LSU Museum of Art wins awards in the 2020 Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC) Exhibition and Publication Competitions

Baton Rouge, Louisiana The LSU Museum of Art (LSU MOA) is honored and pleased to announce it has received four awards in the 2020 Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC) Exhibition and Publication Competitions. This annual competition is open to museums in the southeastern region to submit exhibition and publication projects for review of merit. According to the SEMC, “The Exhibition Competition focuses attention on exhibitions of merit that are well designed, have educational value and treat objects with care and respect. The competition showcases the best in our profession and provides benchmarks for regional exhibition efforts in southeastern museums.” LSU MOA received a silver award in the under $10,000 budget exhibition category for its 2019 exhibition Adore | Adorn: The Elsie Michie Contemporary Jewelry Collection. This exhibition presented over 70 works of contemporary art jewelry from the collection of LSU College of Humanities and Social Sciences Associate Dean Dr. Elsie Michie. This exhibition, like Michie’s collection, represented a wide array of material, skill, and concept, while maintaining the joy of accessorization at its heart. Adore | Adorn was the first exhibition of Dr. Michie’s collection and a celebration of a fruitful passion for collecting art jewelry and its duality as both fine sculpture and functional fashion. Artists included Joyce Scott, Thomas Mann, Wendy Ramshaw, Ramona Solberg, Albert Paley, Peter Chang, Laurie Hall, Kiff Slemmons, Robin Kranitzky and Kim Overstreet, Arline Fisch, Robert Ebendorf, and Mary Lee Hu. LSU MOA staff on this exhibition included: Courtney Taylor (Curator & Director of Programs), Olivia Johnson (Curatorial Assistant), Jordan Hess (Preparator), and Fran Huber (Assistant Director for Collections Management). The LSU MOA curatorial team worked closely with Dr. Elsie Michie in cleaning, preparing, and displaying her art jewelry collection elegantly in both pedestal and floating plexiglass wall cases and custom-made mannequins. This exhibition also included three mirrored vanity stations, which held interactive activities for museum visitors to engage with to learn more about art jewelry concepts. Important sponsors who made this exhibition at LSU MOA possible include Partner Sponsor Becky and Warren Gottsegen. Additional support for this exhibition and all LSU MOA exhibition is provided by the Annual Exhibition Fund donors: The Imo N. Brown Memorial Fund in memory of Heidel Brown and Mary Ann Brown; Louisiana CAT; Charles Schwing; Alma Lee, H. N. and Cary Saurage Fund; Newton B. Thomas Family/Newtron Group; Mrs. Elizabeth M. Thomas; Mr. and Mrs. Sanford A. Arst; and the Louisiana Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of French.

LSU MOA also received three awards in the SEMC publication competition: gold for its 15th Anniversary Poster, gold for its Art Talk publications, and silver for the Adore | Adorn exhibition campaign. “The SEMC Publication Design Competition began in 1988 to recognize and reward excellence in graphic design in southeastern museum publications. The competition encourages communication, effective design, creativity and pride of work, and recognition of institutional image and identity.” (source: semcdirect.net) LSU MOA staff on these projects was communications coordinator and graphic designer Sarah Amacker. For the 15th anniversary poster, Amacker chose the portrait of Caroline Durieux from the LSU MOA collection, currently on view in the LSU MOA Portrait Gallery, because of its local and international significance: Durieux’s Louisiana connection of being an LSU art professor and artist, her work being a major fixture in the establishment of the LSU MOA collection, and this work being painted by the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera (also married to artist Frida Kahlo). By using the LSU brand colors, Amacker created a modern design to represent these connections, and the growth and energy of the LSU Museum of Art as it celebrated its 15th anniversary of being in downtown Baton Rouge at the Shaw Center for the Arts. With final approval from LSU Strategic Communications and gaining image rights from the Diego Rivera Foundation on this design, the poster was printed and distributed to guests at LSU MOA’s 15th Anniversary celebration on March 5, 2020. LSU MOA also won gold for its Art Talk publication that is printed every spring, summer, fall, and winter to showcase current and upcoming exhibitions, programs, community initiatives, and other museum announcements. This publication is printed and mailed out to museum members and available to the public for free when they visit the museum. The silver award for the Adore | Adorn exhibition campaign included graphic design projects that marketed the exhibition to the public and helped museum visitors navigate the exhibition galleries. The campaign included: print advertisements, exhibition announcements, digital advertisements, banners and signage, a gallery map, an object gallery guide which diagramed the art jewelry pedestals and served as a label source, interactive challenge cards, flyers and other promotional materials, and social media posts that marketed the exhibition during its time at LSU MOA. For a full listing of 2020 SEMC Competition winners, visit online here: https://www.semcdirect.net/SEMC-Competition-Winners-2020