Mary Deleary Takes Helm at IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts

By Grace Kim

The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) has appointed Mary Deleary, a citizen of the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, as director of its Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, effective October 19.

The announcement closes a full-circle arc. Years before this appointment, Deleary worked at the museum as a student intern — an experience she says shaped her career. It illuminated, in her words, "the important role museums play in supporting Indigenous artists, students, and communities."

She isn't arriving from outside the field. Deleary currently heads IAIA's Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts, the university's hub for scholarship on contemporary Indigenous practice. She earned a BFA in Museum Studies from IAIA in 2010, then went on to complete a PhD in Native American Art History at the University of Oklahoma.

What does she bring to the role?

Deleary's record sits at the intersection of scholarship and stewardship. The IAIA announcement credits her with deep expertise in three areas:

• Anishinaabe leadership practices (the governance and knowledge traditions of Anishinaabe peoples, including the Chippewa/Ojibwe nations)
• Indigenous research methodologies (approaches to scholarship grounded in community protocols and Indigenous knowledge systems)
• Archives and collection development

That combination matters for a museum like this one. MoCNA, as the field calls it, holds and shows work by contemporary Native artists — a mission that depends as much on how collections are built and documented as on what goes on the walls. A director trained in both museum practice and Indigenous research methods signals a continuity of approach rather than a pivot.

Why the intern-to-director path matters

The appointment also says something about the institution's own pipeline. IAIA trained Deleary as an undergraduate, and its museum gave her an early professional foothold. Now that same institution has elevated her to its top museum post.

For Indigenous museum professionals, that's a concrete data point: a tribally affiliated scholar moving through an Indigenous-serving institution's ranks to directorship, with a doctorate in Native American art history in hand.

Her October 19 start date puts her in place before the fall exhibition calendar fully unfolds — which means her first decisions about programming and collection strategy will land quickly.

Also this week: Kinosaito's fall residents

Kinosaito, the arts center in Verplanck, New York, has named its fall 2026 artists in residence: Tsuyu Bridwell and Natsuki Takauji. The month-long program runs in partnership with the Art Students League.

The two practices diverge sharply. Bridwell draws on her Korean and Japanese heritage to examine ancestral beliefs through traditional craft, sculpture, and installations inspired by nature. Takauji works across metal sculpture, multimedia, and public art, engaging motifs of memory, sexuality, and trauma.

The residencies add to a growing roster at Kinosaito, the former site of painter Michio Kihara's studio space now functioning as a residency hub north of New York City.