Record Attendance at Everson Museum to Honor Native Son, Photographer Doug Muir

Heather and David Muir Announce First Annual Doug Muir Scholarships for Next Generation of Syracuse Artists

The Everson Museum of Art hosted an evening opening for “Doug Muir: Coming Home,” the Everson’s latest exhibition featuring the works of the late photographer, Doug Muir, along with a documentary of his work in the Everson’s Hosmer Auditorium on Thursday, July 6, 2023.

More than 350 people attended the event, including 25 new Museum members, who were all part of a standing-room-only presentation by Doug’s daughter, Heather Muir, and nephew, David Muir, the ABC News journalist, and Syracuse native. The Muir family debuted the first annual Doug Muir Photography/Art Scholarships – honoring three local students, including two high school graduates from the Syracuse City School District and one member of the Everson Teen Arts Council.

Changing Lives

Doug Muir was raised on Syracuse’s Southside and the Muir family wants to celebrate young artists in the Syracuse-area who are just starting their journey.

David Muir recalled a letter Doug Muir wrote later in life to his mother, Mary Muir, about the Kodak Brownie camera she gave him when he was 12 years old. “Thank you for that gift, in 1952 …  you changed the course of my life,” David Muir said. “Heather and I wondered ‘how do we keep this going,’ so we thought we would start the first annual Doug Muir Scholarships through the Everson Museum.”

The scholarships were awarded to Selena Shenandoah, a graduate of Corcoran High School, who is headed to Boston University. She intends to study Architecture and Art History.

Keiasia Tyrell Hines, a graduate of Nottingham High School, will attend Onondaga Community College to study Art and Design.

A third scholarship went to Hannah Salvagni, an active member of the Everson Teen Arts Council. Hannah will attend Baylor University, and will major in Spanish and Accounting, with a minor in Art.

Coming Home

In addition, the Everson Museum announced several pieces of Doug Muir’s work will become part of the Museum’s permanent collection.

“We had selected at least 20 photographs for the Museum’s collection, and I am pleased to say that that number has increased — and the Museum is announcing today that we are acquiring 42 works by Doug for the Museum’s collection,” Elizabeth Dunbar, CEO and Director of the Everson announced during the event’s presentation.

Heather Muir thanked the team at the Everson for bringing her father’s work home.  She told the audience her father had “dual citizenship” in New York and California.  She recalled her father telling her, “Nowhere is more beautiful than the rolling hills along the Finger Lakes.”

“Doug Muir: Coming Home” is on view through September 3, 2023, at the Everson Museum of Art.

Photo:

Pictured left-right: David Muir, Hannah Salvagni, Keiasia Tyrell Hines, Selena Shenandoah, Heather Muir, Elizabeth Dunbar. Photo by Natalia Purchiaroni/Everson Museum of Art