Barbara O’Brien to leave Simmons

Barbara O’Brien, director of Simmons College’s Trustman Art Gallery and an assistant professor of art who heads the school’s arts administration program, will be leaving when the fall semester concludes at the end of this year.

She plans to move to Denver, where her husband Bo Smith, who has lead the Boston Museum of Fine Arts’ film, video and concerts program for two decades, recently became director of the Denver Film Society. (And where she should not be confused with Colorado Lieutenant Governor Barbara O’Brien.)

“I do not have a plan. I am looking into opportunities,” O’Brien tells me. “Denver is a really exciting city for contemporary art.”

O’Brien grew up outside Kansas City, but has been in New England for years. She earned an MFA through RISD’s photography department in 1990, directed Montserrat College of Art’s gallery and visiting artist program from 1990 to 2001, was editor in chief of Art New England from 2002 to 2006, then joined Simmons.