Monica Obniski, the current 20th and 21st Century Design curator at the Milwaukee Art Museum, has been selected to lead curatorial efforts for the decorative arts and design at the High Museum in Atlanta. 

According to a High Museum press release, Obniski will oversee exhibitions and programs for the institution's 2,300-object collection, which dates from the 17th century to today. Obinski will also oversee the High’s Piazza activations event series, a "multiyear initiative that launched in 2014 to animate the Museum’s outdoor space with site-specific commissions that engage visitors of all ages in participatory art experiences," according to the announcement. 

In a statement, Obniski explained: “I am excited to contribute to the High’s mission centered on diversity, inclusion and accessibility as well as build on the museum’s noteworthy decorative arts and design collection. As a curator and historian who is committed to the discursive power of design, I look forward to connecting with Atlanta’s architecture and design communities and to convening conversations around meaningful topics.”  

Obinski, who attained a bachelors in art history from Loyola University in Chicago, a Masters in Decorative Arts, Design, and Material culture from Bard College, and a Ph.D. in Design History and Architectural History from the University of Illinois at Chicago, started her career in the museum world at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. She eventually moved to the Art Institute of Chicago before settling in at the Milwaukee Art Museum in 2015. Over her career, Obniski has curated a collection of inventive, design-related exhibitions, including Serious Play: Design in Midcentury America, which was recently exhibited at the Denver Art Museum, and Scandinavian Design & the United States, 1890-1980.