SAAM :: Lucelia Artist Award

"The dynamism of the twenty-first century is reflected by so many artists working today," said Elizabeth Broun, The Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. "The Lucelia Artist Award enhances the museum's commitment to contemporary artists and honors the achievement and promise of living artists who enrich our society with their insight and creativity."

The Lucelia Artist Award, established in 2001, annually recognizes an American artist under the age of fifty who demonstrates exceptional creativity and has produced a significant body of artwork that is considered emblematic of this period in contemporary art. Jurors nominate artists who will be recognized as one of the most important artists of his or her time. The $25,000 award is intended to encourage the artist's future development and experimentation. Each year artists are nominated by a panel of five distinguished jurors selected from across the United States, each with a wide knowledge of contemporary American art. Jurors determine the award winner and remain anonymous until the winner is announced in the spring. Applications are not accepted for this award.

Sidra Stich is the Lucelia Artist Award executive director. Stich is currently the director of art•SITES, a series of contemporary art and architecture handbooks published in San Francisco.

The New York-based Lucelia Foundation, which funds the award, supports the visual arts, specifically nineteenth-century American and contemporary art.

Award Recipients

2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001

For Lucelia Artist Award press releases, please check our Press Room.