Friday, September 4
Sonya Clark Wins $35,000 Rappaport Prize
Sonya Clark has won this year’s Rappaport Prize, which comes with $35,000 and is awarded annually by the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts, to an artist with ties to New England. Clark is known for her work paying homage to contemporary craftspeople and hairdressers, as well as to Black figures throughout history. “Good news these days is a tender seedling pushing through hard concrete,” Clark said in a statement.
Thursday, September 3
MFA Boston Appoints Senior Director of Belonging and Inclusion
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has named Rosa Rodriguez-Williams as its first-ever senior director of belonging and inclusion. Joining the institution on September 9, Rodriguez-Williams, who has served as director of the Latinx Student Cultural Center at Northeastern University for over a decade, will work with the museum’s division of learning and community engagement. Matthew Teitelbaum, the MFA Boston’s director, said in a statement that Rodriguez-Williams “will be integral in reimagining how we welcome and engage historically underrepresented audiences, truly reflecting the communities we serve.”
Speed Art Museum Director To Step Down
Stephen Reily, who has served as director of the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, since 2017, will depart his post in spring 2021. During his tenure, Reily created the museum’s monthly event “After Hours” and forged connections connections between the institution and its surrounding community through programming and free family memberships. The Speed Art Museum has initiated a national search for Reily’s successor, whom it hopes to identify early next year.
Wednesday, September 2
London Gallery to Host Exhibition Benefiting Ava DuVernay’s LEAP
Signature African Art, a gallery specializing in contemporary African art with locations in London and Lagos, Nigeria, will host two iterations of an exhibition titled “Say My Name.” The show is curated by Khalil Akar and presented by filmmaker Ava DuVernay, with 40 percent of the proceeds from work sold being donated to DuVernay’s Law Enforcement Accountability Project (LEAP), which launched in June. The first version of “Say My Name” will be staged at the gallery’s London space from October 27–November 28 and include new work by Adjaratou Ouedraogo, Ejiro Owigho, Anthony Nsofor, Giggs Kgole, Ayanfe Olarinde, Moufouli Bello, Dandelion Eghosa, Oluwole Omofemi, Demola Ogunajo, Samson Akinnire, Dennis Osakue, Taiye Erewele, and Djakou Nathalie. The second version will take place in Los Angeles in February. In a statement, DuVernay said the exhibition will “showcase the galvanizing work of thirteen dynamic Black artists as they tackle issues of justice and dignity through their art practice.”
Gauri Gill Is Now Represented by James Cohan Gallery
New York’s James Cohan Gallery has added Gauri Gill to its roster. Gill is known for her photographs of everyday life in India, most notably for images as part of a series called “Acts of Appearance,” in which her sitters appear wearing traditional sacred masks. Gill’s work was the subject of a 2018 solo show at MoMA PS1 in New York, and her photography has also been shown in editions of Documenta, the Venice Biennale, and the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. James Cohan Gallery is now featuring her work in an online viewing room on its site.
National Gallery of Art Names 2020–21 Visiting Professors
The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. has named the visiting professors joining the museum’s Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts for the 2020–21 period. Among the scholars selected to teach at the center, which will be offering its studies virtually this year, are art historian Huey Copeland and Museu Calouste Gulbenkian director Peneleope Jane Curtis. A full list is available on the National Gallery of Art’s website.
Tuesday, September 1
Lehmann Maupin Takes on Arcmanoro Niles
Arcmanoro Niles, an up-and-coming artist known for his figurative paintings featuring men and women in everyday settings rendered in brilliant colors, has joined the roster of Lehmann Maupin gallery, which has spaces in New York, London, Hong Kong, and Seoul. Niles, who is based in Brooklyn, will have a solo show at Lehmann Maupin’s New York space in June 2021, and is slated to appear in a group show at the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston. He has previously had solo shows at Los Angeles’s UTA Artists Space and New York’s Rachel Uffner Gallery.
Getty Establishes Post-Baccalaureate Internships in Art Conservation
The Getty in Los Angeles has created new post-baccalaureate internships in art conservation with an aim to address the lack of diversity in the field. The yearlong pilot program will offer $30,000 grants and hands-on experience to students planning to apply to graduate programs in art conservation. Interns participating in the 2020–21 program in the antiquities and paintings departments of the Getty Museum and the conservation department of the Getty Research Institute are Cheyenne Caraway, Kiera Hammond, and Michelle Tenggara.
Monday, August 31
P.P.O.W Now Represents Clementine Keith-Roach
Sculptor Clementine Keith-Roach, who creates terracotta vessels featuring limbs, breasts, and other human body parts, has joined the New York–based gallery P.P.O.W. The artist’s practice centers explorations of labor, and she has previously shown work at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, Ben Hunter Gallery in London, and other international venues.
Michael Birchall Named Curator at Migros Museum
The Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst in Zurich has named Michael Birchall as curator. Birchall has been a curator of public practice at Tate Liverpool in England since 2016, and he replaces Raphael Gygax, who departed the Migros Museum to become director of Zurich University’s B.F.A. program in 2016. Birchall starts in his new position on October 1.
American Folk Art Museum Receives Grant to Digitize Henry Darger Collection
The American Folk Art Museum in New York has received a Save America’s Treasures grant to preserve and digitize part of its Henry Darger Collection. The grant is administered by the National Park Service in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The project will culminate in a research portal on Darger that will be available for scholarship worldwide. The American Folk Art Museum houses the most comprehensive archive of materials by Darger, who is best known for his epic graphic novel In the Realms of the Unreal. “This project reaffirms the museum’s commitment to Darger’s archives,” said Valérie Rousseau, AFAM’s senior curator, in a statement.
Correction, September 3, 2020: An earlier version of this article misspelled Ava DuVernay’s surname in two instances. This article has been updated.