Joan Davidow
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Director/curator, Arlington Museum of Art
Director/curator, Dallas Contemporary
Co-founder/director/curator, SITE131, Dallas
Joan Davidow | |
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| Born | July 27, 1940 |
| Occupation | Art curator |
| Years active | 1975–present |
| Known for | Acting assistant curator, Dallas Museum of Art Director/curator, Arlington Museum of Art Director/curator, Dallas Contemporary Co-founder/director/curator, SITE131, Dallas |
Joan Davidow is an American contemporary art expert, and has served as museum director and curator at a number of Texas-based art institutions. She has been an art critic for PBS Texas television and radio stations.
Davidow and her son Seth founded the Dallas-based artspace SITE131.
Davidow grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, and as a young woman attended art classes at the local museum while working part-time with her family at their auto parts shop. In 1962, Davidow graduated from Jacksonville University, becoming a public school art teacher.
After she married, and had two sons, she created her own art, primarily ceramics. Every month, she brought home prints of famous artworks from the local library to hang in her children's rooms.[1] She also volunteered at local arts organizations, including the Jacksonville Art Museum.
Later, Davidow earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Art career
In 1975, Davidow began a three-year stint producing arts coverage for the Jacksonville PBS station, WJCT-TV, eventually going on air. After her family expanded their auto parts business to North Dallas in 1981, she became the volunteer coordinator of the art auction for the Dallas PBS affiliate, KERA-TV.
"I was happier out in the art community than I was inside the studio,” Davidow told Texas Monthly magazine. As a result, she successfully auditioned and got the job as the Public Radio art critic for KERA-FM radio. The job lasted six years and while doing it, she learned "how to talk to an audience that isn’t completely art-knowledgeable."