Art Gallery receives Quest for Excellence Award

The Grand Valley State University Art Gallery has received the Michigan Museums Association’s Best New Publications Award. The recognition was given during the Quest for Excellence Awards presentation at the annual MMA conference recently held in Bay City.

The award was for an exhibition catalog the Art Gallery created for a 2013 retrospective regional exhibition project, Cyril Lixenberg: An Artist’s Journey. It included simultaneous exhibit participation from the Grand Rapids Art Museum, The Center Art Gallery at Calvin College, Saugatuck Center for the Arts, and the Muskegon Museum of Art.  

The goal for the catalog was to create a resource that could provide the exhibit audience with a tool that not only gave additional layers of information regarding the artist and exhibition, but also to have merit beyond the life of the physical exhibition. In addition to printed copies of the publication, a digital version includes more interactive elements and windows into the resources such as outside websites and collections, video clips, and links to the Art Gallery’s online collection.  

The Michigan Museums Association has been supporting the work of Michigan museums for nearly 60 years, sharing expertise and resources to promote standards and practices that make the Michigan museum community thrive. Projects considered for the Quest for Excellence Awards are nominated by individual or institutional members of the association.

The Best New Publication Award is presented in two budget-related categories. The award for a publication budget less than $500,000 was given to the Grand Valley State University Art Gallery. The award for a publication budget greater than $500,000 went to the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. MMA also awarded the President’s Award to Steve Arseneau of the City of Dowagiac Museum, the Unsung Hero Award to Tom Howes at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum and Best New Experience Award to the Belding Museum.