Mark Sloan (born 1957) is an American curator, author, editor, museum director, and photographer. He served as director and chief curator of the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston from 1994 through 2020. Since leaving the Halsey Institute, he has worked as an independent curator and publishing consultant.
Early life and education
Mark Sloan was born in Durham, North Carolina, and grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He received his B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Richmond (1980) and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University (1984).https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-sloan-947b028
Curatorial Career Sloan served as executive director of The Light Factory in Charlotte, North Carolina (1985–86); associate director of San Francisco Camerawork in California (1986–89); and director of the Roland Gibson Gallery at the State University of New York at Potsdam (1992–1994).
In 1994, Sloan became director and chief curator of the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston School of the Arts in Charleston, South Carolina which he held until 2020. During his 26-year tenure, Sloan has produced several hundred exhibitions, highlighting emerging, mid-career, and established contemporary artists including Lonnie Holley, Renée Stout, Fahamu Pecou, Shepard Fairey, and Jasper Johns Menchaca, Ron. "Halsey Exhibition Features Art of Shepard Fairey and Jasper Johns". The College Today. College of Charleston June 9, 2014. . These exhibitions, with their attendant publications, videos, and other documentation have increased the visibility of emerging and mid-career artists to the point that artists Motoi Yamamoto, Aldwyth, and Colin Quashie credit Sloan for being pivotal in the development of their careers. Hunt, Stephanie. "Meet the Wild, Weird, & Wonderful Mr. Sloan"", Charleston Magazine, August 2020. Additionally, Sloan organized thematic exhibitions including Self-Made Worlds: Visionary Folk Art Environments; The Right to Assemble; Hair on Fire; and, with Mark Long, Southbound: Photographs of and about the New South.
As director, Sloan oversaw the institute’s exhibition, publication, visiting-artist, educational, and fundraising programs. Besides curating 245 exhibitions and raising $6 million in support for the Halsey, he also taught museums studies and directed an internship program Stockwell, Amy. "Halsey Director Retiring After 26 Years at the Helm". The College of Charleston. December 10, 2020 Many of these students would later hold positions at museums and arts organizations including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the High Museum of Art. "Art Interns go on to The Met, National Gallery, High Museum and More". The College Today. College of Charleston. July 11, 2014 With the Pulse Dome Project: Art and Design by Don Zanfanga exhibition, Sloan served as one of the panelists for the Bio-Logical Architecture: Past, Present, and Future symposium that was held in tandem to the exhibition to discuss eco-bio-architecture. Pulse Dome Project: Art and Design by Don Zanfanga. Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art.
Independent Work After leaving the Halsey Institute, Sloan established Curioso, an independent curatorial and publishing practice based in North Carolina. Sloan has worked as a guest curator at the Greenville County Museum of Art, organizing exhibitions and accompanying publications. His subsequent projects have included This Is Not: Aldwyth in Retrospect;This is Not: Aldwyth in Retrospect. Lowcountry Weekly. 10 September 2024 Bob Ray: Suit Yourself ; At This Moment: Portraits of South Carolina Artists by Jerry Siegel; and Original Fake Ray Johnson Collages by Richard C.
In 2026, Sloan guest-curated The Art Underground: Fantasy Coffins of Ghana for the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Organized in collaboration with Ghanaian coffin maker Eric Adjetey Anang, the exhibition traces the history and continuing development of figurative coffins associated with the Kane Kwei, Paa Joe, and Hello workshops. Brown, Patricia Leigh "6 Feet Under in Coffins That Are Over the Top". The New York Times. August 26, 2026 Sloan edited the accompanying book and, with Ghanaian photographer Yao Ladzekpo, provided its principal photography.
Photography and Publications Sloan is also a photographer, author, and editor. His photographs have been exhibited at the Grand Palais in Parishttps://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/sloan-mark; the Photographic Resource Center at Boston University; Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and the Harvard Museum of Natural History. His assemblage photographs appear in Rarest of the Rare: Stories Behind the Treasures at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, written by Nancy Pick with a foreword by E.O. Wilson. The book was reviewed by NPRBaskas, Harriet. "Hidden Treasures: Harvard's Indispensable Specimens", NPR All Things Considered, August 10, 2005. and selected by DiscoverGlausiusz, Josie. "Discover Reviews: Top Science Books of the Year", Discover, December 13, 2004. magazine as one of the top science books of 2004. The project and Sloan's photographs were featured by Wired in conjunction with an exhibit at National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.Keim, Brandon. "Behind the Scenes at Harvard’s Museum of Natural History", Wired Magazine, August 13, 2009."The Rarest of the Rare: Stories Behind the Treasures at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, Photographs by Mark Sloan " Cultural Programs at the National Academy of Science. The photographs were later published in Atlas Obscura.
Sloan has written and edited books on contemporary art, photography, natural history, vernacular art, and circus and sideshow history. Sara Gruen credits his book Wild, Weird, and Wonderful as inspiration for her novel Water for Elephants.Ashley,Dottie "", The Post and Courier, July 26, 2008. Cumbie, Jansen. Halsey curator "Mark Sloan helps inspire Water for Elephants". May 10, 2011 Costumes and backgrounds for the 2010 film came from the book as well. Choreographer Twyla Tharp used Wild, Weird, and Wonderful as inspiration for the sets and costumes of her Broadway production of the musical The Times They Are a-Changin'.
