George S. Sexton, III is an American designer, specializing in the areas of lighting design,

museum design A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these i ...

and

museum planning Museum Planning is the creation of documents to describe a new museum’s vision, the visitor experience and an organizational plan for a new institution, or one undergoing a major expansion or change in focus. Museum plans may include some or all ...

services.

Life

Sexton studied at

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six regi ...

from 1966, where he received his Bachelor of Architecture Degree in 1971. Upon graduation, Sexton began his work in

architectural lighting design Architectural lighting design is a field of work or study that is concerned with the design of lighting systems within the built environment, both interior and exterior. It can include manipulation and design of both daylight and electr ...

through his employment at Claude Engle, Lighting Consultant in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

. He continued his work in the field of lighting design by taking a position at the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

both designing and lighting exhibits. This early professional experience working in DC museums coupled with his

modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

training as an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

have been the foundations of his approach to lighting and museum design. Further shaping experiences include working as Acting Keeper of the

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts The Sainsbury Centre is an art gallery and museum located on the campus of the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England. The building, which contains a collection of world art, was one of the first major public buildings to be designed by th ...

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, England, as well as the Head of the Design and Installation Department for the

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the ...

at both the

M.H. de Young Memorial Museum The de Young Museum, formally the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, is a fine arts museum located in San Francisco, California. Located in Golden Gate Park, it is a component of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, along with the Legion of Hono ...

and the

California Palace of the Legion of Honor The Legion of Honor, formally known as the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, is an art museum in San Francisco, California. Located in Lincoln Park, the Legion of Honor is a component of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, which also ...

. In 1980, Sexton opened his own lighting and museum design firm, George Sexton Associates, based in

, with satellite offices in

, England and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Connection to Claude Engle

Trained in architecture at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, George Sexton found himself - after graduation, amid a recession in the early 1970s — seeking employment beyond architecture firms and found a position with lighting designer Claude Engle. Assigned to the east wing extension for the

in Washington, D.C., which Engle was working on at the time, was what set Sexton on a course of museum work that has been the cornerstone of his professional lighting career.

Lighting philosophy

As referenced in an interview of George Sexton, ''"Design-wise, it's about listening to the client. In terms of lighting, we are of the school that you shouldn't notice our work; it should be transparent. ... Daylight is very important to the visitor's experience. Architects and lighting designers have a great comfort level in working with daylight. It is something that can be managed in a way that is consistent with museums, but when making that choice, there is a cost of controlling daylight that needs to be considered. ... Regarding technology impacting museum lighting, there's a whole area of lighting controls, particularly as they relate to conservation and energy issues. Interactive media as well. We need to be clever as designers and consider these other sources (i.e., the whole range of media generated light) as part of the lighting solution.''"

Projects of note

Sexton has provided design services for an array of international and domestic clients, including the following: ;Museums and galleries *

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, New York City *

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

* Morse Museum of American Art, Winter Park Florida * Star-Spangled Banner Exhibit, National Museum of American History Washington DC *

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, London UK *

Peabody Essex Museum The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts, US, is a successor to the East India Marine Society, established in 1799. It combines the collections of the former Peabody Museum of Salem (which acquired the Society's collection) and the ...

, Salem Massachusetts *

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (widely referred to as The Modern) is an art museum of post-World War II art in Fort Worth, Texas with a collection of international modern and contemporary art. Founded in 1892, The Modern is located in the c ...

, University of East Anglia, Norwich, England *

Denver Art Museum The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With encyclopedic collections of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums between t ...

Asian Art Museum of San Francisco The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco – Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture"About"
Asian Art Museum website. ...

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

in Canberra, Australia * Metropolitan Museum of American Art Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of American Art in New York City * The Dali Museum, St. Petersburg Florida * Geoffrey Diner Gallery, Masterpiece London (Awarded Stand of the Year 2013)] *

Dulwich Picture Gallery Dulwich Picture Gallery is an art gallery in Dulwich, South London, which opened to the public in 1817. It was designed by Regency architect Sir John Soane using an innovative and influential method of illumination. Dulwich is the oldest publi ...

, London UK *

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...

, Washington DC Public & Civic *

Flight 93 Memorial The Flight 93 National Memorial is a memorial built to commemorate the crash of United Airlines Flight 93, which was one of four aircraft hijacked during the September 11 attacks in 2001. The memorial is located in Stonycreek Township in Somer ...

, Somerset Pennsylvania *

Vietnam Veterans Memorial The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a U.S. national memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring service members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Vietnam War. The site is dominated by two black granite walls engraved with the names of those s ...

, Washington, DC * Parliament Houses in Canberra, Australia * DiMenna Center for Classical Music, New York City * Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard, Smithsonian Institution Washington DC *

National Dance Institute National Dance Institute (NDI) was founded in 1976 by New York City Ballet principal dancer Jacques d'Amboise. NDI works with mainstream, bilingual, and special education classes. NDI classes are taught by professional artists, who work with 6,50 ...

, New York City * National Botanical Garden of Wales, Middleton Wales ;Offices and mixed use *

The Shard The Shard, also referred to as the Shard of Glass, Shard London Bridge, and formerly London Bridge Tower, is a 72-storey skyscraper, designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, in Southwark, London, that forms part of The Shard Quarter dev ...

, London UK * BMCE Headquarters, Morocco * Hearst Tower New York * UBS Ultra High Net Worth Client Offices, Chicago Illinois and Atlanta Georgia * 1100 First Street North East, Washington DC ;Commercial *

Shore Club The Shore Club is a restaurant and live music venue located in Hubbards, Nova Scotia. Built by Roy Harnish in 1946, it has become locally renowned for serving a lobster supper. Now in the third generation of owners, Shore Club bids itself as th ...

