Jane Becker Nelson is Director and Curator of Flaten Art Museum at St. Olaf College, where she oversees the museum’s collections and exhibitions and serves as a specialist in and advocate for visual teaching and learning.
Becker Nelson has worked in museums and galleries across the U.S. and Canada, serving as curator, educator, gallery manager, and fundraiser at institutions including the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Walker Art Center, Groveland Gallery, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Seattle Art Museum, and Agnes Etherington Art Centre in Ontario. Her major fields of interest include contemporary art in northern North America, museum studies, and curatorial practice. Exhibitions such as Re-framing Terrorism (2011) hosted by the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery in New York, She Gone Rogue (2014), Seeing Math (2017) and Meg Ojala: I Want to Show You Something (2018) exemplify Becker Nelson’s interest in art and contemporary culture, and a drive to connect exhibitions with curricular interests in higher education.
Becker Nelson holds a BA in studio art and art history from St. Olaf College and an MA in art history from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. She is an active member of Academic Art Museums and Galleries, the Midwest Art History Society, and Universities Art Association of Canada and presents regularly at annual conferences with papers including “What do you see? What do you not see? Representation in a Campus Loan Program” (2018) and “Youth, Beauty, Tours: Collection Stories as on-line access” (2015).
Becker Nelson resides in Northfield with her husband Peter Nelson and their daughters, Liv and Cora.