South Arts assembles two panels of jurors to review the applications for the Southern Prize and State Fellowships. First, a national State Fellowships jury selects one winner per eligible state, for a group of nine State Fellows based on artistic excellence that reflects and represents the diversity of the region. A second national Southern Prize jury then convenes to evaluate the body of work represented by the nine State Fellowship recipients and select the Prize winner and Finalist.
Jurors for the 2021 Southern Prize and State Fellowships will be announced shortly. Please check back soon. Jurors from previous years are below for reference.
Ndubuisi C. Ezeluomba | New Orleans Museum of Art - New Orleans, LA
Originally from Benin City, Nigeria, Ezeluomba comes to NOMA from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, where he was the Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Research Specialist in African Art. In this role, Ezeluomba collaborated with the institution’s conservation department to probe beneath the surface of the objects in the museum’s collection. Before his time in Virginia, Ezeluomba served as a consultant on the Elusive Spirits: African Masquerades exhibition at the Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida, and worked on the Harn Museum curatorial team that produced Kongo Across the Waters, examining 500 years of cultural exchange between the Kongo, Europe, and the United States, showing the rise of Kongo as a major Atlantic presence and the transmission of Kongo culture through the transatlantic slave trade into American art. The exhibition was also shown at NOMA in 2015. Ezeluomba received a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Florida, Gainesville, specializing in historic African shrines.
Edward Hayes, Jr. | The McNay Art Museum - San Antonio, TX
From 2013-2018 Hayes was a curator for the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) in Southern California, where he coordinated over 50 exhibitions including Frida Kahlo: Her Photos and Relational Undercurrents, a Getty Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA exhibition. He was curator of MOLAA’s first solo exhibitions of Chicano art, among numerous other original projects with subjects ranging from Mexican Modernism to Ana Mendieta and contemporary Latinx art. Hayes joins The McNay Art Museum after leading International Arts and Artists Traveling Exhibition Service since 2018. As Director of the Washington D.C.-based nonprofit service, he oversaw the circulation over 20 national and international traveling exhibitions, launched over ten new exhibitions, and initiated multiple collaborations with curators for future projects. Hayes holds a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2006) and an MA in Art History from The University of Texas at San Antonio (2010).
David Houston | Art Historian & Consultant - New York, NY
Independent Brooklyn-based art historian and museum consultant. He is currently writing, consulting, and developing a non-profit organization for late-career artists and artists’ estates. He recently curated an exhibition for the Kentler International Drawing Space in New York.
Marilyn Zapf | Center for Craft - Asheville, NC
Marilyn Zapf is the Assistant Director and Curator at the Center for Craft, a national arts nonprofit headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina. She has organized over 15 and curated over 9 exhibitions for the Center’s gallery, including the nationally-traveling Made in WNC (2015) and Gee’s Bend: From Quilts to Prints (2014). Outside of the office Marilyn is an independent curator, juror, teacher, and writer. She recently curated Michael Sherrill Retrospective, which opened at The Mint Museum in Fall 2018 and is currently at the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She has recently taught courses on the History of Craft at Warren Wilson College. Marilyn is a Trustee of the American Crafts Council and has published articles and reviews in international publications, including Art Jewelry Form and Crafts Magazine (UK). She holds a MA in the History of Design from the Royal College of Art and Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, and a BA (English Literature) and BFA (Jewelry and Metalworking) from The University of Georgia. Her areas of research include craft, postmodernism, industry, and deindustrialization.
Pradeep Dalal | Creative Capital - New York, NY
Pradeep Dalal is an artist and educator. His work was recently included in the exhibitions I need my memories. They are my documents. at SepiaEYE, Strange Invitation at Franklin Street Works, Picturing Parallax: Photography and Video from the South Asian Diaspora in San Francisco, as well as Vision is Elastic. Thought is Elastic at Murray Guy and Fifty Artists Photograph the Future at Higher Pictures. Pradeep has also exhibited at Chatterjee & Lal in Mumbai, the Herter Art Gallery in Amherst, Aljira Center for Contemporary Art in Newark, TART in San Francisco, and Orchard and PS122 Gallery in New York. His photographic work is included in Blind Spot 43 and Cabinet 52. His project “Notes on Bhopal, MP” was included in the book Chandigarh is in India (Shoestring Publishers, 2016), and an essay “A Bifocal Frame of Reference” was included in the book Western Artists and India (Thames and Hudson, 2013). He is a recipient of the Tierney Fellowship, and holds an MFA from ICP/Bard College and a MArch from MIT. He is co-chair of Photography at the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College.
