becoming the Assistant Curator, Contemporary Art at the AGO in 2024, Debbie Johnsen worked in various roles in the Gallery's Department of Modern & Contemporary Art since 2011, most recently as Manager, Modern & Contemporary Collections. During her tenure, she provided key support for major exhibitions such as Brian Jungen: Friendship Centre (2019), Vija Celmins: To Fix the Image in Memory (2019) and Theaster Gates: How to Build a House Museum (2016). She holds a Bachelor's Degree and a Master's Degree in Art History from the University of Toronto. Johnsen’s area of specialty is Time-Based Media.

Selected AGO exhibitions:
Diane Arbus: Photographs, 1956-1971 (2020)
Anthropocene (2018)
Outsiders: American Photography and Film, 1950s-1980s (2016)
Thomas Ruff: Object Relations (2016)
Introducing Suzy Lake (2014)

Background: Sophie Hackett has been a member of the AGO’s department of photography since 2006. During her tenure she has curated numerous exhibitions and collection reinstallations, written and contributed to countless publications, participated on international juries and maintained an active academic profile. She was a Graduate Intern at the J. Paul Getty Museum in its department of photographs, and completed a Master’s Degree in Visual Art at the University of Chicago. She is currently an adjunct faculty member in Toronto Metropolitan University’s Master’s degree program in Film + Photography Preservation and Collections Management, and was a 2017 Fellow with the Center for Curatorial Leadership. Hackett’s area of specialty is 19th and 20th century vernacular photography.

Selected AGO exhibitions:
I AM HERE: Home Movies and Everyday Masterpieces (2022)
Migrations of Line: Julie Mehretu and Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella (2021-2022)
Mail Art, Break the Rules: The Shit Must Stop Portfolio (2019)
Rise of the Rock Poster and the Summer of Love (2017)

Background: Prior to joining the AGO in 2016, Alexa Greist held curatorial positions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Yale University Art Gallery. She holds a Ph.D from the University of Pennsylvania focused on Italian printed drawing books, and a Master’s degree, also from the University of Pennsylvania, with a M.A. thesis on the early drawings of Joseph Stella. Greist’s area of specialty is Italian Renaissance and Baroque prints and drawings.