November 18, 2025 – Telfair Museums has announced a strengthening of its leadership team with the promotion of Dr. Elyse D. Gerstenecker as its new Director of Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Decorative Arts. This is a key appointment for Telfair Museums to encourage growth and greater community engagement as the nonprofit organization demonstrates its deep commitment to cultural stewardship in the Southeastern USA.
Dr. Elyse D. Gerstenecker has been curator of decorative arts at Telfair Museums since 2021. Her previous projects for Telfair have included recent installations at the Telfair Academy, Craft Along the Coast and Stay Awhile: Interiors in Art, the exhibitions The Moss Mystique: Southern Women & Newcomb Pottery and Lingua Flora at Jepson Center, and the 2023 Look/See intervention by Sharon Norwood at the Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters. Gerstenecker came to Telfair after completing her doctoral studies in History of Art & Architecture at the University of Virginia, where she contributed to several projects surrounding Jacob Lawrence’s Struggle series and the catalogue for the Peabody-Essex Museum’s exhibition Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle. She has also written for exhibition catalogues for the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and has held previous curatorial positions with the Fralin Museum of Art at UVA, Philadelphia Art Museum, Bok Tower Gardens, and William King Museum. Gerstenecker holds a master’s degree in History of Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture from Bard College and a bachelor’s degree in Historic Preservation and Art History from the University of Mary Washington.
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