Not the old,
not the new,
but the necessary.
— Vladimir Tatlin
In 2014, after years of working casually with artist-friends on their writing and career development, I established The Necessarian LLC as a business through which I formally offer essential advising, editing, publishing, and project management services to artists and arts organizations. In 2024, I launched a small publishing imprint, The Necessarian + Company (N+Co.), which specializes in artist-authored titles and monographs. Through these endeavors, I aim to make the writing, editing, and publishing processes as transparent and accessible as possible for my clients.
As a member of the Center for Art Law, the Catalogue Raisonné Scholars Association, and the Editorial Freelancers Association, I continue to educate myself by engaging with other professionals in the field through classes, webinars, and conferences. Most importantly, I talk with and listen to artists so I can advocate for how and where they want their voices to be heard and their words to be read.
A few of my recent clients include the Columbus Museum of Art, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Harwood Art Center, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Public Trust, Tamarind Institute, University of New Mexico, University of South Florida, and the Wende Museum. I was project manager for Harmony Hammond: Still Dangerous! (Duke University Press, forthcoming), and I have edited numerous monographs, exhibition catalogues, and other art books including Ruth Pastine Limitless (Skira, forthcoming); Amy Ellingson’s On Painting and the Nature of Work (N+Co., 2026); Aaron Parazette (Skira, 2025); Jay Shinn: From All Points at Once (N+Co., 2025); Marcelyn McNeil: Works (Radius Books, 2022); Bridge Projects' We are all guests here. (2022), Otherwise/Revival (2021), To Bough and To Bend (2020), A Composite Leviathan (2020), and Phillip K. Smith III: 10 Columns (2019); Abbey Hepner's The Light at the End of History (Daylight Books, 2021); Christopher Sperandio's Comics Making: The Technology of Teaching Comics (Argle Bargle Books, 2021) and Fundamental Camarena (Argle Bargle Books, 2020); Ariane Roesch's How to Build: a House, a Life, a Future (Atmen Press, 2019); and Pamela Fraser's How Color Works: Color Theory for the 21st Century (Oxford Press, 2017).
I authored the essay "Working Area" in Frederick Hammersley: To Paint without Thinking (The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, 2017), contributed to The Hustle Economy: Transforming Your Creativity Into a Career (Running Press Adult, 2016), and I write or have written for Artforum, Arts + Culture Texas, Art Ltd., Art Lies, Dance Houston, Edible New Mexico, Hyperallergic, Southwest Contemporary, and more. The incredible people who have edited my writing include Natalie Haddad, Elisa Wouk Almino, and Valentina Di Liscia (Hyperallergic), Nancy Wozny (ACTX), Natalie Hegert and Steve Jansen (Southwest Contemporary), and Briana Olson and Marie Landau (Edible New Mexico). In my personal pursuits, I am working on a book about how women have used running to advance equal rights.
I was assistant editor at Hyperallergic, and served on the City of Albuquerque Urban Enhancement Trust Fund committee. Prior to joining the Hyperallergic team, I held the position of gallery director at Tamarind Institute, administrative director of the Frederick Hammersley Foundation, and was owner/director of Central Features Contemporary Art. In 2010, I moved to New Mexico from Texas where I was associate director of the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts.
I regularly participate in artist award juries and grant proposal reviews, most recently for the Mid-America Arts Alliance, Fleishhacker Foundation, Creative Capital, and the Harpo Foundation. I have a Certificate in Editing from Poynter and ACES, completed a course in editing at the University of New Mexico, and took part in the Seminar on Strategy for Artist Endowed Foundation Leaders with the Aspen Institute. Currently, I am pursuing a graduate certificate in sports, entertainment, and art law through the University of Pittsburgh. In 2007, I received my MA in Curatorial Practice from California College of the Arts and my BFA in Painting and Drawing from Ohio State University in 2001.
For over two decades, I have been advocating for artists’ voices. More than half of that time has been focused on furthering artists’ legacies through curating, editing, publishing, and writing.
Today, as The Necessarian, I advise artists on how to include publishing as an essential part of your legacy plan — and I offer related editing and project management services — so you can use your monograph, exhibition catalogue, and more to shape the story of your life’s work.
I live and work on the unceded territory (now called New Mexico) of nineteen Pueblos, three Apache nations, and the Navajo Nation, all Indigenous people who have suffered because of displacement and genocide committed by the United States government. I use this space to recognize and honor Native communities, to commit to working against systems of oppression, and to strive for decolonization and reconciliation, especially concerning creative expression and cultural practices.