One of the first things you learn about Sarah Spinner Liska, Ph.D., J.D., the new director of the 91ֿ Museum, is her love of pink.
It’s her hot pink suede power pumps that she wears when an important meeting is on her calendar. Her current favorite item in the museum’s vast collections is a 1968 coat made of lavish hot pink, orange and gold brocade fabric.
The color pink, which can be cheerful and warm or bold and powerful, is analogous to Spinner Liska herself: friendly and welcoming, yet determined and motivated to make the museum bigger and better than before.
“I want to continue to elevate the museum within the university, the Kent community, regionally and nationally,” she said.
Diane Petrella, dean of the College of the Arts, said she was excited to welcome Spinner Liska as the new director.
"Her innovative leadership and proven track record will undoubtedly take the 91ֿ Museum to new heights,” Petrella said. “We’ve seen an increase in programming that has brought fresh energy to the museum. Sarah’s innovative vision includes many student and community engagement opportunities, making the museum a vibrant hub for cultural and educational activities.”
Since taking the helm of the museum on July 1, Spinner Liska has wasted no time in developing a bevy of programs and events to make the museum more accessible to students and to raise its profile.
A Student-Focused Vision
“Students are at the center of my vision,” Spinner Liska said, in a recent interview with 91ֿ Today.
Her vision – for the museum to become more student-focused – began with research she conducted before she even had the job.
Taking her cues from the university’s strategic roadmap, Spinner Liska was inspired by 91ֿ’s Students First positioning and made it a point to find out what students wanted.
She arranged to present a survey to students in the School of Fashion, asking them two questions:
When you think about the future of fashion, what words come to mind?
What exhibits would you like to see at the museum?
Their answers surprised and delighted her and informed not only her vision, which she presented as part of her job interview, but her course of action since taking office.
“The two words I heard most often were ‘inclusive’ and ‘sustainable,’” she explained. “I was moved, and that became the core of my vision, a student-focused vision around these two themes.”
Full Slate of Programs
“We have eight programs planned for September with a strong commitment to center students and faculty at the heart of our work,” Spinner Liska explained.
Los Angeles-based costume designer Isis Mussenden will be on the Kent Campus Sept. 16-17 to present workshops for students and a public lecture at the museum. Mussenden's design work includes the feature film “The Chronicles of Narnia,” as well as streaming shows, commercials and animated films, including “Shrek.”
Other events include an ongoing exhibit of works of Ohio quilting expert Nancy Crow, a student-produced Creator Collection Fashion Show set for Sept. 27, and a screening of "Adam's Rib" starring Katharine Hepburn, on Sept. 26 at the Cleveland Institute of Art's Cinematheque, to celebrate the museum’s current exhibition, “The Hepburn Style.”
On Sept. 20, she will host “Donuts with the Director,” to encourage students to stop by, meet her and learn more about the museum, which offers free entrance for students six days a week.
“I want to make people feel welcome in this place,” Spinner Liska said.
The museum, she said, is a hidden gem.
“I want to raise its visibility not only with students, but as an extension of downtown Kent and the broader arts community of the region,” she said.
Education and Background
Museums have played a significant role in Spinner Liska’s life since she was a teen.
Her mother is American; her father immigrated to Canada in 1953 as a refugee from Czernowitz, Ukraine (a city now known as Chernivtsi). She was raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, but was sent to New York City to spend the summers with her grandmother, and soon discovered free classes for high school students at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “I fell in love with museums and art, and ended up working at the Met every summer in college,” she said.
Spinner Liska earned bachelor’s degrees in art history and French and a master’s degree in humanistic studies from Johns Hopkins University.
During a college internship, she began investigating the provenance of artwork, particularly pieces that were displaced during World War II. The work appealed to her love of history as she was able to dive deeper into the stories of artworks, from their creation to their eventual ownership and their histories in the legal context. She pursued a joint degree program, earning a doctorate in history from Yale University and her juris doctorate from Yale Law School.
