Staff & Board

Laura Millin

Executive Director

For over 30 years, Laura Millin has dedicated herself to MAM and its vision, doing everything from steering the direction of the museum, raising money, and maintaining and expanding the museum facilities, to making soup for crowds of guests. As Executive Director, Laura has taken MAM from a small county agency living in a converted Carnegie library to an independent, thriving nonprofit in a beautiful, renovated and expanded facility. Laura moved to Missoula after spending a decade in contemporary art in Seattle, where she co-founded the International Festival of Films by Women and the Center on Contemporary Art. She has served on the board of directors or advisors for at least a dozen nonprofits, and has received seven awards for her leadership, fundraising, and community service achievements. MAM is a labor of love for Laura and represents her life’s work. She is continually rewarded by the “MAMily” of staff and board members who make it all possible, and by the artists who enrich our lives, and says she still has plenty more to do at MAM. Laura graduated from Evergreen State College with a bachelor’s in interdisciplinary studies.

Brandon Reintjes

Senior Curator

At MAM, Brandon oversees strategic planning for programming initiatives, which is a technical way of describing the pleasurable task of working closely with artists to help them realize their creative visions. Brandon has worked as curator for a number of institutions throughout the state. He previously worked at the Montana Museum of Art & Culture at the University of Montana-Missoula, Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, the Akron Art Museum in Akron, Ohio, and the Holter Museum of Art in Helena, Montana. Recent publications include Phoebe Knapp: Rough Cuts; Cathy Weber: Understory/Overstory (2018); Our Side: Elisa Harkins, Tanya Lukin Linklater, Marianne Nicolson, and Tanis Maria S’eiltin (2018); and Shape of Things: New Approaches to Indigenous Abstraction (2018). In addition, Brandon regularly contributes articles to the Journal of Modern Craft, Ceramics Art & Perception, and Ceramics Monthly. He received a bachelor’s in painting and drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and his master’s in curatorial and critical studies from the University of Louisville.

John Calsbeek

Associate Curator

While at the University of Montana, John had his first taste of working in the arts with a work-study job at MAM and then as the University Center Gallery student coordinator. After earning a bachelor’s in fine arts, John worked as the director of a small, commercial photography gallery in Missoula. John was hired at MAM during its 2006 expansion. As Associate Curator, John now works together with Senior Curator Brandon Reintjes and directly with artists to develop, design, and install all of MAM’s exhibits. He also works with the programming team to develop interpretation and create public programs centered on the exhibition schedule. John has been co-chair of MAM’s auction committee since 2006, working with volunteers and staff to coordinate the annual benefit art auction. His favorite part of the job, in addition to hands-on work in the gallery, is meeting artists—going to an artist’s studio to look at new work and engaging in meaningful dialogue about art and art-making.

Margo Geddes

Registrar

Margo Geddes is an artist and holds an MFA in photography from the University of Oregon. Her photographic practice often revolves around the interactions between people and the natural world, from the impact of wildfire on the landscape to river corridors as mediators between the wild and the domesticated. Geddes holds an MA in Museum Studies and a certificate in Digital Curation from Johns Hopkins University. She is passionate about creating equitable spaces that build community through technology. Most recently she worked at the Mansfield Library to digitize materials from the archives and special collections and make them more discoverable on the Montana Memory Project. As registrar, she’s passionate about finding innovative paths to sharing MAM’s collection.

Kay Grissom-Kiely

Curator of Education

Kay is the Curator of Education for the Missoula Art Museum. Prior to this position, she worked at the Montana Museum of Art and Culture, the Montana Arts Council, homeWORD, as co-editor of the St. James Guide to both Latin American Art and African American Art, and as Development Director and grant writer/researcher at MAM. During her time in Chicago, she was the Director of Education at the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago and has been committed to arts education throughout her career. While in Chicago, she worked at Marwen and Gallery 37, both inner-city arts centers. She completed a curatorial internship for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, as well as internships in museum education at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Eiteljorg Museum of Native American and Western Art in Indianapolis. Kay brings experience designing and implementing teen mentorship programs in the arts, curriculum-based arts-integrated programs, jobs-training programs in the arts, and other interpretive programs from institutions with nationally recognized arts and museum education programs. She has an extensive background in art, with a master’s in art history, theory, and criticism in modern and contemporary art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago—where she focused on contemporary women artists of Cuba—and a bachelor’s in art history from DePaul University.

