Board Members

Executive Board Members

Michael Shane Neal Chair

Louis Carr

Advisory Board Members

Sam Adoquei

Sam Adoquei is a painter and educator celebrated for his mastery of traditional oil painting and his eloquent explorations of identity, heritage, and human experience. Trained at the Ghanatta College of Fine Arts, he traveled through Africa and Europe before settling in New York City. His accolades include the Gold Medal in Oil Painting from the Knickerbocker Artists Annual International Exhibition, and his monumental triptych The Legacy and Burial of Martin Luther King has been featured in Smithsonian-affiliated exhibitions. In 2024, the Long Island Museum presented Finding Hidden Treasures: The Art of Samuel Adoquei, a retrospective highlighting his decades-long contribution to figurative art and art education.

Susan Basham

Susan Basham lives in Nashville, Tennessee. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia and her interior design degree from Watkins College of Art, Design and Film, where she now serves as a commissioner. She is a co-owner of an antique store called The Belle Meade Shoppes. Susan is a passionate gardener with a particular interest is daffodils, where she has won numerous national awards for her gardening. She is a generous donor to historical homes as well as museums.

Sandra Murzyn

Sandra Murzyn lives in Manitowoc, Wisconsin and is an award-winning artist in both portraiture and landscape. She also maintains a studio in Franklin, Tennessee. After working many years in advertising art direction and design, she dedicated herself to a family business and family care. Eventually she carved out time to concentrate and dedicate her talents to representational painting. Sandra has always had a passion and professional involvement with many forms of the fine arts, including a career as a ballet
dancer.

Burton Silverman

Burton Silverman is a distinguished American realist painter celebrated for his evocative portraits and figure paintings. He began his artistic journey at age 11 with classes at the Art Students League of New York, later earning a BA in Art History from Columbia University in 1949. After serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, Silverman embarked on a professional art career, exhibiting widely across the United States and internationally His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, including at prestigious venues such as the National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Academy of Art in London Silverman's influence extends beyond his own work; he has been instrumental in the realist revival movement, inspiring countless artists with his commitment to representational art.

Timothy Standring

Timothy James Standring is an American artist and scholar renowned for his watercolor and oil paintings, as well as his contributions to art history. He earned his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and both his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Standring has held faculty positions at institutions such as the University of Denver, Pomona College, Lawrence University, and Loyola University Chicago. He has also been a Fellow at The Clark Art Institute, a Guest Scholar at the J. Paul Getty Museum, and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art. As a curator at the Denver Art Museum, Standring organized numerous exhibitions, including "Whistler to Cassatt: American Painters in France" and "Rembrandt: Painter as Printmaker."

Jennifer Welty

Jennifer R. Welty is an American figurative/portrait painter known for her commitment to capturing character, integrity, and emotion in her work. Though trained formally in interior design, she is largely self-taught in painting, developing her craft by copying old masters and practicing with family and friends. Welty describes her style as “romantic realism”—rather than rigid realism—selectively interpreting light, editing backgrounds, and amplifying or minimizing elements to honor both beauty and truth.

Sheila Wolfe

Sheila Wolfe lives in New York City and is an artist, designer, and editor. She is best known for her many years of work as the art director for Harper’s Magazine, where she also designed the magazine’s covers. Sheila attended the Pratt Institute, after which she worked as a graphic designer for publications such as Esquire before moving up the ranks to director-level recognition. Since leaving her full-time work at Harper’s, she has continued to work in graphic design and publisher consulting in Manhattan. Sheila is the widow of author and journalist Tom Wolfe and the mother of journalist Alexandra Wolfe and sculptor Tommy Wolfe.