Leigh Arnold

Leigh Arnold is Curator at the Nasher Sculpture Center and a scholar of land art, minimal, and post-minimal sculpture. Since joining the Nasher in 2013, Arnold has organized numerous exhibitions and presentations on the work of such artists as Piero Golia (2015); Mai-Thu Perret (2016); Roni Horn (2017); Nathan Carter (2017); Theaster Gates (2018); Isa Genzken (2019); Sheila Hicks (2019); Elmgreen & Dragset (2019); Anne Le Troter (2019); Betye Saar (2021); Lynda Benglis (2022); and Matthew Ronay (2022). 

From 2020-22, Arnold collaborated with her Nasher colleagues to curate several solo presentations of works by North Texas-based artists as part of the Nasher Windows (2020) and Nasher Public series (2021-ongoing), including installations by Tamara Johnson, Leslie Martinez, Longhui Zhang, Ciara Elle Bryant, Karla García, Vicki Meek, Shelby David Meier, Jer’Lisa Devezin, Christian Cruz, Liss LaFleur, Celia Eberle, Linnea Glatt, and Trey Burns. 

Her 2023 exhibition Groundswell: Women of Land Art was a crucial reexamination of the important but under-recognized work of 12 women sculptors in the male-dominated field of Land art. Most recently, Arnold curated Hugh Hayden: Homecoming (2024) and Haegue Yang: Lost Lands and Sunken Fields (2025). Apart from exhibitions, Arnold plays a critical role in programs like the annual Nasher Artist Grants, which has awarded over $100,000 to artists based in North Texas since its inception in 2015. 

She also organizes the international biannual Nasher Prize Graduate Symposium, which brings together emerging scholars to present the latest research on Nasher Prize Laureates and has resulted in a series of published compendia on laureates Pierre Huyghe (2017), Theaster Gates (2018), Isa Genzken (2019), Michael Rakowitz (2020/21), Nairy Baghramian (2022), Senga Nengudi (2023), and Otobong Nkanga (2025). Arnold, who holds a doctoral degree from the University of Texas at Dallas, has also published on the work of Genesis Belanger, Beverly Buchanan, Johan Creten, Melvin Edwards, and Robert Smithson.