Awards In 2012, the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art received the Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Governors Award for the Arts, with special recognition given to Mark Sloan ."Halsey Institute and Mark Sloan Earn South Carolina’s Highest Art Award". The College Today. February 12, 2012
Publication Awards
List of awarded publications edited or co-edited by Sloan. Year Award Publication Organization 2019 Alice Award Southbound: Photographs of and about the New South Furthermore program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund The 2019 Alice Award 2019 Second Prize, Exhibition Catalogues Southbound: Photographs of and about the New South American Alliance of Museums Museum Publications Design Competition 2019 Museum Publications Design Competition Winners 2017 Honorable Mention, Exhibition Catalogues Sons & Father: Engravings by John McWilliams American Alliance of Museums Museum Publications Design Competition 2017 Museum Publications Design Competition Winners 2017 Honorable Mention, Exhibition Catalogues Jiha Moon: Double Welcome, Most Everyone’s Mad Here American Alliance of Museums Museum Publications Design Competition 2017 Museum Publications Design Competition Winners 2016 Second Prize, Books Something to Take My Place: The Art of Lonnie Holley American Alliance of Museums Museum Publications Design Competition 2016 Museum Publications Design Competition Winners 2017 Honorable Mention, Exhibition Catalogues Renée Stout: Tales of the Conjure Woman American Alliance of Museums Museum Publications Design Competition 2014 Museum Publications Design Competition Winners 2013 First Prize, Exhibition Catalogues Aggie Zed: Keeper’s Keep American Alliance of Museums Museum Publications Design Competition 2013 Museum Publications Design Competition Winners 2013 Second Prize, Exhibition Catalogues Return to the Sea: Saltworks by Motoi Yamamoto American Alliance of Museums Museum Publications Design Competition 2013 Museum Publications Design Competition Winners 2009 Honorable Mention, Exhibition Catalogues Aldwyth: Work v. / Work n.—Collage and Assemblage 1991–2009 American Alliance of Museums Museum Publications Design Competition Curran. Erica Jackson."Halsey wins award for Gil Shuler-designed Aldwyth catalog". December 27, 2010 2009 Mary Ellen LoPresti Art Publication Award Aldwyth: Work v. / Work n.—Collage and Assemblage 1991–2009 Art Libraries Society of North America Southeast ChapterPrevious LoPresti Award Winners 2007 Mary Ellen LoPresti Art Publication Award Force of Nature: Site Installations by Ten Japanese Artists Art Libraries Society of North America Southeast ChapterPrevious LoPresti Award Winners
Selected Books (2026) The Art Underground: Fantasy Coffins of Ghana. Edited and with an essay by Mark Sloan. Essays by Nii Otokunor Quarcoopome and Roberta Bonetti; an essay by Steven Feld with Nii Yemo Nunu; profile by John Owoo. Principal photography by Yao Ladzekpo and Mark Sloan. Eric Adjetey Anang, lead cultural and content advisor. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Museum of New Mexico Press. . (2026) Original Fake Ray Johnson Collages by Richard C. Edited by Mark Sloan, with essays by Mark Sloan and Huston Paschal. Greenville, South Carolina: Greenville County Museum of Art. . (2025) At This Moment, Portraits of South Carolina Artists by Jerry Siegel. Edited by Mark Sloan, with an essay by Eleanor Heartney. Greenville, South Carolina: Greenville County Museum of Art. . (2025) Bob Ray: Suit Yourself. Edited by Mark Sloan, with an essay by Mark Sloan and ekphrastic poetry by Allison Benis White. Greenville, South Carolina: Greenville County Museum of Art. . (2023) This Is Not: Aldwyth in Retrospect. Edited by Mark Sloan, with essays by Mark Sloan and Joshua Massey. Greenville, South Carolina: Greenville County Museum of Art. . (2021) Infra / Ultra: The Notebooks of Don ZanFagna. Edited by Mark Sloan, with essays by Kirsten Moran, Mark Sloan, and Linda Weintraub. Charleston, South Carolina: Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, College of Charleston, School of the Arts. . (2018) Southbound: Photographs of and about the New South: A project of the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art. Co-edited by Mark Sloan and Mark Long, with essays by Sloan and Long; ekphrastic poetry by Nikky Finney; and essays by Eleanor Heartney, William R, Ferris, John T. Edge, and Rick Bunch. Charleston, South Carolina: Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art. . (2018) Carrion Cheer. A Faunistic Tragedy by Böhler & Orendt, with a Soundscape by Ingmar Saal. Co-edited by Werner Meyer and Mark Sloan. Vienna, Austria: Verlag für Moderne Kunst; Charleston, South Carolina: Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art. . (2017) Visible Man: Fahamu Pecou. Edited with foreword by Mark Sloan. Essays by Sean Meighoo, Michael K. Wilson, Arturo Lindsay, and Amanda H. Hellman. Charleston, South Carolina: Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art. . (2016) Sons & Father: Engravings by John McWilliams. Edited by Mark Sloan and designed by Dave Wofford. Charleston, South Carolina: Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art. Limited edition artist’s book. (2016) Jiha Moon: Double Welcome, Most Everyone's Mad Here. Edited with a foreword by Mark Sloan. Essays by Jiha Moon, Amy G Moorefield, Lilly Wei, and Rachel Reese. Charleston, South Carolina: Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art; in association with Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, Virginia. . (2015) Something to Take my Place: The Art of Lonnie Holley. Edited by Mark Sloan. Essays by Bernard L. Herman, Theodore Rosengarten, Mark Sloan, and Leslie Umberger. Charleston, South Carolina: Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art. .