Grace Deveney | Prospect New Orleans - New Orleans, LA
Grace Deveney is a curator and art historian, who recently relocated to New Orleans to serve as Associate Curator for Prospect.5. Previously, she was Assistant Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Exhibitions at the MCA Chicago include: Direct Message: Art, Language and Power (2019); Groundings (2018; with Tara Aisha Willis); as well as presentations of the work of Christina Quarles (2020); Paul Pfeiffer (2017); and Amanda Williams (2017). She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Art History at Northwestern University, whose dissertation explores relationships between popular television of the 1970s-1990s and work of Howardena Pindell, Tony Cokes and Stan Douglas, three black artists who interrogate the politics of representation.
Jean W. McLaughlin | Artist & Consultant - NC
Recently retired, Jean McLaughlin led Penland School of Crafts through a period of growth and evolution for 20 years. She is currently exploring her own creative voice and serving as a volunteer on boards of the American Craft Council, the Community Foundation of Western NC, the UNC School of the Arts, Wildacres Retreat, and United States Artists. During her tenure with the Penland School of Crafts, she raised $31,751,000 to complete the Campaign for Penland’s Future as well as over $11 million for the Preserve Penland Campaign—each to grow the endowment, build scholarships, address critical facility and infrastructure needs, and increase annual giving. New studio facilities were constructed for iron, wood, letterpress, printmaking, books, drawing and painting, photography and papermaking. Existing studios for textiles, metals and clay were updated. New housing facilities were built and existing ones renovated. The school became a district on the National Register of Historic Places, ensuring long-term commitment to preserving Penland’s historic fabric. Prior to 1998, Jean worked with artists and visual arts organizations as the Visual Arts Director of the NC Arts Council for 16 years. Her bachelor’s degree in studio art from the University of NC at Chapel Hill was followed by two years of classes in design and textiles at the California College of the Arts (formerly CCAC) and a master’s degree in liberal studies from NC State University. She is a life-long advocate for the needs of artists.
Mora J. Beauchamp-Byrd | Visiting Assistant Professor, Oklahoma State University - Stillwater, OK
Katherine Jentleson | Merrie and Dan Boone Curator of Folk and Self-Taught Art,
High Museum of Art - Atlanta, GA
Radhika Subramaniam | Associate Professor of Visual Culture, Parsons School of Design - New York City, NY
Ben Thompson | Deputy Director, Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville - Jacksonville, FL
Joey Yates | Curator, Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft - Louisville, KY
Wassan Al-Khudhairi | Chief Curator, Contemporary Art Museum - St. Louis, MO
René Paul Barilleaux | Head of Curatorial Affairs, McNay Art Museum - San Antonio, TX
Leslie Umberger | Curator of Folk and Self-Taught Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum - Washington, DC
Jan Davidson | Director (retired), John C. Campbell Folk School - Brasstown, NC
Lauren Haynes | Curator of Contemporary Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art - Bentonville, AR
Ade Omotosho | Ford Foundation Curatorial Fellow, Pérez Art Museum - Miami, FL
Mark Scala | Chief Curator, Frist Center for the Visual Arts - Nashville, TN
Scott Stulen | Director and President, Philbrook Museum of Art - Tulsa, OK
César García | Co-founder, Executive & Artistic Director, The Mistake Room - Los Angeles, CA
Monica Moses | Editor in Chief, American Craft - Minneapolis, MN
Trevor Schoonmaker | Chief Curator and Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Curator of Contemporary Art, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University - Durham, NC
Jan Davidson | Director (retired), John C. Campbell Folk School - Brasstown, NC
Erin J. Gilbert | Independent curator, critic, and cultural producer - Chicago, IL
Gia M. Hamilton | Director, Joan Mitchell Center - New Orleans, LA
Lauren Haynes | Curator, Contemporary Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in - Bentonville, AR
Mark Scala | Chief Curator, Frist Center for the Visual Arts - Nashville, TN
Miranda Lash | Curator, Contemporary Art, Speed Art Museum - Louisville, KY
Monica Moses | Editor in Chief, American Craft - Minneapolis, MN
Dominique Nahas | Independent critic and curator - Brooklyn, NY