Advisory Board

Halley K. Harrisburg, born and raised in Portland, Maine, is the Director of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery. A graduate of Bowdoin College (1990) with a B.A. in art history, she has worked in the art profession for sixteen years. Beginning her career at Josh Baer Gallery, she teamed in 1992 with Michael Rosenfeld of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, where she remains today. At Michael Rosenfeld Gallery (ADAA member since 2000), Harrisburg has organized significant exhibitions that have explored the depth and breadth of twentieth-century American art. Known for presenting historically significant but under-recognized artists and movements, Harrisburg, along with Rosenfeld, has become a leading dealer in the field of historical African American art. In 1993, they launched the groundbreaking exhibition series, African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks. For a decade, this series presented the highest quality work by the most important African American artists, showcasing a full range of aesthetic styles, subjects and media. Harrisburg has also organized landmark exhibitions that include Fiber & Form: The Woman’s Legacy and its traveling sequel True Grit. To accompany each gallery exhibition, Harrisburg has designed and edited over ninety publications and many of her books have been recognized for their excellence; most recently, Martha Madigan: Vernal Equinox won the 2002 Independent Publisher’s Award (IPPY) for Outstanding Book of the Year.

Committed to education, Harrisburg lectures frequently on twentieth-century American art and is an adjunct advisor at PS36/The Margaret Douglas School, a New York City public elementary school located in Harlem. For her work in the schools with children aged 6 to 8, Harrisburg was awarded the 2001 Volunteer of the Year by the District. Presently, Harrisburg serves on the Executive Board of the Children’s Museum of Manhattan (CMOM), on the Bowdoin College Museum of Art Executive Advisory Board, the Advisory Board of the Apollo Theater Foundation, and the Associates Steering Committee of The Studio in the School. In 2004, she was elected to ArtTable, a national non-profit membership organization for professional women in leadership positions in the visual arts. She was recently featured in the Big Apple Parent (November 2005) article Raising our Kids: Smart Women, Strong Daughters.