Ed Dwight – Honoree at 2018 Gala Weekend

For Immediate Release Press Contact: Tom Shinall, TMP Director of Marketing [email protected] 770-387-1300A TRUE RENAISSANCE MAN – ED DWIGHT – TO BE HONORED WITHBOOTH WESTERN ART MUSEUM LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Ed Dwight will be honored at the 2018 For the Love of Art Gala & Art AuctionCARTERSVILLE, GA – In conjunction with Booth Western Art Museum’s annual For the Love of ArtGala & Art Auction, the Museum honors an artist from its Permanent Collection with the Booth WesternArt Museum Lifetime Achievement Award. It was announced at the 2017 For the Love of Art Gala & ArtAuction on February 25 that artist Ed Dwight will become the tenth-ever recipient of the award, joiningHoward Terpning, G. Harvey, Kenneth Riley, Fred Fellows, Glenna Goodacre, Mort Künstler, RoyAnderson, Tom Hill, and Robert McGinnis.Following through on a childhood dream to become an artist, Ed Dwight created more than 50 bronzesdepicting pioneers, explorers, trappers, farmers and soldiers of the old West, exhibited throughout thecountry - gaining widespread critical acclaim. However, Dwight did not have a direct path to artisticsuccess. His circuitous route included careers as an Air Force Test Pilot, Astronaut Candidate, IBMComputer Systems Engineer, Aviation Consultant, Restauranteur, Real Estate Developer, and – holder ofdegrees in Aeronautical Engineering and Fine Art – a true renaissance man…who also had to overcomethe obstacles placed before him as an African American.Ed Dwight was chosen by President John F. Kennedy to become the first Black Astronaut candidate andhad Kennedy lived, Dwight may well have walked on the Moon. When circumstances prevented him fromaccomplishing this goal, he simply made new ones. Achieving success in several areas of businessbefore beginning his art career in 1978, Dwight has become one of the most prolific and insightfulsculptors in America, with more than 100 public monuments to his credit – including the iconic sculpturesof Hank Aaron and Phil Niekro at Turner Field in Atlanta.One of his most important bodies of work is the series entitled Black Frontier Spirit in the American West.Several examples from the series were exhibited in the Booth Western Art Museum exhibition BlackWest: Buffalo Soldiers, Black Cowboys and Untold Stories. Dwight’s 1980 masterwork Battle of ClayCreek Mission is in the Booth Museum Permanent Collection, a gift of Barbara and Robert P. Hunter, Jr. MORE

Page two, Ed DwightAbout Booth Western Art MuseumBooth Western Art Museum, an Affiliate to the Smithsonian Institution, is a 120,000 square foot museumlocated in Cartersville, Georgia, where guests are invited to See America’s Story through contemporaryWestern artwork, a Presidential Gallery, Civil War art gallery, and Sagebrush Ranch, an interactivechildren’s gallery. Open since August 2003, Booth Museum is the only museum of its kind in theSoutheast and was named the 2016 Escape to the Southeast Travel Attraction of the Year from theSoutheast Tourism Society. To learn more about Booth Western Art Museum, visitwww.boothmuseum.org. ###