FOCUS: Hudgens Prize for the Arts to be announced Saturday

By Cricket Elliott

DULUTH, Ga.  |  The winner of the prestigious Hudgens Prize for the Arts will be announced on Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Hudgens Center for Art and Learning. 

Elliott

The Hudgens Prize for the Arts is a visual arts award that carries a cash prize of $50,000 and a solo exhibition at The Hudgens to one  Georgia artist. It is awarded every other year. It 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, beams when she says:  “The finalists were all exceptional again this year. The judges certainly had a difficult decision to make.”

Clockwise, the Hudgens Art Prize finalists are, from top left, Krista Clark, Victoria Dugger, Joni Sergio Suarez and Joni Mabe.

The finalists are:

• 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. 
• Victoria Dugger: 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 book artist and 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.  
• 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.

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.

The Hudgens Center for Art and Learning is a non-profit organization that has been focused on supporting the arts in Georgia since its establishment in 1981. Its mission is to bring together art lovers, leaders and learners through quality art education programs and exhibitions. The Hudgens presents enriching and inspiring art exhibitions in five gallery spaces throughout each year; offers art education and programming, in multiple languages, for all ages and abilities; and provides outreach through the arts that support Georgia’s traditionally under-served individuals, families and communities. 

Previous winners of the Hudgens Prize for the Arts include Gyun Hur (2011), Pam Longobardi (2013); Bethany Collins (2015); Lori Stallings (2017); Paul Stephen Benjamin (2019); and Olu Amoda (2022).

The Hudgens Center is located at 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth, on the Gas South District campus.  For more information about exhibitions, events and arts education at the Hudgens, visit the website at www.thehudgens.org or call 770-623-6002.

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