The Georgia Association of Museums and Galleries honored the Georgia Museum of Art with two awards associated with its members and exhibitions. Georgia Bellflowers: The Furniture of Henry Eugene Thomas received the award for museum exhibition of the year. Carl Mullis III received the patron of the year award for his continued support of the art museum.
This is the third award for Georgia Bellflowers, which also was recognized by the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation as an outstanding publication or program in June and received a certificate of excellence from the Southeastern Museums Conference this past November.
The exhibition featured 20 pieces of furniture made by Thomas (1883-1965), an Athens-based furniture maker who focused on distinctly regional Colonial Revival furniture and helped create collections of antique Piedmont furniture. Georgia Bellflowers presented the first scholarship on Thomas.
Guest curator Ashley Callahan, former curator of the Henry D. Green Center for the Study of the Decorative Arts at GMOA, organized the show, with the assistance of in-house curator Annelies Mondi, deputy director at the museum.
