Fall 2009
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FALL 2009
EDITOR
Hillary Brown
ASSISTANT EDITOR Mary Koon
PUBLICATIONS INTERNS
3
From the Director
John Keith and Aurelie Frolet
DESIGN
Kudzu Graphics Georgia Museum of Art University of Georgia 90 Carlton Street Athens, GA 30602 706.542.GMOA • FAX: 706.542.1051 Exhibition Line: 706.542.3254 www.uga.edu/gamuseum
BOARD OF ADVISORS Mr. B. Heyward Allen Jr. Dr. Amalia K. Amaki Ms. Frances R. Aronson Turner I. Ball, M.D. Mr. Fred D. Bentley Sr. Mr. Richard E. Berkowitz Mrs. Devereux C. Burch Mr. Robert E. Burton Mrs. Debbie C. Callaway Mr. Randolph W. Camp Mrs. Shannon I. Candler, past chair Mrs. Faye S. Chambers Mr. Harvey J. Coleman Mrs. Martha T. Dinos Mrs. Annie Laurie Dodd Ms. Sally Dorsey Professor Marvin Eisenberg Ms. Carlyn F. Fisher Mr. James B. Fleece Mr. Edgar J. Forio Jr. Mr. Harry L. Gilham Jr. Mr. John M. Greene Mrs. Helen C. Griffith Mrs. M. Smith Griffith Mr. J. Peter Hooten Mrs. Marion E. Jarrell Mr. Paul R. Jones Professor John D. Kehoe Mrs. George-Ann Knox Mrs. Shell H. Knox Mr. David W. Matheny Ms. Catherine A. May Mrs. Helen P. McConnell Mrs. Marilyn McMullan Mrs. Marilyn D. McNeely
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Mrs. Berkeley S. Minor Mr. C.L. Morehead Jr. Ms. Jane C. Mullins Mr. Carl W. Mullis III, chair Mr. Donald G. Myers Mrs. Betty R. Myrtle Dr. John Nickerson Mrs. Deborah L. O’Kain Ms. Kathy B. Prescott Dr. William F. Prokasy IV Mr. Rowland A. Radford Jr. Ms. Margaret A. Rolando Mr. Alan F. Rothschild Jr. Mrs. Dorothy A. Roush Mrs. Sarah P. Sams Mr. D. Jack Sawyer Jr. Mrs. Helen H. Scheidt Mr. Henry C. Schwob Mrs. Ann C. Scoggins Ms. Cathy Selig-Kuranoff Mr. S. Stephen Selig III Mrs. Dudley R. Stevens Mrs. Carolyn W. Tanner Mrs. Barbara Auxier Turner Mr. C. Noel Wadsworth Ms. Kathleen E. Walker Mr. G. Vincent West
Ex-officio Ms. Karen L. Benson Mrs. Linda C. Chesnut Dr. William U. Eiland Mr. Tom Landrum Dr. Arnett C. Mace Jr.
4-5 Phase II Construction Update 6
Employee Spotlight
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Exhibitions
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Event Photos
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Calendar of Events
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Museum Notes
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Gifts
ON THE COVER: Architectural drawings of GMOA’s Phase II expansion by Gluckman Mayner Architects.
