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Alison Croney Moses, a Boston artist dedicated to bringing Black motherhood to light, wins de Cordova Museum's $50,000 Rappaport Prize

Alison Croney Moses, who works mostly in wood, carefully manipulates a scale model of her Triennial project earlier this year. Lane Turner/Globe Staff Advertisement Moses was already having a banner year. Her piece called 'This Moment for Joy,' an angular splay of undulating planks of red oak commissioned by the inaugural Boston Public Art Triennial, is perched prominently on an expanse of lawn at the Charlestown Navy Yard right now, in eyeshot of the U.S.S. Constitution Museum. In August, she'll be one of the artists featured in the Outward appearances of success, though, can be misleading. Moses, who balances her art career with the active lives of her two young children, has struggled to find space and time to pursue her work. The prize, she said, is like a pressure valve being released. 'Honestly, I really was in tears,' she said. 'It's hard to tell from the outside, because I know it looks like I'm doing very well, but financially, being an artist in Boston is difficult. It's really, really difficult. This gives me space to breathe.' Advertisement The timing of the prize could hardly have come at a better time. Moses, whose work is largely sculpture, and mosly in wood, has only been able to devote herself full-time to making art in the last two years; before that, she had a 10-year career working in non-proifts, leaving art to brief slivers of time in the evening and on weekends, when work and parenting weren't in the way. Alison Croney Moses, left, and Izaiah Rhodes, her assistant, working on her Triennial commission in her Boston studio this year. TONY LUONG/NYT The prize places no restrictions on how the money can be used, and does not require artists to produce a piece or body of work. On a follow-up call with the Rappaport family, the local philanthropists who fund the prize, Moses made clear both her gratitude and how important a no-strings-attached gift can be for any artist. 'Any time I've had access to unrestricted funding, it's given me the opportunity to get deeper into my practice, 'she said. 'Literally, right before that Zoom call, I was looking at job postings, really thinking: Do I need a full-time job again? Something like this tells me: You are an artist. You should be doing this. And that's huge.' One thing the prize can no longer provide, unfortunately, is the winner being given a solo exhibition at the de Cordova, which it did for many years. The museum has been closed since 2023 for an overhaul of its HVAC system (the last was Advertisement An exhibition of some of Alison Croney Moses's work at the Abigail Ogilvy Gallery in Boston. Mel Taing Thematically, she's devoted: 'This Moment for Joy,' a minimalist cocoon that ripples and curls into a protective embrace, is a monument to the warmth of the Black women in her life who inspire and support her; using elegant wood forms, Moses means to honor Black motherhood and interrogate a society that has made it perilous and undervalued for generations. The prize, she said, is opening her mind to expansive treatments on the theme. A project she's been mulling involving sound and video – both firsts for her, and a real risk to attempt with bills to pay – now seems possible. 'Right now, I work deadline to deadline,' she said. 'I don't ever feel like I'm really able to dream and experiment. Now, I can.' Alison Croney Moses's 'This Moment for Joy,' a project of the Boston Public Art Triennial, remains at the Charlestown Navy Yard, 1 - 5th St. , through Oct. 31. The Foster Prize exhibition opens August 28 at the Institute for Contemporary Art Boston, 25 Harbor Shore Drive. Murray Whyte can be reached at