Beck steps down at Revolving Museum

Jerry Beck, who founded the Revolving Museum nearly 25 years ago, has decided to step down from his position of artistic director, the Lowell institution has announced (pdf). He plans “to concentrate on his own artwork, teaching and new creative directions.”

“The Revolving Museum and I have grown-up together, and I am deeply proud and humbled by this organization’s amazing accomplishments,” Beck said in a press release. “We’ve come a long way from our first public art show in 12 abandoned railroad cars in Boston. I know people love The Revolving Museum and the Museum loves people. It has been an extraordinary journey and I want to give my heartfelt thanks to all those who I have had the privilege to work with and who have supported me and The Revolving Museum.”

Beck is expected to serve on the museum’s advisory board of directors. Diane Testa, a long-time employee and former administrative director, will become executive director.

Beck founded the Revolving Museum in 1984. The name described its nomadic habits – producing installations and public art in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood, Roxbury in a Civil War fort in Boston Harbor, and, well, all over the place – before the institution settled down in Lowell in 2002.