The South Arts 2021 Southern Prize & State Fellows Exhibition Opens at the Bo Bartlett Center in Columbus, GA

Atlanta – The South Arts 2021 Southern Prize and State Fellows Exhibition is now open at the Bo Bartlett Center at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia. The multidisciplinary exhibition includes work from each of the nine state fellows, including Southern Prize Winner Marielle Plaisir and Southern Prize Finalist Fletcher Williams III.

Meet the State Fellows Visit the Bo Bartlett Center

The exhibition will be on display through December 20, 2021. Following the installation at the Bo Bartlett Center, the exhibition will tour to additional locations around the region, with dates and locations to be announced as soon as possible.

The 2021 State Fellowship recipients included in the exhibition are:

• Tameca Cole. Mixed Media. Birmingham, Alabama.
• Marielle Plaisir. Mixed Media. Hollywood, Florida. Southern Prize Winner.
• Myra Greene. Craft. Atlanta, Georgia.
• Joyce Garner. Painting. Prospect, Kentucky.
• Chandra McCormick and Keith Calhoun. Photography. New Orleans, Louisiana.
• Ming Ying Hong. Drawing. Starkville, Mississippi.
• Jewel Ham. Painting. Huntersville, North Carolina.
• Fletcher Williams III. Mixed Media. Charleston, South Carolina. Southern Prize Finalist.
• Raheleh Filsoofi. Multidisciplinary. Nashville, Tennessee.

The Southern Prize and State Fellowships are a juried competition conducted by South Arts each Fall to acknowledge, support, and celebrate the highest quality artistic work being created in the American South. Visual artists living in South Arts’ nine-state region and producing crafts, drawing, experimental, painting, photography, sculpture, mixed media, and multidisciplinary work were eligible to apply. Hundreds of visual artists submitted work for consideration, and a national panel of jurors reviewed the applications through the lens of artistic excellence representing the diversity of the region. A second national panel of jurors reviewed the State Fellows to determine the Southern Prize winner and finalist. Each panel is conducted blind, with the applicants’ identities withheld from the jurors.

Each State Fellow receives a $5,000 cash award. The Southern Prize finalist receives an additional $10,000, and the Southern Prize winner receives an additional $25,000. Both the Southern Prize Winner and Finalist receive a two-week residency at the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences. The awards are presented to the artists as unrestricted funds. This program is supported by many organizations, foundations, and individuals, and is powered by the Hambidge Center.

To read more about each artist, view samples of their work, and learn about the Southern Prize and State Fellowships program, visit www.southarts.org.