Judith Fowler, Professor Emerita, was awarded the 2019 Daughters of the American Revolution’s Women in the Arts Recognition Award. The award recognizes outstanding community achievements in the arts.

Fowler, who joined Missouri State University as an Assistant Professor in 1997 and retired in 2014 as Professor Emerita, is known for her work in a wide variety of painting and drawing media.  Her subjects range from portraiture, historical figures and legends, to illustrations used in publications for children.  She has given many workshops and as an art educator delivered 13 presentations at national conferences and one presentation at an international conference about her work and its application in the classroom. Her philosophies and techniques in painting and drawing were the basis for 13 refereed journal articles featured in regional and national publications.  Her work in painting and drawing was featured in over 49 exhibitions. She demonstrated commitment to serving the public through her love of art as an art therapist and its recognition of art as “important to life” by founding Art on Wheels-Missouri that supported communities affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the 2011 tornado that devastated Joplin.  In 2013, she was named Art Educator of the Year in the state of Missouri.  More about Professor Fowler from an interview in 2013 for Mind’s Eye can be seen here.

The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution is the largest women’s service organization in the world and contributes over one million volunteer hours a year.  Membership in the organization is open to any woman 18 years or older, regardless of race, religion, or ethnic background, who can prove lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution. Professor Fowler’s descendants were from Ireland: Moses Sweeney, his son Captain Daniel Sweeney, and Zachariah Shackelford.