FROM THE DIRECTOR
From the Director
O
ver the past few years we in the community of academic museums have felt vulnerable as first Fisk University, then Randolph College and, most recently, Brandeis University have turned to their museum collections as assets to be liquidated for general operating support and for endowment building. In their policies on ethics and professional practices, both the American Association of Museums (AAM) and the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) forbid the collateralization of collections as well as the deaccessioning of works of art for any purpose other than strengthening the existing collection through acquisitions. Ridding the collection of works for any purpose other than acquisition violates the delicate relationships of trust not only with donors, but also with the public, especially the immediate community of service. A task force made up of representatives from AAM, AAMD, the Association of College and University Museums and Galleries (ACUMG), the College Art Association (CAA), the University Museums Affairs Committee (UMAC) of the International Council on Museums (ICOM) and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation is meeting to respond to these threats to university and college museums. I serve as one of these representatives and joined with David Robertson, the director of the Block Museum at Northwestern University, to fashion a manifesto of sorts that states unequivocally our belief that museum collections, in whole or in part, are not disposable assets for the parent institution and, further, that great universities support and nurture great museums and their collections. Our task force intends to publish this manifesto in national magazines and journals. We are asking all supporters of university and college museums—and I respectfully ask each of the readers of this newsletter—to join us in signing the following statement by going to http://www.acumg.org/petition.php. Not only do I and the staff of the Georgia Museum of Art thank you for expressing your support for academic museums, but we believe future generations will thank you as well.
“Ridding the collection of works for any purpose other than acquisition violates the delicate relationships of trust not only with donors, but also with the public, especially the immediate community of service.”
William Underwood Eiland, Director
New Acquisitions
Edwin B. Smith (active 1815–1832) Robert Ransome Billups, ca. 1827 Oil on canvas, 30 x 31 1/8 inches GMOA 2009.89
The museum acquired two significant paintings with ties to Georgia history when it purchased portraits of Robert Ransome Billups and his wife, Elizabeth Ware Fullwood Billups, both painted ca.1827 by Edwin B. Smith. An anonymous donor funded the acquisition in honor of George-Ann and Boone Knox. The Billupses were early residents of Clarke County, making these two paintings important additions to GMOA’s collections of decorative arts and American portraiture.
GMOA FALL 2009 • page 3
C O N S T R U C T I O N U P D AT E
Moving and packing GMOA staff and volunteers from UGA’s Office of University Architects and Physical Plant were working hard in the final push to prepare the museum for the arrival of Holder Construction.
Week 1: June 15 The first sign that construction was imminent was the erection of the project site fence.
Week 2: June 22 Trucks filled the lower parking lot in preparation for the first stages of hardscape excavation. Stakes around the property mark the boundaries of the expansion, which will house GMOA’s permanent collection galleries.
Week 3: June 29 Workers bulldozed the area designated for the new sculpture garden. Ronnie Green, construction superintendent for Holder, keeps us updated on the progress.
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Phase II Construction Update
C O N S T R U C T I O N U P D AT E
Week 4: July 6 Holder began excavating the gallery footings and preparing them for backfill. The sculpture garden’s terraced landscape was visible from inside the building.
Week 5: July 13 Holder installed dust and noise control for interior demolition. Site utility piping was delivered.
Week 6: July 20 The upper parking lot was prepared for excavation while workers continued to pour footings and install site utilities.
Week 7: July 27 Most of week 7 revolved around the demolition of the interior staircase. Holder also began to install manholes and storm piping.
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E M P LO Y E E S P OT L I G H T
Employee Spotlight: Lynn Boland
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t takes only a couple of minutes with Lynn Boland, GMOA’s new Pierre Daura Curator of European Art, to recognize that he is a wonderful addition to the staff. Boland came into both his new job here at GMOA and the field of art history by what he calls serendipitous luck. After attending high school in Athens, Boland enrolled in UGA for his undergraduate degree. He initially planned to major in music, but after some exploration, settled on art history because of the interdisciplinary nature of the field, which appealed to his broad range of interests. It was on the recommendation of an advisor that Boland applied for and landed an internship at GMOA during his senior year of college. Placed in the department of development, partly for his snappy dressing, Boland gained experience in and exposure to all aspects of museum operation. After finishing his undergraduate degree, Boland landed a job at GMOA as an administrative assistant, where he worked until heading off to graduate school in Austin, Texas. At the University of Texas, Boland wrote his dissertation on modern European art and music. He says it is the energy and the dynamism, along with the difficulty, of these works that inspire him to try to make this type of art accessible to a broader range of people. Boland sees himself as a cultural historian, rather than strictly an art historian, someone interested in how visual culture fits into the larger cultural framework. Boland’s choice to enter museum work instead of teaching arises from his desire to keep expanding the range of his studies. He is responsible not only for working with and promoting the Daura collection, an invaluable resource he hopes to make more widely available, but also is looking forward to preparing the Cercle et Carré and the International Spirit of Abstract Art catalogue and exhibition, scheduled to open in 2011. In July, these projects took him across the Atlantic, to Spain and to France, for research. Boland spends his time away from the museum either puttering around in his garden or playing the piano, both favorite hobbies of GMOA’s newest curator. John Keith, Publications Intern
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EXHIBITIONS
The South in Black and White: The Works of James E. Routh Jr., 1939–1946 July 20–October 2, 2009 Robert C. Williams Paper Museum, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Ga.
