WASHINGTON, DC.- The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum announces the appointment of Camille Ann Brewer as the museum’s first full-time curator of contemporary textile art. This new curatorial position is supported by a $500,000 five-and-a-half year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to advance the museum’s new contemporary art initiative.

Ms. Brewer comes to the museum from the University of Chicago, where she served as executive director of the Black Metropolis Research Consortium, a membership organization of libraries, universities and archives dedicated to making accessible materials that document the African-American and African diaspora. Ms. Brewer formerly served as an assistant curator at the Detroit Institute of Arts and as an art consultant and curator for her own company, CAB Fine Art, building collections and organizing exhibitions for public museums, corporations, and private collectors.

“Camille Brewer brings our museum a wealth of experience in the world of contemporary textile art,” said John Wetenhall, director of the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum. “A weaver herself, Camille understands the prominent place of the fabric medium in the contemporary art world, as well as how the museum’s vast holdings in historical textiles can relate. We are especially grateful to the Mellon Foundation for making Camille’s appointment possible.”

Ms. Brewer will use the museum’s diverse collections of historical material—including textiles from the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the indigenous cultures of the Americas—to help inform the development of a new collection of contemporary textile art. While The Textile Museum has presented contemporary-focused exhibitions in the past, it has not previously built a collection in this area. Ms. Brewer will organize exhibitions, work with artists to create installations and other special projects and engage GW students and faculty in developing research projects and educational opportunities. In this new position, Ms. Brewer will serve as the museum’s primary liaison to the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design, which became part of the George Washington University in 2014.

“I am honored to receive this prestigious appointment and to help the museum as it broadens its dedication to contemporary fiber art,” said Camille Ann Brewer, curator of contemporary textile art. “For close to 20 years, I have been a member of and visitor to The Textile Museum, and I am thrilled to be a part of the museum’s growth at GW and in this new collecting area.”