Gibbes Museum of Art Accepting Online Entries for 2015 Mary Whyte Art Educator Award through June 1, 2015

CHARLESTON, SC – The Gibbes Museum of Art is pleased to accept submissions for the annual Mary Whyte Art Educator Award. Established in 2007, this award is designed to highlight ahigh school visual art teacher in South Carolina school districts who has demonstrated superior commitment to their students and to their craft. The award is accompanied by a cash prize of $2,500 and is administered and presented annually by the Gibbes Museum of Art.

“Since 2008, the Gibbes Museum of Art has been privileged to present the Mary Whyte Art Educator Award. With the award now statewide, it is an even bigger honor for the finalists and winner. Quality teachers deserve recognition and the Gibbes is making every effort to do this for our state,” says Rebecca Sailor, Gibbes Museum Curator of Education.

Entries for the annual award and $2,500 cash prize can be made exclusively online at www.marywhyteaward.org through June 1, 2015 Artists who have applied previously for the Mary Whyte award must update their online entry form in order to remain eligible for the 2014 award. The award is being offered to educators throughout the state. The review panel will select the finalists in June, and the Gibbes Museum of Art will announce the winner at the South Carolina Art Educators Association annual meeting in the fall.
Watercolor artist Mary Whyte is a teacher and author whose figurative paintings have earned national recognition. A resident of Johns Island, South Carolina, Whyte garners much of her inspiration from the Gullah descendants of coastal Carolina slaves who number among her most prominent subjects. Her portraits are included in numerous corporate, private, and university collections, as well as in the permanent collections of the Gibbes Museum of Art and the Greenville County Museum of Art. Her paintings have been featured in International Artist, Artist, American Artist, Watercolor, and American Art Collector, L’Art de Aquarelle, and numerous other publications. Whyte is the author of numerous books and her work can be found at Coleman Fine Art in Charleston, where her husband, Smith Coleman, manages the gallery and makes gilded and carved frames.

GIBBES MUSEUM OF ART

Established as the Carolina Art Association in 1858, the Gibbes Museum of Art opened its doors to the public in 1905. In the fall of 2014, the Gibbes temporarily closed for major renovations and will reopen its doors in the spring of 2016. The renovation project is designed to showcase the museum’s collection, provide visitors with a history of American art from the early colonial era to the present, and engage the public with a center for education, artist studios, lecture and event space, a museum café, and store. During the renovation the museum will offer programs such as the Insider Art Series, Art with a Twist, Art of Healing, events including the Art of Design and annual Gibbes on the Street Party, and educational offerings such as Art to Go and Eye Spy Art. Highlights of the Gibbes permanent collection can be viewed on Google Art Project at www.googleartproject.com.