James E. Routh Jr. (American, b. 1918) Rabbit Hunter, 1940 Lithograph on paper, ed.14 13 5/16 x 9 inches (image) 15 15/16 x 11 1/2 inches (sheet) Collection of the artist
http://ipst.gatech.edu/amp/
On view: Prints and drawings of images gathered on Routh’s travels throughout the South during the Depression. Sponsors: BNY Wealth Management and Mr. D. Jack Sawyer Jr. and William E. Torres, M.D., the W. Newton Morris Charitable Foundation and the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art.
Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection August 8–October 24, 2009 Lyndon House Arts Center, Athens, Ga. www.accleisureservices.com/lyndon.shtml
On view: 83 paintings, drawings, sculptures and whirligigs created by Georgia self-taught artist Reuben Aaron “R.A.” Miller. Sponsors: The Fort Trustee Fund through the Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley, R.E.M. / Athens, LLC and the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art.
Imprinting the South: Works on Paper from the Collection of Lynn Barstis Williams and Stephen J. Goldfarb September 19, 2009–January 2, 2010 Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, University of Louisiana, Lafayette, La.
R.A. Miller (American, 1912–2006) Red Dinosaur with Sunset Sky, n.d. Enamel paint on tin 26 5/8 x 44 x 1/2 inches Collection of Carl and Marian Mullis
http://museum.louisiana.edu/
On view: Etchings, relief prints, lithographs and serigraphs depicting the South from the 1920s to the 1940s.
NEW VENUE
Scripture for the Eyes: Bible Illustration in Netherlandish Prints of the 16th Century October 17, 2009–January 24, 2010 Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University, Atlanta, Ga. www.carlos.emory.edu
On view: Two works from the museum’s permanent collection: Herman Janz. Muller, the Nailing to the Cross (1565) and the Crucifixion (1565). GMOA FALL 2009 • page 7
E V E N T P H OTO S
Art on Wheels 1. Howard Scott and Karen Benson, new president of the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art, arrive at the Botanical Garden.
GMOA Events
2. Director Bill Eiland and board member Berkeley Minor test-drive a 1957 Oldsmobile Super 98. 3. Director of Friends membership Tim Brown and his father, Eugene Brown. 4. T om and Laurie Scott pose in front of a 1954 Mercury Monterey Woodie Wagon.
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Family Day: Sunny Sunflowers 5. Kids used oil pastels to draw sunflowers and other plants at the Botanical Garden. 6. Young artists were proud to show off their masterpieces. Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art Annual Meeting 7. Friends board members John Ahee and Chris Peterson, and Sarah Peterson. 8. Incoming Friends president Karen Benson, past Friends president Paige Carmichael and Friends presidentelect Karen Prasse. Family Day: Silly Sun Visors at AthFest 9. Jolina Manoguerra models her silly sun visor. 10. GMOA’s booth was busy Saturday and Sunday despite the summer heat.
