General Motors, a long-time sponsor of the Detroit Institute of Arts, has bestowed quite the honor of Ed Welburn, GM Global Design Chief.
During a dinner and reception at the DIA, GM rededicated its Center For African American Art to Welburn for his immense contributions to the artistic community, and recognized him as the industry’s first and only African-American to lead a global design team.
“Ed has built a legacy of design and artistic leadership in Detroit and the industry, and has recognized great talent and generously coached and mentored many young designers,” said Chairman and CEO Mary Barra. “His creative imprint is on more than four decades of GM concept and production cars, trucks and crossovers.”
Welburn’s career has earned him dozens of awards, and the dedication has become a fitting place to celebrate such achievements. The DIA was the first major arts museum to create a center solely focused on the collection and work of African-American artists.
Comments
Congratulations Ed! – You had me worried back at the 100 Years of Chevrolet celebration show, where you peeled back the cover to tease the next-gen Volt… Turns out, years later, the Volt appears as a sportier, nicer version of gen1! I like the “4 door coupe” approach to Volt ( too bad it didn’t get that little extra headroom and legroom Cruze got out of D2XX ). But in all, a splendid job – when customers say they want “sporty”, you provide it for them!
I like the new Chevrolet products, Cruze and Volt…such attractive cars! Malibu?…Well…the sculpting on the sides is unique, I’ll give it that, but it’s nose needs a bit more refining IMHO… Corvette? SHARP! Camaro? WOW! Cadillacs? The design language is getting long in the tooth…New Buicks? They look like they’re becoming something other than rebadged Opels…The trucks? Colorado turned out a whole lot nicer than I had thought – looking at those global versions for so long…the redesign works – The Silverado needs work…seems like a box in a holding pattern of boxiness…
Once again, Ed – you’ve gained my respect – great job!
What’s the award? Distinction for reducing the visibility in millions american cars?