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Dr. Carol Crown

The Amazing Grace exhibit featured 90 works, some by recognized folk masters such as Thornton Dial, Howard Finster, and Sister Gertrude Morgan, and others by relatively unheralded self-taught artists. The collection was shown at the Georgia Museum of Art.

“The Georgia Museum of Art is extremely proud to have received a bronze medal at the 2008 Independent Publisher Book Awards,” said Paul Manoguerra, the book’s editor and curator of American art at the museum. “Carol Crown’s essay in the exhibition catalogue for Amazing Grace added immensely to the overall quality of the book, and greatly enhanced our chances for winning this prestigious award.”

Crown has been with the University since 1975. She was curator of “Coming Home! Self-Taught Artists, the Bible and the American South,” which opened at the University of Memphis in 2004 and traveled in 2005 to the Museum of Fine Art at Florida State University and the Museum of Biblical Art in New York City.

The IPPY Awards recognize those who exhibit the courage, innovation and creativity to bring about change in the world of publishing. The contest attracted 3,175 total entries, with more than 2,500 in the national categories and 600 in the regional competition.