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS
OCTOBER Lunch and Learn Monday, October 5, noon–1 p.m. Lyndon House Arts Center Bring your lunch for a discussion on American and Cuban folk art with Judith McWillie and Joe Norman, professors of art at the Lamar Dodd School of Art. This program is free and open to the public and is held in conjunction with Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection. Latin American Film Series “Balseros” Wednesday, October 7, 7 p.m. Zell B. Miller Learning Center, Rm. 150. Introduction by Miguel Vicente, director of library services at Commerce Public Library This documentary film tells the story of seven rafters, or “balseros,” who left Cuba in 1994 and resettled in different locations across the United
States with the help of Catholic charities. Filmed over a period of seven years, the film charts the rafters’ struggles, victories and everything in between. Spanish with English subtitles. (2002, 120 minutes) Latin American Film Series “Favela Rising” Wednesday, October 14, 7 p.m. Zell B. Miller Learning Center, Rm. 150. Introduction by Susan C. Quinlan, associate professor of Portuguese, department of Romance languages This documentary film tells the story of Anderson Sà, a former drug trafficker who tries to reinvigorate life in the favela, a squatter’s community in Rio de Janeiro. Sà uses dance, hip-hop and street music to celebrate life as an alternative to violence, drugs and corruption,
creating the Afro-Reggae movement in the process. Portuguese with English subtitles. (2006, 80 minutes) The Art of: Music Tuesday, October 20, 7–10 p.m. Stan Mullins Studio, Athens Grammy Award–winner Art Rosenbaum will perform oldtime and bluegrass music. $15 Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art, $20 non-members. RSVP to 706.542.0830. Sponsored by The Athens Blur Magazine and Stan Mullins. Latin American Film Series “Chac: Dios de la lluvia”/ “Chac: The Rain God” Wednesday, October 21, 7 p.m. Zell B. Miller Learning Center, Rm. 150. Introduction by Brent Berlin, professor emeritus of anthropology
A village plagued by a withering drought familiarizes itself with its cultural roots through the help of a seer. The mysterious man leads 12 men from the village on foot in a ritualistic quest for rain, and inexplicable events follow. Tzotzil and Spanish with English subtitles. (1974, 95 minutes) Latin American Film Series “A Dios Momo”/ “Goodbye Momo” Wednesday, October 28, 7 p.m. Zell B. Miller Learning Center, Rm. 150 Set against the backdrop of the riotous Uruguayan carnival, this magic-realist film tells the story of a young newspaper boy, Obdulio, who learns to read and write from an unlikely mentor. Spanish with English subtitles. (2006, 108 minutes)
NOVEMBER Annual Alfred Heber Holbrook Memorial Lecture: Francis M. Naumann Wednesday, November 4, 6 p.m. UGA Chapel Francis M. Naumann is the author of numerous articles, exhibition catalogues and books, most recently, “Conversion to Modernism: The Early Work of Man Ray” (Rutgers University Press, 2002). In 1996,
he organized the exhibition Making Mischief: Dada Invades New York for the Whitney Museum of American Art, and in 1997, Beatrice Wood: A Centennial Tribute for the American Craft Museum in New York. He currently owns and operates his own gallery in New York City. The lecture will be followed by a reception in the Visual Arts
Building on Jackson St. Sponsored by the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art. Call 706.542.0437 for more info. or 706.542.0830 to RSVP. The Collectors Visit Atlanta Tuesday, November 10, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. This day trip to Atlanta will include visits to two private collections and
an exclusive luncheon at the new W Hotel Downtown. $90 per person; price includes transportation and lunch. Call 706.542.0437 for more information or 706.542.0830 to RSVP.
DECEMBER
Family Day: Natural Ornaments Saturday, December 5, 10 a.m.–noon State Botanical Garden of Georgia Make your own holiday ornaments using natural objects and clay and sing carols with the Meridian Women’s Choir. Holiday cookies and snacks provided. Cosponsored by the State Botanical Garden of Georgia.
The Collectors’ Holiday Party Tuesday, December 15, 6–8 p.m. The home of Jim and Lisa Fiscus, Athens $40 per person. Call 706.542.0437 for more information or 706.542.0830 to RSVP.
