Alvia Wardlaw

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Alvia Wardlaw
Born (1947-11-05) November 5, 1947 (age 76)
Houston, Texas
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater Wellesley College NYU University of Texas Austin
OccupationProfessor

Alvia J. Wardlaw (born November 5, 1947) is an American art scholar, and one of the country's top experts on African-American art. [1] She is Curator and Director of the University Museum at Texas Southern University, an institution central to the development of art by African Americans in Houston. She also is a professor of Art History at Texas Southern University. Wardlaw is a member of the Scholarly Advisory Council of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and co-founded the National Alliance of African and African American Art Support groups in 1998. [2] Wardlaw was University of Texas at Austin's first African-American PhD in Art History. [3]

Contents

Career

From 1995 to 2009, Wardlaw was Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, where she organized more than 75 exhibitions on African and African-American art. [4] She was adjunct curator of African-American Art at the Dallas Museum of Art in 1994. Her exhibition The Quilts of Gee's Bend , a collection of quilts by outstanding quilters from Alabama, broke attendance records at major museums across the 11 cities to which it traveled [2] and was one of the most talked-about museum shows of 2002 in America and beyond. She has presented exhibitions that added to the American art canon the work of major, previously undercelebrated African-American artists, in particular John Biggers, Thornton Dial and Kermit Oliver. [5] Her own photographs were also shown across Texas. She grew up and lives in Third Ward, Houston, Texas.

Education

Wardlaw received a B.A. degree in Art History from Wellesley College in 1969. [6] In 1986, she earned an M.A. degree in Art History from the New York University Institute of Fine Arts. [6] In 1996, she received a Ph.D. degree in Art History from the University of Texas at Austin. [6]

Exhibitions curated

Wardlaw has historicized John Biggers' art philosophy, based in large part on his travels to Africa and his celebration of the African-American community, his legacy and impact on student artists who studied with him, and his impact upon the modern art world. [8] She has mentored countless students of color to pursue careers in the museum field, ranging from curatorial to conservation positions.

Writing

Awards

Related Research Articles

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Rachel Carey George (1908–2011) was an American artist. She is associated with the Gee's Bend quilting collective, alongside her aunt Delia Bennett. Her work is included in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

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References

  1. ↑ "Houston stories central in Smithsonian's new African American museum - HoustonChronicle.com". www.houstonchronicle.com. 2016-09-24. Retrieved 2019-05-11.
  2. 1 2 "Alumnae Achievement Awards 2010: Alvia Wardlaw '69". Wellesley College Alumnae Association. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  3. ↑ "Living Legend: Alvia J. Wardlaw". Afram News. 2019-06-09. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  4. ↑ Danilowitz, Brenda (July 1991). "Exhibitions of Contemporary South African Art". African Arts. 24 (3): 12. doi:10.2307/3336919. ISSN   0001-9933. JSTOR   3336919.
  5. ↑ "A Pioneering African-American Art Force Changes Houston and Museums Everywhere: Why Isn't She Better Known?". PaperCity Magazine. 2016-08-07. Retrieved 2019-05-11.
  6. 1 2 3 KTRK (2018-02-28). "Woman of the Week: Dr. Alvia Wardlaw, director and curator of TSU's University Museum". ABC13 Houston. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
  7. ↑ "Thornton Dial in the 21st Century at MFAH". artdaily.com. Retrieved 2019-05-11.
  8. ↑ "San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts to host lecture on African American artist John Biggers". San Angelo. Retrieved 2019-05-11.
  9. ↑ "Wardlaw, Alvia J. | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2019-05-11.
  10. ↑ Franklin, John Hope; Alvia J. Wardlaw (2009). Collecting African American art : the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. ISBN   9780300152913. OCLC   269282205.
  11. ↑ Wardlaw, Alvia; Rowell, Charles Henry (2009). "An Interview with Alvia Wardlaw". Callaloo . 32 (1): 261–276. doi:10.1353/cal.0.0393. ISSN   0161-2492. JSTOR   27655115. S2CID   161566300.
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