Axe ’Em, Jacks!
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Author and educator William Underwood Eiland will serve as juror for the 28th Texas National, Stephen F. Austin State University’s acclaimed art competition and exhibition, which opens April 14 and runs through June 30 in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.
Art patrons and community members will have an opportunity to participate in a “juror’s chat” session with Eiland, who is director of the Georgia Museum of Art, at 5 p.m. Friday, April 14, to be followed by the opening reception of Texas National from 6 to 8 p.m.
In celebration of SFA’s 100th birthday, 100 works of art were selected to be included in this year’s competition, according to Erik Ordaz, exhibition coordinator for Cole Art Center. Texas National features an assortment of art from various media, and prizes will be awarded for first, second and third best in show at the juror’s discretion.
The School of Art’s annual juried competition and exhibition attracts entrants from across the United States, providing artists an opportunity to have their work juried by highly acclaimed curators, artists and critics, such as Eiland, Ordaz said. In addition to his service as director of the Georgia Museum of Art, Eiland is on the graduate faculty of the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia.
Eiland has been the recipient of a Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship, a Danforth Teaching Fellowship at the University of Virginia, a research fellowship from the University of Georgia’s Willson Center for The Humanities and Arts, and a Museum Professionals Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. He has edited and contributed to more than 60 publications, including Art Papers, Georgia Journal, US Art, Ceramics Monthly, Southern Antiques and English Literature in Transition. Eiland authored “The Truth in Things: The Life and Career of Lamar Dodd,” published by the University of Georgia Press, and “Nashville’s Mother Church: The History of the Ryman Auditorium.”
He has served on the boards of the American Association of Museums, the Southeastern Museums Conference and the Georgia Association of Museums and Galleries; was a trustee of the Association of Art Museum directors; and was chairman of the Arts and Artifacts Indemnity Advisory Panel for the National Endowment for the Arts. He also served as the vice chairman of the board of the American Association of Museums and completed a five-year term on the Accreditation Commission as vice chair. Since 2013 he has been a trustee of the International Council of Museums.
Among his many honors, Eiland most recently received the American Alliance of Museums Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his contributions to the field on a national level.
Cole Art Center exhibitions and receptions are free and open to the public. Sponsors are SFA Friends of the Visual Arts and William Arscott. SFA’s historic downtown gallery is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.