Spinner Liska came to Ohio in 2013, when her husband came for a one-year fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic, where he is chair of the Department of Colorectal Surgery. When the year was over, the pair decided that Northeast Ohio was a good place to stay to rear their children.
Spinner Liska was impressed by the breadth of the Northeast Ohio arts community. In civic roles, she has focused on expanding access and audience within the arts and museums field. She founded and chaired the North American Arts ‘Ennials Alliance, a professional network of arts leaders from across the continent, hosting the inaugural conference in Cleveland in 2022.
She serves as a trustee of the Sculpture Center and of Zygote Press, leads the “Community Conversations” series for the Yale Alumni Association of Cleveland, and chairs the Special Exhibitions Committee at the Maltz Museum. Spinner Liska also serves on University Hospitals’ National Arts Leadership Council and the Johns Hopkins University Second Decade Society. Spinner Liska is admitted to practice law in Ohio and is a member of the Ohio State Bar Association.
Collaborations for HVAC and Rembrandt
With a keen eye for detail and a mind that seems to move at lightning speed, Spinner Liska is continually cranking out new ideas or seeing otherwise overlooked details or connections for the museum.
One of her mandates as the new director is to oversee the fundraising and installation of a new $4 million heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system. The improvements are critical to the future of the museum and its collections. Without better systems in place, the fragile textiles in the museum’s collections will begin to degrade over time. In addition, the building won’t qualify to accept pieces on loan from other museums, and other museums won’t be as willing to accept and display pieces from 91ֿ’s collections, she said, explaining how the HVAC improvements are vital for the museum’s future.
As usual, Spinner Liska’s wheels began to spin.
If a new system is to be installed, why not make it as environmentally sustainable as possible? Why not conduct a complete energy audit of the building? Why not go geothermal? And since 91ֿ’s College of Architecture and Environmental Design is literally across the street, why not get them involved to help with the process?
Opportunities for connections and collaborations abound at 91ֿ, she said.
Just outside the heavy, wooden double doors that lead to the museum director’s office, there is a frame that instructs the viewer to slide a small door to view. It is overlooked by many. Yet, behind that protective frame lives a Rembrandt etching, protected from light to keep it from degrading.
At the suggestion of an alumnus and museum supporter she recently met, Spinner Liska is hoping the university’s Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute can be engaged to create a proper covering for the etching so that it can be on full display yet protected from the environment.
“91ֿ literally created the technology that could allow the Rembrandt to be displayed publicly while protecting it from light,” she said.
Details, Floormats and Lots of Pink
Spinner Liska chuckles at her inability to not multitask.
Her mind seems to always fire on all cylinders, and she is eager to accomplish every idea, in partnership with her museum team. She has refused to be daunted by those who cautioned her that progress at universities can happen at a slower pace, instead charging into all tasks full speed ahead.
No detail is too small to elude her attention.
Since arriving at the museum, one of the first things to catch her eye was the black rubber floor mat in the main entryway, the edge of which is beginning to show some wear.
Her thought process: What if someone tripped on it? It could be an accessibility problem for visitors. It should be replaced. But what if it could be replaced with something better? First a call to Facilities Management. Then a call to a specialty mat maker to produce a new floor mat with the museum’s emblem on it to spruce up the entryway and make it more inviting.
Which brings us back to the 1968 hot pink and gold brocade ensemble currently on display in the upstairs gallery. The outfit is part of “Dazzling Day and Night,” a collection of clothing designed by the museum’s founders, Shannon Rodgers and Jerry Silverman.
Spinner Liska loves the print so much that she decided to have it replicated on postcards that will be used to promote upcoming events, including the 40th anniversary of the museum’s 1985 opening which will be celebrated next year.
But not just postcards, laptop stickers, too, for students in the School of Fashion.
But then, connecting with the School of Art, she invited alumnus artist, Micah Kraus, to create a modern reinterpretation of the design that will be made into wallpaper to cover the walls of the coat room near the museum’s entryway where that new floor mat will go, creating an even more vibrant and welcoming space.
“I hope you like this design as much as I do,” Spinner Liska said of the bold pattern. “Because you’ll be seeing lots of it in the year ahead.”