Director of Museum That Sparked Gallows Protests Resigns

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ The leader of a Minneapolis art museum where a gallows sculpture sparked protests says she is resigning.

Walker Art Center executive director Olga Viso said Tuesday she will step down at the end of the year.

Viso has led the museum since 2008. She oversaw a $41 million renovation of the Walker campus that included a redesign of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

But the garden's reopening in June ignited protests by American Indians because of ``Scaffold.'' Los Angeles artist Sam Durant intended the sculpture as a commentary on capital punishment. The two-story sculpture depicted elements of gallows used in seven U.S. hangings, including the scaffold on which 38 Dakota men were hanged in Mankato in 1862 in the largest mass execution in U.S. history.

The Walker ordered the sculpture dismantled.