By Cricket Elliott
DULUTH, Ga. | Four finalists have been selected for the 2024 Hudgens Prize, a prestigious visual arts award that carries a cash prize of $50,000 and a solo exhibition at the Hudgens Center for Art and Learning.
Dugger
Clark
The Hudgens Prize is one of the largest awards in the nation given to an individual artist. The purpose of the competition is to elevate and promote the arts throughout Georgia, while providing a transformational opportunity for the winning artist.
Laura Ballance, executive director of The Hudgens, reports: “The quality of the entries for the Hudgens Prize continues to get better every year. The finalists are all exceptional and the jurors face a difficult decision to determine the winner.”
The Hudgens Prize will be awarded based on visits by judges to the four finalist’s studios. Their works will be on view in the 2024 Hudgens Prize Finalists’ Exhibition. The $50,000 prize recipient will be announced at the Hudgens Prize Award Celebration in September.
The finalists are:
-
Suarez
Mabe
Krista Clark: A resident of Atlanta, her work incorporates new and repurposed materials to construct familiar forms in new spatial arrangements displaced from their accustomed sites and settings. She works in drawing, collage and sculptural installation.
- Victoria Dugger: A painter and sculpture, she was born in Columbus and a current resident of Athens, her practice spans painting, mixed media works and sculpture. Working across these forms, she produces objects that blur accepted categories, exploring novel modes of self-expression and embodiment.
- Joni Mabe: Born in Cornelia and a current resident of Athens, she is a huge fan of Elvis Presley, who often ends up represented in her work. She is creator of the Everything Elvis Museum and owns a large personal collection of Elvis memorabilia, artifacts and curiosities – including a wart. She also works in sculptural installations.
- Sergio Suarez: Born in Mexico City, he now lives and works in Atlanta. His practice, prompted by an interest in translation, uses different traditions of making to construct a visual language concerned with syncretism, temporality, and the porosity between objects, images, and structures. He works in woodblock carving, painting and ceramic installations.
The 2024 Hudgens Prize jurors include Annette Cone-Skelton, CEO and founding director, The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia; Floyd Hall, executive director, The Atlanta Contemporary; and Melissa Messina, curatorial and advisory services consultant, and curator, Mildred Thompson Estate.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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