BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Squeak Carnwath, President
Squeak Carnwath is a painter and an educator who maintains a studio in Oakland, California. From 1998 to 2010 she served as professor in residence in the Department of Art Practice at the University of California, Berkeley, and is now a professor emeritus there. Carnwath's accomplishments have been recognized with numerous grants and awards, including a Flintridge Foundation award, a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation, two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's SECA award. Her work has been the subject of articles in major periodicals, including ARTnews, Artforum, Art in America, and the New York Times. In 2009 Carnwath had a solo exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California. In 2000 Carnwath cofounded the Artists' Legacy Foundation with her husband, Gary Knecht, and her friend and colleague Viola Frey.
Sanford Hirsch
Sanford Hirsch has developed policy and programs for the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation since its inception in 1976 and currently holds the position of executive director. He has initiated several major exhibitions, including a comprehensive retrospective of Gottlieb's work and a survey of Gottlieb's pictographs. In addition, he has published many articles about Gottlieb and American art, and has lectured on related topics in the U.S. and abroad. Hirsch also chairs the board of the Nancy Graves Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that began making grants to visual artists in 2001. He served as national vice president of the National Artists Equity Association from 1992 to 1995 and is the former chair of the Arts Action Coalition. He joined the Artists' Legacy Foundation board in 2006.
Gary Knecht, Secretary and Treasurer
Gary Knecht is a retired historic preservation planner and designer. From 1982 to 1999 he worked in the City of Oakland's historic preservation program. For 15 of those years Knecht coordinated the Oakland Cultural Heritage Survey, an ongoing study of architecturally and historically important buildings and districts. From 1981 to 2005 he owned his own historic preservation consulting firm, Knecht & Knecht. He helped found and served as a director of the Jack London District Association, Oakland Fund for the Arts, South of the Nimitz Improvement Council, Friends of Terra Cotta, and Oakland Heritage Alliance. His public service includes terms on the Oakland Cultural Affairs Commission and the Alameda Historical Advisory Commission. Knecht was a founding member of the Artists' Legacy Foundation in 2000.
Leah Levy
Leah Levy has been co-trustee and director of the Jay DeFeo Trust since its inception in 1991. From 1974 to 1983 she owned and directed the Leah Levy Gallery in San Francisco. She served as founding curator of Capp Street Project, an artist-in-residency program begun in 1983 in San Francisco to facilitate site-specific installations. Levy has worked internationally as an advisor on public art projects, has organized exhibitions as an independent art curator, and is the author of several books and numerous catalogue essays. She joined the Artists' Legacy Foundation board in 2007.
Steven H. Oliver, Vice President
Steven Oliver became president of Oliver and Company, a construction and development company, in 1969. He has completed more than 1,000 buildings across Northern California including nonprofit arts organizations such as the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Oxbow School in Napa, the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, and the Charles M. Schultz Museum in Santa Rosa. Oliver chaired the board of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where he also served as president from 1995 to 1997. In addition, he has served as chair of the California College of the Arts, where he still serves on the board, and he is a former president of the Oakland Museum of California. He served on the board of the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden from 2000 to 2004. He joined the Artists' Legacy Foundation board at its inception in 2000.
Timothy Rub
Timothy Rub is the 13th Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He began his tenure in September 2009 after serving three years as Director of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Prior to that, he served for six years as the Director of the Cincinnati Art Museum and for nine years as Director of the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. He graduated from Middlebury College in 1974 with a B.A. and highest honors in Art History and then enrolled in the doctoral program at New York University�s Institute of Fine Arts where he earned an M.A. and a Certificate in Curatorial Studies. Later, he received an M.B.A. from the Yale University School of Management and participated in the Harvard University program for Art Museum Directors. Mr. Rub, who is specialist in architectural history and modern and contemporary art, began his curatorial career as a Ford Foundation Fellow at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York. He joined the Artists' Legacy Foundation board in 2011.
Sandra Shannonhouse
Sandra Shannonhouse is a sculptor with studios in Benicia, California, and Clermont, New York. Since the death of her husband, Robert Arneson, in 1992, she has been the administrator of his estate, overseeing the initial inventory and coordinating all aspects of closing the estate. She continues to maintain the inventory and be responsible for the preservation of his legacy, conservation of his work, and scheduling of exhibitions. She is active in Benicia politics, particularly in historic preservation. She has served on various boards and was a founding director of the Benicia Education Fund. She joined the Artists' Legacy Foundation board in 2006.
