Southampton - Peter M. Wolf, founder and chairman, and the Board of Trustees of the Thomas Moran Trust, announced the appointment of Marti Mayo as its first executive director. Beginning April 1, 2011, Mayo will work closely with the Trust's board members to carry out the mission of the Thomas Moran Trust: the restoration of the Thomas Moran Studio House and Garden and the opening of this historic property to the public. The Moran Studio House and Garden will be used to promote understanding of the Moran family legacy and the development of the East Hampton summer colony in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Dr. Wolf commented "We are pleased with this appointment, another step forward in our commitment to raising the capital necessary and the planning, design development, and restoration of this community treasure and National Historic Landmark."

The appointment of Mayo is the result of an extensive national search. Gary Tinterow, Chairman of the Department of 19th-century, Modern, and Contemporary Art of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and a Thomas Moran Trust board member, chaired the search committee. He stated "I am delighted that Marti Mayo has joined the Trust, her reputation as one of America's best museum professionals lends distinction to our enterprise."

With the Board of Trustees, Mayo will manage and oversee the restoration of the Moran Studio House and Garden in consultation with appropriate historians and preservation specialists. She will also spearhead the capital campaign to raise approximately $4 million in additional funds needed to complete the restoration and to establish a suitable endowment. Through a strategic planning process that involves community members, East Hampton Village public officials, neighbors, and other interested parties, she will plan and institute on and off-site programs for the use of the Moran property that assure appropriate, limited public access within the guidelines of East Hampton Village.

"Nineteenth century architecture and landscape painting were my first loves as a student of art history and I am delighted to return to them as the executive director of the Thomas Moran Trust," said Mayo. "I look forward to the position's challenges and to the opportunity to work closely with the board and the East Hampton community to acquire the necessary funds to restore the Moran Studio House and Garden. I am excited to be a part of this project which will allow the Moran property to assume its rightful place as a part of America's cultural heritage, as a part of East Hampton's unique history, as a place of community engagement, and as a monument to artistic expression as a community experience."

Mayo received her B.A. and M.A. degrees in art and art history from The American University in Washington, DC and began her career in the curatorial department of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington. She served as curator of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and director of the Blaffer Gallery, the art museum of the University of Houston. Subsequently, she was appointed director of the Contemporary Arts Museum, and served in that capacity until 2007. At the Contemporary, Mayo oversaw the first successful capital campaign in the institution's 60-year history and the resulting renovation of its 1972 landmark, modernist building. Since 2009, after a stint as interim director of the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers, she has worked as a consultant to non-profit organizations and artists' estates in New York.

The Thomas Moran Trust was formed in 2007 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the mission to restore and preserve the Moran Studio House and Garden as a cultural asset for the region and nation. It represents an unprecedented collaboration between historians, preservationists, business and civic leaders, and experts in art and architecture. As it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965, the Moran Studio House must be restored according to exacting federal, state, and local standards. Since taking possession of the property in 2008, the Trust has benefited from a Historic Structures Report on the Studio House and its outbuildings, commissioned by East Hampton Village and authored by historian Robert Hefner. An engineering evaluation by Robert Stillman Associates has also been completed. The Trust has selected Stephen Tilly as the architect for the project and his firm has submitted its Pre-Design Report and is currently working on the design and permitting phase of the project. Construction is expected to begin in 2012.