Neon Museum director Danielle Kelly resigns

That’s the path Danielle Kelly, the Neon Museum’s executive director, plans to follow.

After seven years with the museum, Kelly has resigned her post and will leave the museum at the end of September to relocate to New Mexico with her family.

Kelly’s husband, artist David Sanchez Burr, will teach in the media arts department at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, Kelly said in a telephone interview.

But the family’s “not really sure” whether they’ll live in Las Vegas, N.M., or elsewhere in the state.

“It’s a really beautiful region,” Kelly said, noting that the prospect of trading one Las Vegas for another “is not without its humorous aspects.”

Even so, “it’s heartbreaking” for her to leave the Neon Museum and this Las Vegas, she acknowledged.

“It’s hard. Being a part of the museum” has been “just an incredible experience,” Kelly said. “I’m so humbled and so proud to be a part of it.”

Museum officials will begin a search for a new executive director in the coming weeks, according to a statement announcing Kelly’s departure.

“Danielle deftly guided the Neon Museum through its development stage to its grand opening and the nearly three successful years that followed,” Rob McCoy, chairman of the museum’s board of directors, said in a prepared statement.

Kelly’s “distinctive combination of passion, intellect, creative and deep understanding of the emotional response neon signs elicit from visitors shaped this museum,” McCoy added. “We’re grateful for every contribution she made and look forward to her continued involvement through the transition process.”