Olga Viso resigns as Walker Art Center director

Olga Viso speaks in 2016
Olga Viso speaks at the groundbreaking for the new Minneapolis Sculpture Garden on May 10, 2016.
Euan Kerr | MPR News file

Olga Viso, the executive director of the Walker Art Center, said Tuesday she is stepping down from her post at the end of the year.

She began as executive director 10 years ago. In a statement, the Walker said its board and Viso "agreed that now is an ideal time for a transition."

The Walker's board will form a search committee to find Viso's replacement, and an office of several other executies will cover her job in the interim.

Over her tenure, Viso oversaw a massive renovation and redesign of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. The Walker's collection gained more than 5,000 new items under Viso, the art center said.

Viso was also at the center of a national controversy last spring over the sculpture "Scaffold," which recalled the gallows used to hang 38 Dakota men in Mankato, Minn., following the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862.

After much pushback from Dakota people and the community at large, the Walker ordered "Scaffold" to be dismantled.

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