Liz Simmons returns home to lead the Huntington Museum of Art into an exciting new future.
By James E. Casto
HQ 129 Spring 2025
Elizabeth “Liz” Simmons is back home — and loving it. As a young girl growing up in Huntington, Simmons dreamed of becoming an artist, a dream that frequently drew her to the Huntington Museum of Art (HMA). Now, she’s the museum’s new executive director.
Simmons recalls how, as a young artist, she did a charcoal sketch of the Mona Lisa that she was especially proud of. She suspects her parents still have it tucked away somewhere.
“I love this place,” she says of the museum. “I grew up here. I came to Saturday KidsArt classes when I was in elementary school; I job shadowed here in high school; I interned here in college. It keeps drawing me back in. Even when I was away in graduate school and working at museums across the country, when we came back to visit Huntington my husband and I would always come hike the museum trail with our dog.”
Simmons’ personal connection to the museum has given her a unique appreciation for its significance in the community.
“I think some people in the region take the museum for granted. I don’t think people realize just how rare and special it is to have a museum of this caliber in their hometown,” she says. “I’m thrilled to serve as HMA’s new director and continue its great legacy of fostering the arts for the city of Huntington. The museum’s deep collection and expansive exhibitions are unparalleled in our region. Its emphasis on nature and education underscore important values for the Tri-State region.”
Simmons comes to HMA from the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences in Charleston where, as curator of art and engagement, she oversaw exhibits and programming
for the Juliet Art Museum and Susan Runyan Maier
Sculpture Garden.
An honors graduate of Huntington High School, Simmons graduated magna cum laude from Miami University (OH) in 2010 with a B.A. in strategic communication. She earned an M.A. in art history in 2012 from Indiana University and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in art history at the University of Delaware, where she is an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow.
Simmons was a research assistant at the Cincinnati Art Museum from 2018 to 2020 and a spotlight gallery educator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2016 and 2017. She was a graduate assistant at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library in Delaware and the Fess Fellow at the Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University. In addition to her internship at HMA, she has internship experience with the Princeton University Art Museum, the National Gallery of Art and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
“Having grown up in the art classes and galleries here, it’s a dream to come back to work for my hometown museum,” she says. “I am eager to lead the museum into an exciting future of innovative exhibitions and engaging programs that are accessible for all visitors.”
Simmons and her husband Renato Castillo are the proud parents of Gene, who turns 1 in April.
“I can’t wait for my son to grow up here,” she says. “I really believe we have an opportunity to make this museum, which already has wonderful programs for children, really blossom with family initiatives.”
HMA board president Shelia Brownfield describes Simmons’ appointment as “a win-win for all of us.”
“She needs no introduction to the area, and she will add her personal touch to the success of the museum going forward,” Brownfield says. “We are all excited to welcome Liz home.”
Board member Terry Deppner Hardin, who chaired the nationwide search for a new director, affirms the board’s confidence in Simmons’ leadership.
“Liz possesses the qualifications and expertise to grow the museum into an even greater, more successful institution that will have a lasting impact on our region,” Hardin says.
