The San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts (SAMFA) has announced that Howard Taylor, its President Emeritus and the Executive Director of the Center for the Advancement and Study of Early Texas Art (CASETA), has been honored with CASETA’s William and Linda Reaves Lifetime Achievement Award.
Howard Taylor
For the past 15 years, CASETA has recognized individuals and organizations through its awards ceremony during its annual symposium. The award is named in honor of Early Texas art scholars, patrons, and advocates William and Linda Reaves, and recognizes artists, patrons, scholars, and others involved in the promotion of and scholarship around Early Texas art. Past lifetime achievement award winners include sculptor David Adickes (2019), Houston artists Henri Gadbois and Leila McConnell (2018), and collector Morris Matson (2017). Recipients are selected by a committee; the 2023 committee included Caleb Bell, Scott Chase, George Palmer, Sarah Beth Wilson, and Jeff Sone.
At the award ceremony, Christian Kellher, a CASETA board member who serves on the Executive Committee, stated, “Howard’s tenure with SAMFA has been nothing less than transformative, creating a museum, museum programs, such as sponsoring CASETA and other civic organizations, and a museum building, all of which are nationally recognized and the subjects of numerous awards.”
Mr. Taylor, who was the founding director of SAMFA, retired earlier this year after 38 years of service. He continues to hold the position of Executive Director of CASTEA, which he has held since 2014.
Other CASETA 2023 Award winners include:
—Distinguished Service Award: John L. Nau, III
—Catalog Publication Award: Octavio Medellín: Spirit and Form by Dr. Mark A. Castro, published by the Dallas Museum of Art
—Exhibition Award: Octavio Medellín: Spirit and Form, Dallas Museum of Art
—Book Publication Award: James Ferdinand McCan: Painting a Historical Portrait of Texas, 1895-1925, by M. M. McAllen, published by the Witte Museum
—Bill and Mary Cheek Patron Award: Cele and John Carpenter
Watch a recording of the 2023 CASETA Award program via the organization’s YouTube Channel.
