Laura Phipps Named Director of Gochman Family Collection
14March 11, 2026
Laura Phippshas been announced as the new director of theGochman Family Collection(GFC), a private collection devoted to contemporary Indigenous art. Phipps arrives to the collection from theWhitney Museum of American Art, New York, where she was an associate curator. In her new capacity, she will serve as a public advocate for Native artists and guide the collection’s strategic direction, exhibitions, and institutional partnerships. She will also oversee the opening this fall of the collection’s new 10,000-square-foot exhibition space in Katonah, New York.
While at the Whitney, where she began as an intern in 2009, Phipps organized major exhibitions including last year’s “Sixties Surreal” and a 2023 survey of Jaune Quick-to-See Smith that is the artist’s most comprehensive to date. As well, she co-chaired the Whitney’s Indigenous Art, Artists and Audiences Working Group, fostering the museum’s engagement with Indigenous artists and communities.
“Laura understands that Native contemporary art is central to American art history,” said GFC creative director and curator Rachel Martin (Tlingít) in a statement. “Her collaborative, artist-first practice reflects our belief that collections can function as living, responsive ecosystems. The Katonah space will allow us to deepen that work, creating an environment where ideas can be exchanged and new perspectives can emerge.”
The GFC was established in 2021 by Becky Gochman and Zach Feuer, cofounders of the Forge Project, an upstate New York initiative aimed at advancing Indigenous leadership in the fields of art and culture. It holds one of the world’s largest collections of Native American art, comprising more than 750 objects. Its new space will present rotating exhibitions drawn from its holdings, from which it also loans works to exhibitions free of charge. To date, the collection has placed more than 260 works in over a hundred exhibitions around the globe.
“I am honored to join an organization that is rethinking what a collection can be—not as a site of authority, but as a platform for collaboration and exchange,” said Phipps in a statement. “The new Katonah space offers an exciting opportunity to expand that conversation.”