Biography

George Ciscle has mounted groundbreaking exhibitions and taught courses in the fine arts and humanities for more than 50 years. After two decades of work as an educator and gallerist focused on promoting the careers of emerging artists, Ciscle founded The Contemporary, an “un-museum,” which challenged existing conventions for exhibiting art. He later joined the faculty of Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), where he introduced the innovative Exhibition Development Seminar, and served as Curator-in-Residence, consulting on the development of community-based and public programming and new models for connecting art, artists, and audiences. This work was the foundation for MICA’s renowned MFA in Curatorial Practice, which he established in 2011 and directed until 2016. He is currently Curator-in-Residence Emeritus at MICA.

Ciscle trained as a sculptor, studying with artist Isamu Noguchi, and worked for seven years as a studio artist before refocusing on educating artists to create engaging environments for exhibiting and experiencing art. As an art and theater teacher at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Baltimore, he developed a pilot interdisciplinary course team-taught by faculty from art, theater, religion, and music. For ten years he directed a Baltimore County Public Schools career readiness program for underserved students which combined classroom study with real-world work experience.

In 1985, he opened the George Ciscle Gallery, which championed the careers of young, emerging, and outsider artists. Working with artists and collectors as a gallery director inspired Ciscle to conceive an “un-museum.” The Contemporary, which Ciscle founded in 1989 and directed until 1996, focused its exhibitions, educational programming, and community outreach on connecting the artist’s work with people’s everyday lives. The Contemporary pioneered many activities that now are considered best practices in museum programming, including artist residencies, the commissioning of new work for temporary/non-traditional sites, and a focus on building contextual connections between contemporary art and history/social justice.

Ciscle organized and/or curated numerous exhibitions at The Contemporary including Mining the Museum, Catfish Dreamin’, and Going for Baroque. Additional curatorial projects included A 15-Year Survey of Baltimore Art (Artscape), Delaware Art Museum Biennial, White: White Day, Wedding and Women (Seoul, Korea), School 33 Art Center Biennial and Eyewinkers, Tumbleturds, and Candlebugs: The Art of Elizabeth Talford Scott at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA)

Working with student interns at The Contemporary provided Ciscle with the inspiration for the unique multi-semester Exhibition Development Seminar (EDS) he developed at MICA, subtitled The Curatorial Experience. The seminar brought together diverse teams of students from the College’s undergraduate, graduate, and continuing studies programs to develop and implement exhibitions in museums and galleries across Baltimore. Each seminar promoted an atmosphere that encouraged hands-on interaction among artists, curators, designers, writers, and educators. Exhibitions resulting from EDS included the traveling exhibition Joyce J. Scott: Kickin’ It with the Old Masters, in collaboration with the BMA, and At Freedom’s Door: Challenging Slavery in Maryland, with the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture. 

In 2008, Ciscle introduced a 15 credit Curatorial Studies Concentration at MICA to provide students additional professional learning opportunities. In 2011, this evolved into MICA’s current MFA in Curatorial Practice (CP), the first graduate program of its kind in the country. 

Ciscle was a founding trustee of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance and the American Visionary Art Museum, a trustee of Baltimore Clayworks and served on the Urban Arts Leadership Advisory Committee. Awards include MICA Medal of Honor, The Arc Volunteer Service Award , Distinguished Arts Administrator Award (NCAA), Governor’s Citation of Maryland, and Mayor’s and Presidential Citations from the City of Baltimore. 

He served on the NEA’s museum grants jury and as a member of the National Register of Peer Professionals advised the General Services Administration’s Art and Architecture Program. Speaking engagements include the Victoria & Albert Museum (London), Keisho Art Association (Japan), American Alliance of Museums, National Academy of Sciences, and the Museo da Republica (Brazil).

Since retiring from MICA in 2017, Ciscle volunteers with The Arc Baltimore developing and coordinating gallery tours and hands-on workshops at BMA, The Walters, Baltimore Clayworks, and School 33; an artist mentorship program and MICA Arc/CP Fellowship. 

Gertrude Stein Questionnaire: George Ciscle

BmoreArt, Cara Ober, October 10, 2012 

Artist/Collector couple Richard Cleaver and George Ciscle open their Wunderkammer in the sky

BmoreArt, Michael Anthony Farley, December 2, 2019