Last month, when Seattle Art Museum announced the departure of Lisa Corrin, it left two positions vacant at Seattle Art Museum: curator of modern and contemporary art and deputy director for art. Director Mimi Gates wasted little time doing some restructuring and filling SAM's top curatorial position from within.

Chiyo Ishikawa, a smart, steady asset to SAM for 15 years in the often low-profile role of curator of European art, will take over as deputy director for art in September, when Corrin departs.

That means she will be head of the museum's curatorial division. "A big part of it is administrative duties and overseeing the staff," Ishikawa said. "But [it's] also staying on top of the whole exhibition program."

The move comes at a crucial time for the museum, with the Olympic Sculpture Park set to open next year and a major expansion of the downtown Seattle facility under way.

Her appointment makes an important new division in labor for the curatorial department, separating the deputy-director post from that of contemporary-art curator, the most demanding curatorial job at SAM, Ishikawa said. The heavy burden of duties may have contributed to the relatively quick turnover in that position. Corrin was at SAM just four years, and her predecessor, Trevor Fairbrother, only five.

Ishikawa also has served for the past three years as curator of collections. She was called upon to fill in as deputy director before Fairbrother was hired and again after he resigned. "I did this two times before. ... Now it feels kind of familiar," she said.

Ishikawa is best known for co-curating last year's "Spain in the Age of Exploration 1492-1819," organized in conjunction with the Patrimonio Nacional. Her work earned an award from King Juan Carlos.

Also on Ishikawa's résumé are the 1997 show "Leonardo Lives: The Codex Leicester and Leonardo da Vinci's Legacy of Art and Science," co-curated with Fairbrother, and the popular "Impressionism: Paintings Collected by European Museums" in 1999.

Will her new duties cut off Ishikawa's time for organizing exhibitions?

"I sure hope not," she says. "I do have an exhibition on the horizon for 2008, but am part of a curatorial team for that. ... And I will be overseeing the installation of European painting and sculpture for the expansion."

"What we are going to get is beautifully proportioned spaces that make the art look good," she said. "I'm not just saying it when I say I'm excited about it."

Sheila Farr: sfarr@seattletimes.com