Alison Byrne (M.A.’11) came to the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) as an intern in 2000, seeking a great experience with a blossoming institution.
What she found was her professional home.
“I feel like I’ve grown up with the organization,” said Byrne, who was named executive director in late September 2024. “I’ve always felt very fulfilled and challenged on my path here. That’s really what’s kept me here.”
Over 25 years, Byrne has held roles from curator of education to director of exhibitions. In 2020, as deputy director and director of exhibitions and education, Byrne was named Museum Art Educator of the Year by the Virginia Art Education Association.
Byrne will guide Virginia MOCA’s evolution as it moves in 2026 from the Virginia Beach Oceanfront to a new 35,000-square-foot facility at Virginia Wesleyan University near the Virginia Beach and Norfolk city line.
A gallery space of 6,640 square feet marks a 21% increase over the museum’s current location. Larger, uninterrupted walls will enable bigger works of art and more artists, Byrne said. The inaugural exhibition will feature Nina Chanel Abney, a New York-based contemporary artist who explores themes of race, gender, pop culture and politics.
“She does big, bold, bright, really just stunning work,” Byrne said, adding it is exactly what they envisioned to celebrate the museum’s new home. “We can’t wait to share her powerful work with our community.”
“We want to show work that inspires and challenges, but it shouldn’t be so challenging that you walk away going, ‘I’m frustrated,’” she said. “You can always find something that you’re interested in, that hopefully you’ll dive into further — I’m very proud of that.”
She is also steering Virginia MOCA’s reaccreditation with the American Alliance of Museums.
Byrne, a former ceramics artist, has a bachelor’s degree from the National College of Art and Design in her native Dublin, Ireland. She pursued her master’s degree through ’s humanities program part-time while she worked at the museum and raised her family.
“I loved the art history classes there. Linda McGreevy is a genius, and I took as many classes as I could with her,” Byrne said of the now retired art professor. She was also inspired by her other humanities-based classes, which opened a lens onto the many facets of life influencing art and artists. It provided insights into crafting impactful exhibitions and programs that resonate with the local community and the wider world.
“We were determined to find ways to use the artwork to inspire innovative programming, partnerships and interpretations that unpack the artwork’s meanings and connections for our audiences,” Byrne said.
Obtaining her master’s in 2011 led to a new opportunity at Virginia MOCA, and her capstone project on British artist Barnaby Barford turned into his first solo exhibition in the U.S. when it opened at the museum in 2013.
“There’s all of these lovely things that brought together,” Byrne said.
Five of Alison Byrne’s favorite exhibitions from the past:
“Barnaby Barford was a special one for me personally because it came from my time at . It was a connection that was made there that turned into something so much bigger, both in terms of an exhibition for Virginia MOCA and then traveling to Edinburgh, Scotland.”
“The Turn the Page, Hi-Fructose exhibition that Heather Hakimzadeh and I curated was a real favorite for so many reasons. It was a huge exhibition, and it got a ton of support from the community, and it helped put Virginia Beach and Virginia MOCA on the map in terms of what's happening here artistically. It traveled to two other art museums. That was something I was really keen to do, all the way along in my career, to help build Virginia MOCA’s reputation in the art world.
“What was so special about that was Heather and I spent months visiting the homes of many established collectors in the area, who welcomed us in with open arms, and then pairing that with collectors who are brand new to collecting or newer to collecting. Art can be democratic. You can buy something expensive from an auction that is a big, incredible piece, and you can go to the Boardwalk Art Show and buy work you love. The important thing is that you love whatever it is that you're buying. So, that was a really poignant show.”
”Made in VA – all of them. They're just so special. It makes us proud to be able to support artists from Virginia at all different stages of their career and we take that role very seriously — everything from loan agreements to packing work, to weaving in professional tips and development for artists. A lot of our smaller solo exhibitions or even bringing them back in for other group shows have come from Made in VA over the years.”
“I’m especially proud of this one, because it was our COVID pivot. We decided to create an exhibition with newly commissioned work by 12 artists inspired by local food experts. Each artist and food expert team explored the possibilities at the intersection of food and art. We invested all our exhibitions money into the local economy, paying artists and collaborators and highlighting the work of amazing organizations in our community.”