Two filled, Houston next?

Former MFAH curator becomes deputy director of Fort Worth's Kimbell Art Museum

George T.M. Shackelford
Photo by John Tlumacki/Boston Globe
Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth
Photo via Metroplexing with Darkstar

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston vet George T.M. Shackelford is making art world headlines, moving from curator at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston to the role of senior deputy director of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth.

For 11 years, the Louisiana native worked under the leadership of late MFAH director Peter Marzio as the curator of European painting and sculpture. Since his move to Boston's MFA in 1996, Shackelford has overseen the reinstallation of the museum's European art galleries, as well as such major exhibitions as Gauguin Tahiti and Van Gogh: Face to Face. Shackelford's Monet in the 20th Centurywas recognized as the most highly attended exhibition in the world in 1998.

With an ambitious starchitect-envisioned expansion in the works, will the MFAH follow the Kimbell's lead and secure a museum mastermind for the vacant director role?

Incidentally, Shackelford returned to the MFAH in February to present a lecture on van Gogh's self-portraits as part of the 35th Annual Ruth K. Shartle Symposium.

Shackelford is entering the Kimbell at a critical moment for the museum. In 2013, the internationally respected institution will break out of its iconic Louis I. Kahn building into an expansion designed by Renzo Piano (who first gained recognition in the United States with the Menil Collection commission). Kimbell director Eric M. Lee is dubbing Shackelford "one of the most talented curators there is," suggesting that the new deputy director will shape the museum's future.

With an ambitious starchitect-envisioned expansion in the works, will the MFAH follow the Kimbell's lead and secure a museum mastermind for the vacant director role? The Kimbell is following the pattern of the San Antonio Museum of Art, which in May found its new director in Philadelphia Museum of Art European paintings curator Katherine Luber. As a UT graduate, Luber comes with some Texas cred, and like Shackelford, she logged time in the MFAH offices.

Time will tell if the MFAH search committee will also nab a professional with Texas ties from an East Coast old guard institution. Or perhaps, a true cultural pioneer is to be found in the wild West.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”