Jennifer-Navva Milliken

Jennifer-Navva Milliken is the artis­tic leader at the Museum for Art in Wood and is respon­si­ble for creat­ing and execut­ing the exhi­bi­tion sched­ule, facil­i­tat­ing the annual Windgate ITE Inter­na­tional Resi­dency program, main­tain­ing the integrity of the museum collec­tion and research library, and over­see­ing the Center’s publish­ing and documentation activities.

Before coming to the Museum in May 2018, she worked as an inde­pen­dent curator and consul­tant, follow­ing her tenure as the Curator of Craft and Design and the interim cura­to­r­ial direc­tor at the Belle­vue Arts Museum [BAM]. Before joining BAM, she estab­lished INTER ALIA projects, a cura­to­r­ial enter­prise based in Tel Aviv, Israel, and New York, NY. INTER ALIA fostered dialogues surround­ing contem­po­rary art, studio craft, design, and new media through site-specific pop-up exhi­bi­tions, gallery program­ming, writing, and advo­cacy for artists prac­tic­ing in these fields. Milliken has lived in several locales includ­ing Jerusalem, New York, Seoul, and Tel Aviv. In addi­tion to her time at BAM, she has been an embed­ded staff member at a number of cultural insti­tu­tions and museums, among them the Museum of Arts & Design (MAD), New York, and The Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

She served on the board of the Furni­ture Society and is a member of the Inter­na­tional Council of Museums. Milliken remains in demand as a lecturer and writer due to her exper­tise in contem­po­rary craft and design. She authored the exhi­bi­tion cata­logue WHY WOOD? Contem­po­rary Prac­tice in a Time­less Mate­r­ial, a 2016 Collec­tors of Wood Art publi­ca­tion, as well as Humaira Abid: Taboo, which was released in 2018 in conjunc­tion with the trav­el­ing exhi­bi­tion Humaira Abid: Search­ing for Home.