The Contemporary Austin Announces the Suzanne Deal Booth Art Prize
July 15, 2016
Unrestricted award of $100,000 to be given biennially and will also include a solo exhibition at The Contemporary Austin and a scholarly publication.
Independent advisory committee comprised of renowned curators and art historians to select winner.
JULY 15, 2016, AUSTIN, TEXAS — The Contemporary Austin is pleased to announce the Suzanne Deal Booth Art Prize, a $100,000 unrestricted award to be given to an artist selected every two years. The biennial prize is funded by a generous gift to the museum by arts professional and museum trustee Suzanne Deal Booth and administered by The Contemporary. In addition to the award, the Suzanne Deal Booth Art Prize will fund a solo exhibition for the winning artist, along with an accompanying publication and related public programming at The Contemporary Austin. The exhibition will be on view at the museum’s downtown venue, the Jones Center, with the option to also be shown at the museum’s outdoor site, the Betty and Edward Marcus Sculpture Park at Laguna Gloria.
“The prize will create highly visible outlets for an artist to present newly conceived work to audiences from Central Texas and around the world,” said Louis Grachos, Ernest and Sarah Butler CEO and Director of the Contemporary Austin. “I know our esteemed panel of advisors will select an inaugural recipient who is deserving of increased recognition and for whom the award, exhibition, and publication will be transformative—whether they be an early-, mid-, or late-career artist.”
In line with The Contemporary’s mission to reflect the spectrum of thoughtful contemporary art through exhibitions, commissions, and educational programs, the winner will be selected by an independent advisory committee made up of renowned curators and art historians. In addition to Suzanne Deal Booth and Heather Pesanti, Senior Curator, The Contemporary Austin, this year’s inaugural advisory committee includes Stephanie Barron, Senior Curator and Head of Modern Art Department, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Naomi Beckwith, Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Peter Eleey, Chief Curator, MoMA PS1; Hamza Walker, Director of Education and Associate Curator, The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago; and Heidi Zuckerman, Nancy and Bob Magoon CEO and Director, Aspen Art Museum. The winner of the Suzanne Deal Booth Art Prize will be announced in fall 2016, with the exhibition to open in early 2018.
“My mission as an art advocate has been to keep art alive and accessible, as well as contributing to the dialogue in the art world,” Suzanne Deal Booth said. “I’m thrilled to be working with The Contemporary Austin to realize this prize, which will allow the selected artist to present work not only through a solo exhibition but also via an accompanying publication and related programming to reach a wider audience.”
Suzanne Deal Booth has long been committed to the recognition, preservation, and conservation of visual arts and cultural heritage. Booth co-founded the Friends of Heritage Preservation and has served as director since its inception in 1998 (www.fohpinfo.org).
Deal Booth is a Master of Arts in art history and conservation from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts and Conservation Center in New York City. While at Rice and NYU, she had the opportunity to work directly under the tutelage of art patron and humanist Dominique de Menil. She worked with her close friend, the artist James Turrell, on Skyspace at MoMA PS1 (1986), and later assisted on his retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art. In 2012, under Deal Booth’s patronage, Turrell’s permanent installation at Rice University, Twilight Epiphany, was realized (skyspace.rice.edu). She has worked at several institutions, including les Monuments Historiques, France; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth; the Menil Collection, Houston; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles.
Her patronage and philanthropic efforts include serving on the boards of several arts organizations, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Menil Collection, the Centre Pompidou Foundation, Ballroom Marfa, and The Contemporary Austin. Additionally she established the Booth Scholar in Residence at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies and the Booth Family Rome Prize Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome, both in Rome, Italy.
Grachos added, “The Suzanne Deal Booth Art Prize aligns very well with The Contemporary Austin’s artist-centric mission. I admire Suzanne Deal Booth’s great foresight and am excited and energized to watch an artist grow and benefit through this opportunity.”
THE CONTEMPORARY AUSTIN
The Contemporary Austin reflects the spectrum of contemporary art through exhibitions, commissions, education, and the collection. The museum has two distinct yet complementary locations, the Jones Center in downtown Austin at 700 Congress Avenue, and Laguna Gloria, a 14-acre site on Lake Austin at 3809 West 35th Street, which is home to the Driscoll Villa, the Art School, the Gatehouse Gallery, and the Betty and Edward Marcus Sculpture Park at Laguna Gloria.
More information about the museum and its exhibitions and programs can be found at thecontemporaryaustin.org, with additional information about the Suzanne Deal Booth Art Prize at thecontemporaryaustin.org/sdbartprize.
Further information about Suzanne Deal Booth can be found at sdbooth.com.
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