Alvah T. Beander
Alvah T. Beander is a certified personal property appraiser with membership in the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) specializing in African, African American and African Diaspora art. Upon completion of her testing she will become the first African American and woman awarded the designation of senior level appraiser in African Sculpture. Alvah previously owned two African art galleries in Old Town, Alexandria, Va.
Alvah is a frequent lecturer and has spoken at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), American Society of Appraisers (ASA) D.C. Chapter, The Congressional Black Caucus Conference, The Embassy of Ghana, the Phillips Collection, the October Gallery Expo, Howard University, Georgia State University, The National Black Art Festival, Legacy Fine Arts Show, Corcoran College of Arts & Design and Art Table.
Major highlights of Alvah’s career include serving as a consultant to the National Museum of African American History and Culture Plan for Action Presidential Commission; serving as an appraiser and consultant to the PBS series “The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow: Johnnie Lee Gray paintings.” ; appraising the African art gifts of President George W. Bush since 2002, making her the first African American woman to appraise for a sitting president; chairing the Planning Committee for the first public art project in Fairfax County, Virginia, “Art in the Pages.”
Alvah’s alma mater, Bennett College for Women, awarded her the Alumnae Achievement Award in May 2008.
The Alvah T. Beander Scholarship was founded in 2005 through the ASA’s Educational Foundation (ASAEF) to promote certification in the specialization of African Sculpture. Alvah also founded a mentorship group, Seven Squared, for African Americans entering the appraisal field. Alvah’s articles have appeared in the Professional Personal Property Journal of the American Society of Appraisers and Scholar magazine. She is a member and serves on the Executive Board of the ASA’s, D.C. Chapter.
Alvah is also a member of the prestigious Art Table: Women Leaders in the Visual Arts, having served on the Membership and ARTCORP (mentorship) Committees. She is a lifetime member of the National Black M.B.A., also founding the N.V. Chapter of Bennett College Alumnae Association, where she is President Emeritus. Alvah is an Adjunct Professor of Business at Strayer University. She developed and teaches a course for career artists, The Business of Art, at Northern Virginia Community College.
Alvah earned her B.A. in Political Science from Bennett College for Women and her M.B.A. from Marymount University. She earned her certification in Appraisals Studies: Personal Property at George Washington University.
Alvah’s son, Blair, is in the M.B.A. program at Marymount University and works as a Contract Specialist at GSA. They both founded an endowed scholarship in late Marvin D. Beanders’ name at the James & Juliette McNeil School in Fairfax County Virginia, to be awarded annually to a child in the Math and Technology Program.