Jack Rasmussen
Encyclopedia
American University Museum
The American University Museum is located in the Katzen Arts Center at the American University in Washington, DC. It is a three-story, museum and sculpture garden located within the university’s Katzen Arts Center. The region’s largest university facility for exhibiting art, the museum’s permanent...
at the Katzen Arts Center
Katzen Arts Center
The Katzen Arts Center is home to all of the visual and performing arts programs at American University and the American University Museum. Located at Ward Circle, the intersection of Nebraska Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue, the Center sits atop Embassy Row in Washington, DC, one of the highest...
in Washington, DC. A native of Seattle and raised in San Jose, Jack Rasmussen (born 1949) earned his bachelor’s degree in art (1971) from Whitman College
Whitman College
Whitman College is a private, co-educational, non-sectarian, residential undergraduate liberal arts college located in Walla Walla, Washington. Initially founded as a seminary by a territorial legislative charter in 1859, the school became a four year degree granting institution in 1883...
in Walla Walla, Washington
Walla Walla, Washington
Walla Walla is the largest city in and the county seat of Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. The population was 31,731 at the 2010 census...
, before launching a long association with American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
and notable arts career in the DC region. His several AU connections include master’s degrees in painting (1975), arts management (1983) and anthropology (1991), a PhD in anthropological linguistics (1994). In addition he has also taught painting, curatorial practice, and arts programming, and worked as the university’s associate director of development from 1983 to 1987.
After working in the Education Department of the National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...
, Rasmussen began his contemporary art career in 1975 as assistant director of the Washington Project for the Arts under founder Alice Denney. He then owned and operated the Jack Rasmussen Gallery, a vital part of DC’s art scene until he closed in 1983 to work at American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
. From 1989 to 1992 Rasmussen launched and directed the Rockville Arts Place in suburban Maryland, anticipating a trend, now commonplace, of community-based arts organizations away from city centers.
Rasmussen then became executive director of the Maryland Art Place in Baltimore, a nonprofit contemporary arts center serving the Mid-Atlantic region. In his ten years at MAP, he curated a series of cutting-edge shows and off-site projects, introduced a new cabaret space and heightened community involvement. Rasmussen’s next post—before the Katzen—was executive director of the di Rosa Preserve: Art & Nature, a contemporary art museum and natural habitat in Napa, California. There, he oversaw the care and exhibition of 2,100 artworks indoors and out, and organized traveling exhibitions to establish the di Rosa’s reputation and identity as the premiere venue for Northern California contemporary art. Rasmussen’s overview of the di Rosa, “The True Artist is an Amazing Luminous Fountain,” was shown and well-received at Washington’s Kreeger Museum in 2004.1
As Director and Curator of the American University Museum
American University Museum
The American University Museum is located in the Katzen Arts Center at the American University in Washington, DC. It is a three-story, museum and sculpture garden located within the university’s Katzen Arts Center. The region’s largest university facility for exhibiting art, the museum’s permanent...
at the Katzen Arts Center
Katzen Arts Center
The Katzen Arts Center is home to all of the visual and performing arts programs at American University and the American University Museum. Located at Ward Circle, the intersection of Nebraska Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue, the Center sits atop Embassy Row in Washington, DC, one of the highest...
, Rasmussen has focused on art of the Washington region,2 political art,3, 4 and international exhibitions.5
Related links
American University MuseumArt @ the Katzen Jack's Blog
di Rosa Preserve
Maryland Art Place
Washington Project for the Arts
Jack Rasmussen Gallery
Fernando Botero
Fernando Botero
Fernando Botero Angulo is a Colombian figurative artist. His works feature a figurative style, called by some "Boterismo", which gives them an unmistakable identity...