Verner Award recipient Leo Twiggs a finalist for 1858 Prize

The Gibbes Museum of Art and Society 1858 have announced the 2018 short list of finalists for the 1858 Prize for Contemporary Southern Art. The five artists selected for the short list are:

• María Magdalena Campos-Pons,
• Stephen Hayes,
• Birney Imes,
• Leo Twiggs,
• and Susan Worsham.

The 1858 Prize, awarded annually with a cash prize of $10,000, acknowledges an artist whose work demonstrates the highest level of artistic achievement in any media, while contributing to a new understanding of art in the South. Nearly 250 artists from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia submitted applications to the 2018 competition.

The finalists were selected by a distinguished panel of judges including:

• Bo Bartlett, artist, 2017 winner of the 1858 Prize;
• Liza Cleveland, Society 1858 board member;
• Adam Justice, Assistant Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art, The Mint Museum;
• Anja Kelley, Society 1858 board member;
• Marshall Price, Nancy Hanks Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Nasher Museum of Art;
• Pam Wall, Curator of Exhibitions, Gibbes Museum of Art;
• and Caroline Wright, Independent Curator and Co-founder of look-see.co.

The 1858 Prize winner will be announced by the Gibbes Museum in August.