SAVANNAH, GEORGIA — The Savannah College of Art and Design is proud to announce the appointment of Andreia Wardlaw as the director of the Walter and Linda Evans Center for African American Studies at the SCAD Museum of Art. Wardlaw is an experienced leader and community builder who is passionate about education and the arts.
"The varied traditions in African American art have long served as a way to illuminate the voices of the community and celebrate Black culture," Wardlaw said. "I'm honored to have the opportunity to elevate the esteemed presence of the Evans Center within the Savannah community in hopes of building on its legacy of being a preeminent space for engagement with Black art."
Wardlaw received an M.A. in African American studies from Columbia University. Prior to joining SCAD, she worked at the Center for Women’s History at the New York Historical Society and taught in higher education. As director of the Evans Center, Wardlaw will work closely with students, faculty, and staff to develop programming that enhances public knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of Black art and culture.
"We are thrilled to have Andreia Wardlaw as the new director of the SCAD Museum of Art’s Walter and Linda Evans Center for African American Studies," said SCAD MOA chief curator Daniel S. Palmer. "The depth of her experience working in various aspects of African American studies and culture will be a tremendous resource to SCAD students and the many visitors who come to see the remarkable exhibitions on view at the museum. Since its founding, the Evans Center has been a beacon that highlights transformative stories of contemporary Black culture, and we look forward to this continuing for years to come."
SCAD established the Walter and Linda Evans Center for African American Studies within the prestigious SCAD Museum of Art in 2011. Through the generous gift of Dr. Walter Evans and his wife Linda, the museum is home to more than 60 important works by renowned African American artists including Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Robert S. Duncanson, Richard Hunt, and Jacob Lawrence. The collection forms the foundation of a multidisciplinary center for the study, understanding, and appreciation of African American art and culture. A permanent gallery space in the museum is also dedicated to exhibiting the work of contemporary African American artists.
The Evans Center and SCAD MOA have continually exhibited and celebrated Black artists, including internationally heralded exhibitions focused on the legacies of Jacob Lawrence and Frederick Douglass, as well as contemporary exhibitions by Hank Willis Thomas, Carrie Mae Weems, Fred Wilson, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Kenturah Davis, Chase Hall, Nina Chanel Abney, Awol Erizku, and others.
Under Wardlaw’s direction, the Evans Center is presenting a summer film series titled Black Culture Rewind. The series continues Friday, July 19, at 6 p.m. with a screening of Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust, a 2004 selection for the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Dash’s seminal film shines a cinematic light on the rich Gullah Geechee history of St. Helena Island, S.C. Prior to the screening, a conversation with Gullah Geechee Sweetgrass Basket expert Amadu Massally will explore the diasporic connections between the Savannah Sea Islands and West Africa.
SCAD Museum of Art
The SCAD Museum of Art features more than 10 dynamic gallery spaces presenting exhibitions and commissioned works by international emerging and established artists. The museum serves visitors and students alike, enriching both the high caliber of education at SCAD and the cultural life of the Savannah community and beyond. Exhibitions range from painting, sculpture, and photography to digital media, fashion, and jewelry, complementing the artistic disciplines offered at the university. The museum also hosts public programming year-round, including lectures, gallery talks, workshops, and film screenings.
SCAD MOA has presented exhibitions by artists including Miya Ando, Radcliffe Bailey, Nick Cave, Doreen Lynette Garner, Katharina Grosse, Subodh Gupta, Hassan Hajjaj, Chase Hall, Alfredo Jaar, Isaac Julien, Shirin Neshat, Rashaad Newsome, Raúl de Nieves, Lorraine O’Grady, Ebony G. Patterson, Rose B. Simpson, Carrie Mae Weems, Kehinde Wiley, and Saya Woolfalk, as well as site-specific installations by Rachel Feinstein, Jorge Pardo, Odili Donald Odita, Daniel Arsham, Jose Dávila, and others.
An award-winning architectural icon, the museum attracts visitors from around the world to the heart of Savannah’s vibrant downtown historic district and incorporates the oldest surviving pre-Civil War railroad depot into its striking contemporary design. Recognized with awards from the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, the Congress for the New Urbanism, the International Interior Design Association, and the Historic Savannah Foundation, the museum received the American Institute of Architects Honor Award for Architecture, a pinnacle achievement.
Established in 2011, the museum’s Walter and Linda Evans Center for African American Studies celebrates the imaginative breadth and expressive legacy of African American art and culture. In the decade since its founding, the Evans Center and SCAD MOA have presented internationally heralded exhibitions focused on the legacies of Elizabeth Catlett, Frederick Douglass, Aaron Douglas, and Jacob Lawrence, as well as contemporary exhibitions by artists including Hank Willis Thomas, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Matthew Angelo Harrison, and Kenturah Davis. Visit scadmoa.org.
SCAD: The University for Creative Careers
SCAD is a private, nonprofit, accredited university, offering 100 graduate and undergraduate degree programs across locations in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia; Lacoste, France; and online via SCADnow. SCAD enrolls more than 17,500 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 120 countries. The future-minded SCAD curriculum engages professional-level technology and myriad advanced learning resources, affording students opportunities for internships, professional certifications, and real-world assignments with corporate partners through SCADpro, the university’s renowned research lab and prototype generator. SCAD also has earned top rankings for degree programs in interior design, architecture, film, fashion, digital media, and more. Career success is woven into every fiber of the university, resulting in a superior alumni employment rate. A 2023 study found that 99% of SCAD graduates were employed, pursuing further education, or both within 10 months of graduation. SCAD provides students and alumni with ongoing career support through personal coaching, alumni programs, a professional presentation studio, and more.