Marlon Blackwell, founder of Marlon Blackwell Architects and a professor in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas, has received another round of industry honors.
Blackwell has been elected to the National Academy of Design and will be inducted Thursday at a ceremony in New York. He's also been selected as a resident fellow by the American Academy in Rome for spring 2019, and his design firm has been selected among the top 50 in the U.S. for 2018 by Architect magazine.
Blackwell is a distinguished professor and holds the E. Fay Jones Chair in Architecture in the Fay Jones School.
Established in 1825, the National Academy of Design promotes fine arts in America through exhibition and education. According to the UA, the lifetime honor "connects recipients to a lineage of more than 2,300 of the leading artists and architects who have influenced American culture over the past 200 years."
Other National Academicians include architects Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Gehry and Renzo Piano, and artists Marina Abramovic, Winslow Homer, Cindy Sherman, Maya Lin, Louise Bourgeois and Robert Rauschenberg.
Each year, the American Academy in Rome invites artists and scholars from around the world to reside at the academy for one to three months. During their stay, residents serve as senior advisors to Rome Prize recipients and other members of the academy community. As part of his fellowship, Blackwell will also present a lecture.
The UA said two late Fayetteville architects and faculty previously were also selected as fellows: James Lambeth in 1979 and Fay Jones in 1981.
Blackwell joins 15 others at the American Academy in Rome focused on history, art, photography, archaeology and other areas.
Architect magazine has Marlon Blackwell Architects of Fayetteville among the top 50 all-around design practices in the nation for 2018 in its annual survey. The firm, founded in 2000, was ranked 50th overall in the "Architect 50." The ranking considers the firm's accomplishments in business, sustainability and design; the firm ranked fifth in design.
Architect magazine is the official publication of The American Institute of Architects.