Janaína Vieira-Marques

Educator and Outreach Coordinator

Janaína Vieira-Marques is a Brazilian-American art director and educator who has called Missoula home since 2008, after immigrating from Brazil. In both roles, she has created art encounters and education programs that incorporate public art pieces, performances, sets, and costumes. Janaína served as Artist in Residence at the Holter Museum of Art and at MAM, and as K-8 art teacher at Sussex School. She has created arts projects for most of the elementary schools in Missoula through the Spark Ignite Learning program. Janaína trained in Visual Thinking Strategies and Arts Integration at the Kennedy Center for the Arts and earned a BFA with high honors from the University of Montana. As an artist she seeks to facilitate collaborative interactions while beautifying the places we share. Her pieces include collaborations with dancers, choreographers, engineers, and light designers. Janaína is trained in graphic design and knows a lot about coloring sawdust for public art.

"My work is grounded in my own experiences as an immigrant, a teaching artist, a mother, a wife and a part of the BIPOC community. I believe that the arts are a fundamental right that can transform communities and shape the way we think about humanity. My approach to education is towards collaboration, where we all bring to the table different skill sets to enhance learning and our sense of place and belonging."

Jessica Noe

Advancement Officer

Jessica Noe joined MAM in 2022 as Advancement Officer. Previously, Jessica was in Denver where she held positions at two of Colorado’s largest cultural institutions, the Denver Zoo and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Noe graduated from the University of Denver with a bachelor’s degree in communications and a minor in studio arts.

Anna Wilson

Marketing and Communications Coordinator

Anna Wilson joined the Missoula Art Museum in 2022 and is excited to share MAM’s story and mission. She holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from Louisiana State University and attended University of Montana to study literature and ecology, with particular interest in the West, the Western, Indigenous futurism, science fiction, and apocalypticism. She has taught writing and literature and has published poetry, non-fiction, and hybrid works in journals such as Gulf Coast, The Volta, and Pool. Wilson’s visual practice ranges from printmaking and book arts to video and handmade paper installations.

Nicolle Hamm

Operations Assistant

Hannah Harvey

Visitor Engagement/Security Officer

Hannah Harvey joined the MAM team in 2021 as a Visitor Engagement/Security Officer. Since then, she has thoroughly enjoyed connecting with the museum’s numerous visitors and learning more about Missoula’s rich community of artists and art lovers. Hannah attended the University of Montana, where she spent her time making plenty of art, teaching students of all ages, working in galleries, and even lending her skills to the MAM as an education intern! After graduating in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in painting and art education, she was thrilled to be welcomed back to MAM. Hannah values the universal power of visual language, and hopes that art lovers and skeptics alike will find something at the museum that sparks their curiosity.

Colton Rothwell

Visitor Engagement/Security Officer

Colton Rothwell joined MAM in 2022 as a Visitor Engagement/Security Officer. Rothwell earned his BFA in studio arts at the University of Montana with a minor in journalism. He discovered his love of art while serving as a gallery assistant at the University Center Gallery. Rothwell’s personal art practice focuses on photography. He brings an enthusiastic presence to MAM and is excited to engage with visitors who are interested in exploring everything contemporary art has to offer.

Missoula Art Museum brings talented and dedicated teaching artists into many ongoing education programs. View current teaching artist bios here.

Board of Directors

Matt Gibson, President

Stephanie Christensen, Vice President

Josh Gimpelson, Treasurer

R. David Wilson, Secretary

Libby Addington

Colin Boyle

Lara Dorman

Paul Filicetti

Amy Leary

Fran Legon

Kate Shanley

Amy Sings in the Timber

Kate Sutherland