Eric Shiner
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – Executive Director, Pauline Shaver, announced that Eric Shiner, director of The Andy Warhol Museum, has joined the board of Artists’ Legacy Foundation. Mr. Shiner is noted for his knowledge and connoisseurship of the art and legacy of Andy Warhol, and his successful leadership of The Warhol since 2011. He is an active writer, lecturer, and translator; a contributing editor for Art AsiaPacific magazine; and an adjunct professor of art history at the University of Pittsburgh.
Mr. Shiner joins a board of accomplished artists and professionals who provide a depth of advice, guidance, and oversight in support of Artists’ Legacy Foundation’s mission and programs to nurture and encourage artists; promote and protect the legacies of deceased “Legacy Artists”; and support the visual arts. The Board of Directors includes: painter Squeak Carnwath; community advocate Gary Knecht; The Jay DeFeo Trust Director Leah Levy; Philadelphia Museum of Art Director Timothy Rub; and sculptor Sandra Shannonhouse, Trustee of the Robert Arneson Trust and Director of the Arneson Archive.
In the late 1990s, Ms. Carnwath and Mr. Knecht envisioned a foundation centered on artists encouraging fellow artists. Colleague and groundbreaking sculptor Viola Frey learned of their work and the three incorporated Artists’ Legacy Foundation in 2000. Ms. Frey, who died in 2004, entrusted her legacy to the Foundation.
“Eric understands the cultural reach of Andy Warhol and takes advantage of social media and other new strategies to dynamically engage with audiences around the world, including underserved audiences,” said Ms. Carnwath. “A goal of Artists’ Legacy Foundation is to serve as a resource for the public, and to deepen understanding of the life and work of Legacy Artists, like Viola Frey. A Twitter account was launched this year, @ViolaFreyArt, and a comprehensive new website is in production. We look forward to Eric’s partnership to expand and strengthen our contributions to artists and the arts.”
“I am thrilled to join the board of the Artist’ Legacy Foundation. I am committed to making sure that the legacies of America’s great artists are preserved, celebrated, and promoted, and I hope that my deep experience in doing the above with Andy Warhol’s legacy will help this dynamic organization as it moves into the future.”
Mr. Shiner received his Bachelor of Philosophy in the History of Art and Architecture and Japanese Language and Literature at the University of Pittsburgh’s Honors College. He received the Japanese Government’s Ministry of Education Monbusho Prize and attended graduate school at Osaka University, where he earned an MA in the History of Art, later becoming assistant curator of the 2001 Yokohama Triennale. In 2007 he curated “Making a Home: Japanese Contemporary Artists in New York” at Japan Society in New York City, where he was also previously an adjunct professor at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. Mr. Shiner joined The Warhol in 2008 as the Milton Fine Curator of Art and became acting director in January, 2011; in July of that year he was named permanent director.