In addition to scheduled events, programming includes guided tours, Senior Outreach, fifth-grade tours, docent education and school tours for Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection.
The Latin American Film Series is cosponsored by the Georgia Museum of Art and the Latin American & Caribbean Studies Institute.
Family Day programs are sponsored by Heyward Allen Motor Co., Inc., Heyward Allen Toyota and the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art and are free and open to the public.
Films at the museum receive support from the UGA Parents & Families Association. GMOA FALL 2009 • page 9
M U S E U M N OT E S
Museum Notes
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Jane Willson receives thanks in Cortona from the UGA community for her generous support of the arts.
Doug Makemson installs his sculpture, Swooping, at the Winterville Marigold Festival.
Director Bill Eiland congratulates volunteer Ann Scoggins on winning this year’s Smitty Award.
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his summer, deputy director Annelies Mondi and Pierre Daura curator of European art Lynn Boland both traveled to Europe. The Pierre Daura Center and the Program for Cultural Cooperation between Spain’s Ministry of Culture and United States Universities funded Boland’s trip to Spain and France, where he conducted research for the upcoming exhibition Cercle et Carré and the International Spirit of Abstract Art. Mondi spent her time in Italy at the invitation of Jane Willson, who was honored at the 40th anniversary celebration of UGA’s studies abroad program in Cortona for her generous endowment of the Jane Willson Cortona Studies Abroad Fellowship. Besides visiting Cortona, Mondi and Willson made stops in Milan and Venice, where they attended the Biennale di Venezia, and Todi, where they visited sculptor Beverly Pepper’s studio. In June, GMOA preparator Lanora Pierce worked with Marigold Festival (Winterville, Ga.) director Emily Eisenman on the installation of three large animal sculptures by Doug Makemson, which the museum sponsored. The National Endowment for the Arts awarded the museum a $50,000 grant as part of the 2009 NEA Direct Grants: Museum-Recovery Act. The Recovery Act preserves jobs in the nonprofit arts sector, and GMOA was one of only nine institutions in Georgia to receive a grant, which will provide one year of funding for the curator of decorative arts position. The new curator will take charge of GMOA’s Henry D. Green Center for the Study of the Decorative Arts and finalize plans for its role in GMOA’s new humanities study centers. The department of publications is happy to announce that “The American Scene on Paper: Prints and Drawings from the Schoen Collection” received a silver medal in the fine arts category of this year’s Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPYs). Created in 1996, the IPPY Awards are meant to bring increased awareness and recognition to independently published titles. We are especially proud to announce the publication of “The Historian’s Eye: Essays on Italian Art in Honor of Andrew Ladis.” This tribute to Ladis’s life and work includes essays by many esteemed scholars of Italian art. All GMOA titles are available from our Web shop, which you can access from our homepage, www.uga.edu/gamuseum (click on the gift bag). In other awards news, Ann Scoggins won this year’s Smitty Award for her work as a GMOA volunteer. The museum staff presents the Smitty, also known as the M. Smith Griffith Volunteer of the Year Award, annually to show its appreciation for the work of museum volunteers. The award, a tabletop sculpture recently redesigned by board member Jack Kehoe, was presented to Scoggins at the Friends of the Museum annual meeting on May 29, 2009. Curatorial assistant Jenny Beene Gunn has left the museum to move to Durham, N.C., where her husband will attend Duke University School of Law. Gunn plans to continue her work in arts education and perhaps pursue a doctoral degree in art history. The museum staff and patrons will miss her and look forward to having her back in Georgia someday soon. The other Jenny, media relations coordinator Jenny Williams, just returned from the Southeast Tourism Society’s annual week-long marketing college at North Georgia College and State University in Dahlonega, for which she received a scholarship. During the week, students learned marketing techniques relating to all aspects of the tourism industry from industry leaders and working professionals: “Spending time with other destination and attractions marketers gave me new ideas for promoting GMOA—specifically with regard to the museum’s campaign to reach a more diverse demographic—as we gain momentum for the grand reopening in January 2011,” said Williams.
