The Georgia Museum of Art won an outstanding exhibit certificate and three publication awards at this year’s Southeastern Museums Conference annual meeting, held last month in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The museum’s exhibition Cercle et Cerré and the International Spirit of Abstract Art won the 2014 Certificate of Commendation, which recognizes excellence in research, design, development, educational value and effectiveness in museum exhibitions.
“This award is particularly gratifying to us,” said William Underwood Eiland, the museum’s director. “It recognizes staffwide achievements and collaboration at the museum and honors the commitment of the Pierre Daura Center to European art of the 20th century. It is the first of many Daura Center projects to follow.”
The museum earned a silver award in the newsletter category for Facet, its quarterly publication featuring current and upcoming events and exhibitions. Facet received top awards from the same competition in 2012 and 2013 and first prize in the American Association of Museums Publication Competition last year.
In the books and catalogs category, “Exuberance of Meaning: The Art Patronage of Catherine the Great (1762-1792),” a catalog for an exhibition of the same name, earned an honorable mention. The catalog contains full-page color images of nearly every object, such as books, porcelain and jewel-encrusted vessels, in the exhibition, which was organized by Asen Kirin, an associate professor of art at UGA’s Lamar Dodd School of Art.
A catalog created on behalf of the state of Georgia’s art collection, “Inspired Georgia: 28 Works from Georgia’s State Art Collection,” took home an honorable mention in the gallery guides category.
The publications were developed in collaboration with The Adsmith, an Athens advertising agency that has designed material for the museum for five years.
“It’s a designer’s dream to work on projects that involve great art,” said Kirk Smith, president of The Adsmith. “The fact that these projects for the museum are so varied-and the kinds of art are so varied-keeps us exploring and learning and developing new ways to showcase the work.”
