SWT’s Wittliff Gallery and Writers Collection win state design competition

SAN MARCOS, TEXAS — Southwest Texas State University’s Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern & Mexican Photography and the Southwestern Writers Collection recently garnered five Mitchell A. Wilder Awards for Publication Design from the Texas Association of Museums (TAM).

Placing third to the Dallas Museum of Art and the Austin Museum of Art, SWT finds itself in exclusive company. This marks the second consecutive year that SWT has ranked among the top three fine arts institutions in the state in the Wilder competition.

The Wittliff Gallery was recognized this year with two Gold Awards for the two books published in the Wittliff Gallery series in 2000 -- Boystown-La Zona de Tolerancia (published by Aperture and designed by D.J. Stout and Julie Savasky) and Ezekiel’s Horse: Keith Carter Photographs (published by the University of Texas Press and designed by D.J. Stout and Nancy McMillen.)

The Wittliff Gallery also received two Silver Awards for its invitations to two of its exhibit openings in 2000: “El ojo fino/The Exquisite Eye: Great Women Photographers of Mexico” (invitation designed by Connie Todd and Donna Starnes), and “Ezekiel’s Horse: Keith Carter Photographs” (invitation designed by Connie Todd and Carla Ellard.)

The Southwestern Writers Collection received a Silver Award for its invitation to a book signing and reading for author Edwin Shrake and his novel The Borderland, designed by Connie Todd and Mary Garcia.

“I’m so pleased that the Wittliff Gallery and Southwestern Writers Collection have been recognized again by our peers at the statewide level,” said Connie Todd, SWT’s curator of special collections. “People are beginning to realize that we’re creating a major cultural resource here at SWT.”

The Mitchell A. Wilder Publication Design Awards are presented annually by the TAM to recognize achievement in graphic design and media production, and to encourage quality in public presentations.