Philadelphia, PA – Moore College of Art & Design will present its 2020 Visionary Woman Awards to interior designer Barbara Eberlein and photographer Susan Unterberg.
Eberlein and Unterberg will receive the awards at Moore’s Visionary Woman Awards Gala in a virtual ceremony on Wednesday, October 7, 2020, 6–7 pm. The annual fundraising gala honors outstanding women leaders in art and design. Proceeds raised from the gala benefit undergraduate women in Moore’s Visionary Honors Program, which includes a $22,000 annual scholarship for highly ambitious, reflective and independent-minded students who are interested in entrepreneurship, leadership and service while pursuing their creative disciplines and academic achievements.
“The annual Visionary Woman Awards is an opportunity for us to recognize the remarkable work of women who have substantiated their roles in the creative industries,” said Moore President Cecelia Fitzgibbon. “Moore’s legacy and impact connects art and design education with careers; these women are the exemplars of that vision.”
The virtual event will focus on the Visionary Woman scholars and honorees, offering an intimate look into Eberlein’s and Unterberg’s artistic process through a compelling short film, as well as the (online) Elizabeth Greenfield Zeidman lecture. The Zeidman Lecture is made possible by a generous endowment by the Albert M. Greenfield Foundation. For information on the lecture and gala: moore.edu/vwa.
The Galleries at Moore are pleased to honor this year's Visionary Women Awardees in the fall exhibition season August 15 – October 17, 2020. Graham gallery will feature a curated survey of Eberlein's firm's recent work in residential and institutional restoration and design projects through floor plans, interior photography and video documentation, with a focus on the complete overhaul of Androssen, a 38,000-square-foot Georgian estate on the Main Line designed in 1911 by architect Horace Trumbauer. In Wilson Gallery, Unterberg's latest photographs, inspired by the United States’ political climate leading up to the 2020 election, will be on view and represent selections from three of her current series including Bad Politics, Fantasy America, and Crimes and Misdemeanors.
The Visionary Woman Awards began in 2003 and the annual fall gala has become a signature Moore event. The awards bring national attention to women artists and provide powerful role models for Moore’s talented students. Past Visionary Woman Awards recipients include New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast; photographer, professor and art historian Deborah Willis, PhD; Spelman College President Dr. Mary Schmidt Campbell; interior designer Alexa Hampton; jewelry designer Ann King Lagos; fashion designers Nicole Miller and Mary McFadden; painter Pat Steir; and feminist artist Judy Chicago.
BIOS OF THE 2020 VWA AWARDEES
Barbara Eberlein
As president and creative director of Eberlein Design Consultants Ltd., Barbara Eberlein holds an enduring passion for design that is rooted in her educational background in the classics, history and art. She has built a national reputation in today’s dynamic design community for expertise in the restoration of significant historic structures of the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. Her work has been published in prestigious national and international magazines and books on design and history. Her firm is a multiwinner of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Institute of Classical Art & Architecture’s Trumbauer Award as well as the Palladio Award. Eberlein is a member of the national ICAA and the Preservation Alliance boards, as well as the European Decorative Arts Committee and the Architecture and Facilities Committee at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Susan Unterberg
Susan Unterberg is a New York-based photographer. Her work is primarily color photographs taking the form of portraiture, human and animal, most recently manifested as digital photo collages and artist books that take into account contemporary politics. Her art also encompasses video installation, book form, and large- and small-format color prints. Unterberg has exhibited her work in the U.S. and abroad. She is represented in major public collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, The Jewish Museum, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In 2019 she was awarded NYU’s Distinguished Alumni Award. In 2018, Unterberg stepped forward as the founder and sole funder of the Anonymous Was A Woman Award, which has awarded $25,000 grants to over 240 women-identifying artists over the age of 40 since 1996.
