Arts dean drawn to N.M.

When Kymberly Pinder and her family returned to Chicago after her three-month residency at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Research Center in New Mexico, her three children asked when they’d come back to the Land of Enchantment.

They asked all the time.

The family is finally back, and for good. Pinder, 47, is the new dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of New Mexico, after serving as administrator and professor at the Art Institute of Chicago. Pinder replaces Jim Linnell, who retired. Bill Gilbert filled in as acting dean before Pinder arrived.

“We came out here for three months, and we were totally bitten by the Southwest bug,” Pinder said. “Yes, Chicago is fantastic and I’m gonna miss it, but I knew New Mexico would be an easy sell for my family.”

Pinder, a Baltimore native, has spent her career teaching art history – mural art is her specialty – but she also held key leadership roles at the Art Institute. She was the department chair and graduate program director for the school’s Department of Art History, Theory and Criticism and also taught a class on mural art.

And even though other universities unsuccessfully tried to recruit her, Pinder jumped at the chance to work for UNM when the position was posted last October.

In part, it was because of New Mexico’s vast art community, but Pinder and her family – which includes two boys, 12 and 10, and a girl, who is 7 – were also attracted to the state for its natural beauty.

“We really like being outdoors. We spend a lot of time hiking, going out to pueblo festivals and dances,” she said.

But it was also the myriad programs offered in the College of Fine Arts that attracted her to UNM, Pinder said.

She named as a highlight the Tamarind Institute, which this summer is displaying a group exhibition featuring artists from Brazil and the United States who explored racial identity in their respective countries.

But when asked to name the college’s strongest programs, she said that would be like asking her to pick a favorite child. Pinder, with a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College in Vermont and a master’s and Ph.D. from Yale, said she was impressed by how the College of Fine Arts has developed in spite of budget cuts.

“Crisis brings unity in a very interesting way. You really assess what’s most important to you. … And the university and the College of Fine Arts faculty really unified,” Pinder said.

Pinder also cited new faculty, the college’s arts lab and its film and digital media programs as reasons she took on the job. “This is what really excites me about this job, is that the College of Fine Arts is kind of at this moment where anything can happen,” she said.

Pinder said she hopes to help expand those programs. She also wants to increase the number of students who study abroad. “I really like the idea of, in the future, encouraging more programs and internships and courses that get UNM students out of Albuquerque,” Pinder said.

But first on the list of duties is getting to know dozens of faculty, staff and students, and the programs in which they are involved. Pinder during her first week met with and has asked all department chairs to make a formal assessment of their departments.

Former student Emily Scibilia, who this spring received a master’s degree from the Art Institute of Chicago, said UNM is “lucky to have her.”

Pinder was Scibilia’s thesis adviser over the last year, she said.

Scibilia described her mentor as open and with a good sense of humor, adding that her classes were the most interesting she took during her time at the Art Institute.

“She’s just very down to earth and easy to approach. As a teacher, she was just really a pleasure to work with. Kim would kind of like push me in the right direction. She gave me really the tools that I needed to do my own research,” Scibilia said.

Pinder said she will miss students and teaching her beloved mural art class, but looks forward to leading the college.

“Students really keep you on your toes and keep you from getting bored at what you’re looking at,” she said.

“But then again, I was meeting all week with faculty and staff, and they have so much energy. I’m totally energized by that.”