GIFTS
Friends of the Museum The following gifts were made to the Georgia Museum of Art between April 21 and July 14, 2009:
Ms. Peggy Hoard Suddreth Mr. and Mrs. Ian Walker Dr. Thomas Whitehead Mr. and Mrs. Robert Winthrop II
Alfred Heber Holbrook Society BNY Mellon Wealth Management Ms. Rachel Cosby Conway Dr. Mary Arnold Erlanger D. Jack Sawyer Jr. and William E. Torres, M.D.
The following gifts were made to the Georgia Museum of Art between May 1 and July 14, 2009:
Patron’s Level Mr. and Mrs. H. Daniels Minor
In memory of Tyus Butler by M. Smith Griffith
Director’s Circle ExxonMobil Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Edgar J. Forio Jr. Mr. and Mrs. John F. McMullan Mr. Howard Scott and Ms. Karen Benson Dr. Elizabeth T. Sheerer
In memory of Colonel William Crisp by William U. Eiland
In memory of Harvey Vollrath Jr. by Bill and Jana McGee
In memory of The Reverend Leon Davis by William U. Eiland In memory of Kathryn N. Howell by
William U. Eiland and Red and Jean Petrovs and by the docents of the Georgia Museum of Art In memory of Mary Taylor McCutchen by William U. Eiland and Amburn Power In memory of William L.W. Peters by William U. Eiland In memory of Professor Carol J. Purtle by William U. Eiland In memory of Betsy Birchmore Thornton by Amburn Power In honor of Martha and Stan Henderson on their 50th wedding anniversary by Marshall Henderson and family In honor of Beth and Gib Johnston by Stewart Harnell
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eptember 22, 2009, marked the centennial of Lamar Dodd’s birth. Born in Fairburn and reared in LaGrange, Dodd was not only the most recognized artist of his generation from the state of Georgia, but also a passionate advocate for the arts. His legacy can be seen in the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia, which he headed from 1938 to 1973 and which was named in his honor in 1996, as well as in the Georgia Museum of Art. Dodd was instrumental in founding the museum due to his relationship with Alfred Heber Holbrook, who donated the initial group of 100 paintings that formed the basis of its permanent collection. Dodd’s widow, artist Annie Laurie Dodd, lives in Athens.
Lamar Dodd (American, 1909–1996) Self-Portrait, 1936 Oil on canvas 59 3/4 x 41 3/4 inches Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Extended loan from the University of Georgia Foundation, Gift of Mary and Lamar Dodd GMOA 75.12F
Mission Statement The Georgia Museum of Art shares the mission of the University of Georgia to support and to promote teaching, research and service. Specifically, as a repository and educational instrument of the visual arts, the museum exists to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret significant works of art.
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non-profit org. u.s. postage paid athens, ga permit no. 49
GEORGIA MUSEUM OF ART university of georgia 90 carlton street athens, gaâ&#x20AC;&#x201A; 30602 - 1419 www.uga.edu/gamuseum address service requested
Save the date for the Fifth Biennial Henry D. Green Symposium of the Decorative Arts: JANUARY 29â&#x20AC;&#x201C;30, 2010
Neighboring Voices: The Decorative Culture
of Our Southern Cousins
Registration forms will be mailed shortly. To update your contact information or add a friend to the mailing list, please call 706.542.4662 or email bpwade@uga.edu. Partial support for the exhibitions and programs at the Georgia Museum of Art is provided by the W. Newton Morris Charitable Foundation, the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art, and the Georgia Council for the Arts through the appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly. The Council is a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Individuals, foundations, and corporations provide additional support through their gifts to the Arch Foundation and the University of Georgia Foundation. The Georgia Museum of Art is ADA compliant; the M. Smith Griffith Auditorium is equipped for the hearing-impaired.