, Miami Beach * Bryant Park Hotel, New York City * The Modern, Museum of Modern Art, New York * tangysweet, Washington DC * The Hamilton, Washington DC ;Retail *

Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French high-end Luxury goods, luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton (designer), Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its produc ...

stores worldwide *

Elie Tahari Elie Tahari ( he, אלי טהרי; born 1952) is an Israeli fashion designer. He is the designer of ready-to-wear clothing and fashion accessories. His company is headquartered in New York City, with stores located throughout the world. Early ...

, Bal Harbour and Boca Raton Florida *

TAG Heuer TAG Heuer S.A. ( ) is a Swiss luxury watchmaker that designs, manufactures and markets watches and fashion accessories, as well as eyewear and mobile phones manufactured under license by other companies and carrying the TAG Heuer brand name. Th ...

, Peking Road Hong Kong ;Residential * Private residences worldwide * Oyster House, Honest Point (

Northern Neck The Northern Neck is the northernmost of three peninsulas (traditionally called "necks" in Virginia) on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in the Virginia, Commonwealth of Virginia (along with the Middle Peninsula and the Virginia Peninsula ...

) Virginia ;Worship * St. Joseph Cathedral, Sioux Falls South Dakota * Herz Jesu Kirche, Munich Germany *

Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a Catholic shrine located in La Crosse, Wisconsin. It is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The grounds include a visitors' center and outdoor devotional areas such a ...

, La Crosse Wisconsin * Basilica of the Assumption, Baltimore Maryland

Awards

French Pavilion The French pavilion houses France's national representation during the Venice Biennale arts festivals. Background The Venice Biennale is an international art biennial exhibition held in Venice, Italy. Often described as "the Olympics of th ...

, International Expo 2010, Shanghai China * IIDA Section Guth Illumination Design Award, 2011

, Boston Massachusetts * IIDA Section Guth Illumination Design Award, 2011 22 Bateman's Row, London UK * RIBA London Building of the Year, 2010 1100 First Street NE, Washington DC * A, L Light & Architecture Commendable Achievement in Interior Lighting, 2010 * E Edison Award of Excellence, 2009

Goucher College Goucher College ( ') is a private liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland. It was chartered in 1885 by a conference in Baltimore led by namesake John F. Goucher and local leaders of the Methodist Episcopal Church.https://archive.org/details/h ...

Athenaeum, Towson Maryland * GE Edison Award of Merit, 2009 Lumen United Reformed Church, London UK * IIDA Section Guth Illumination Design Award, 2009 * A, L Light & Architecture Commendable Achievement in Architectural Lighting, 2009 Star-Spangled Banner Exhibit,

National Museum of American History The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is t ...

, Washington DC * IIDA Section Guth Illumination Design Award, 2009 * A, L Light & Architecture Special Citation for Achievement in Exhibition Lighting, 2009 Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard,

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, Washington DC * IIDA Guth Illumination Design Award, 2008

National Association of Realtors The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is an American trade association for those who work in the real estate industry. It has over 1.4 million members, making it one of the biggest trade associations in the USA including NAR's institutes, so ...

Headquarters, Washington DC * U.S. Green Building Council LEED Award, Silver Rating, 2005 * Citation for Sustainable Design Award – Committee on the Environment Boston Society of Architects/AIA and Committee on the Environment of the AIA New York Chapter (in collaboration with Gund Partnership), 2004

, Washington DC * International Illumination Design Awards – Waterbury Capital Section Award, 2005

, Roppongi Hills, Japan * GE Edison Award of Merit, 2004]

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...

Building Restoration, Cleveland Ohio * Cleveland Restoration Society and Preservation Resource Center of Northeastern Ohio - Technical Achievement in Preservation Award (in collaboration with Vitetta), 2003

, Fort Worth Texas * IIDA Edwin F. Guth Memorial Award of Excellence, 2003 * IALD International Association of Lighting Designers Award of Merit, 2003 * IIDA Edwin F. Guth Memorial Award of Excellence for Interior Lighting Design, 2003 * IIDA Capitol Section Illumination Design Award, 2003 * IIDA Capitol Section Illumination Design Award of Merit – International Level, 2003

Milwaukee Art Museum The Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) is an art museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its collection contains nearly 25,000 works of art. Location and Visit Located on the lakefront of Lake Michigan, the Milwaukee Art Museum is one of the largest art museu ...

, Milwaukee Wisconsin * IIDA Paul Waterbury Award of Excellence for Outdoor Lighting Design * GE Edison Award of Excellence, 2002 * IIDA Capitol Section Illumination Design Award, 2002 Herz Jesu Kirche (Heart of Jesus Church), Munich Germany * IIDA Edwin F. Guth Memorial Award of Excellence for Interior Lighting Design, 2002 * IIDA Capitol Section Illumination Design Award, 2002 * IALD International Association of Lighting Designers Award of Merit, 2001 * GE Edison Award of Excellence, 2000

, Denver Colorado * IESNA International Illumination Design Award of Merit, 1999

Henry Francis DuPont Winterthur Museum Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library is an American estate and museum in Winterthur, Delaware. Pronounced “winter-tour," Winterthur houses one of the richest collections of Americana in the United States. The museum and estate were the home of ...

—McIntire Room, Wilmington Delaware * IESNA Capital Section Illumination Design Award, 1998

References

External links

George Sexton's websiteGeorge Sexton Associates websiteInterview of George Sexton, published Feb 4 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sexton, George 1940s births Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Virginia Tech alumni American designers Museum designers Lighting engineers American architects