Stefanie Kirkland

Stefanie Kirkland, a passionate curator and arts management professional with over 20 years of experience, joined AMFA in 2025.

She brings a collaborative approach to the growth, research, presentation, and interpretation of AMFA’s renowned international collection of contemporary craft while developing and maintaining synergies between the Museum’s curatorial department, Windgate Art School, and public programs to enhance the Museum’s overarching educational mission.

Kirkland’s first curatorial project at AMFA, Material Nature: The Robyn and John Horn Collection, will be presented in both the Robyn and John Horn Gallery in the Windgate Art School from August 22, 2026, until April 25, 2027, and on view in the Governor Winthrop Rockefeller Gallery from March 14, 2026, until March 7, 2027.

She was previously the Director of Programming at The Sheldon in St. Louis from 2021 to 2025, and the Deputy Director and Director of Exhibitions and Artists-In-Residence Program at Craft Alliance from 2005 to 2021.

Dedicated to local and regional arts, Kirkland has served on grant review panels and has been a guest lecturer at the Contemporary Art Museum, the Regional Arts Commission, Volunteer Lawyers and Accounts for the Arts, and other organizations across the St. Louis metro area. She has also juried exhibitions both regionally and nationally.

Kirkland received her M.F.A. in Painting from the Academy of Art College. During her master’s program, she studied in Corciano, Italy, through American University under the tutelage of art historian and critic Barbara Rose. She has a B.F.A. from Syracuse University.

Kirkland continues to exhibit her work nationally, which is held in various private collections.