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Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
HIGH MUSEUM OF ART NAMES ALISON SAAR RECIPIENT OF 2025 DAVID C. DRISKELL PRIZE
Saar to be honored at 20th annual Driskell Prize Gala on Sept. 20, 2025, with John Legend set to perform ATLANTA, May 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The High Museum of Art today announced artist Alison Saar as the 2025 recipient of the David C. Driskell Prize in recognition of her contributions to the field of African American art. Saar will be honored at the 20th annual Driskell Prize Gala at the High on Saturday, Sept. 20, at 6:30 p.m., featuring a performance by EGOT-winning, critically acclaimed, multiplatinum musician John Legend. Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the $50,000 prize demonstrates the High's ongoing dedication to furthering artistic innovation and promoting research of African American artists and scholars. The announcement took place during an exclusive event hosted by The Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City during New York Art Week. Saar, based in Los Angeles, is widely celebrated for her sculpture, installation and mixed-media works, which tell stories about the African American experience through references to American history, literature and mythology. Her works have been featured in hundreds of solo and group exhibitions worldwide, including at the High, which presented one of her first solo museum exhibitions, "Fertile Ground," in 1993. She has work in collections at renowned institutions including the High, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among many others. In 2024, she was selected by the International Olympic Committee and the city of Paris to create "Salon," a sculpture commissioned in honor of the 2024 Olympic Games, which is now permanently displayed in the Charles Aznavour Garden on the Champs-Élysées. Her installation "Soul Service Station" was featured as part of Desert X 2025 in Coachella Valley, California. "Saar's work delves deeply into the histories of the African diaspora and its artistic traditions, exploring how they influence and connect to cultural identity today. Her sculpture 'Tobacco Demon' has been a fixture in our galleries for decades," said High Museum of Art Director Rand Suffolk. "We are honored to recognize her distinguished practice and myriad contributions to African American art with the 2025 Driskell Prize." Established by the High in 2005, the Driskell Prize is the first national award to celebrate a scholar or artist whose work makes an original and significant contribution to the field of African American art or art history. It was named for the renowned African American artist and scholar David C. Driskell, whose work on the African diaspora spanned more than four decades. Over its 20-year history, the Driskell Prize has recognized artists including Ebony G. Patterson (2023), Amy Sherald (2018), Mark Bradford (2016) and Rashid Johnson (2012). Proceeds from the Driskell Gala support the David C. Driskell African American Art Acquisition Restricted and Endowment funds, which have supported the acquisition of 52 works by African American artists for the High's collection since the prize's inception. The selection process for the 2025 recipient of the Driskell Prize began with a call for nominations from a national pool of artists, curators, teachers, collectors and art historians. Saar was chosen from among these nominations by review committee members assembled by the High: artist and 2006 Driskell Prize recipient Willie Cole; Dr. Kellie Jones (2005 Driskell Prize recipient and professor in art history and archaeology and the Institute for Research in African American Studies at Columbia University); and two High Museum of Art curators, Kevin W. Tucker (chief curator) and Maria L. Kelly (assistant curator of photography). "I am honored to have been chosen as the 2025 recipient of the David C. Driskell Prize," said Saar. "At a time when many of the civil rights milestones achieved by previous generations—by our mothers and grandmothers—are being threatened or dismantled, the Driskell Prize empowers Black artists and art historians to push back. When our art is removed from museum exhibitions or our shows are canceled, this prize offers not only validation, but also the support to continue making work that is courageous and truthful work that is often stifled by the limitations of mainstream institutions." In addition to the Driskell Prize, Saar has received many other grants and awards, including an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Art (2018), an Excellence in Design Award from the New York City Art Commission (2005) and numerous art fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, among others. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Scripps College (Claremont, California) and her Master of Fine Arts degree from the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. The 2025 Driskell Prize Gala Chair is Charlene Crusoe-Ingram. Those interested in tickets for the formal gala may email driskellprize@ About the David C. Driskell Prize Established by the High in 2005, the David C. Driskell Prize is the first national award to honor and celebrate contributions to the field of African American art and art history. Past recipients include Naomi Beckwith (2024), Ebony G. Patterson (2023), Adrienne L. Childs (2022), Jamal D. Cyrus (2020), Dr. Huey Copeland (2019), Amy Sherald (2018), Naima J. Keith (2017), Mark Bradford (2016), Kirsten Pai Buick (2015), Lyle Ashton Harris (2014), Andrea Barnwell Brownlee (2013), Rashid Johnson (2012), Valerie Cassel Oliver (2011), Renee Stout (2010), Krista A. Thompson (2009), Xaviera Simmons (2008), Franklin Sirmans (2007), Willie Cole (2006) and Dr. Kellie Jones (2005). A cash award of $50,000 accompanies the prize. Proceeds from the High's annual Driskell Prize Gala support the David C. Driskell African American Art Acquisition Restricted and Endowment funds and other ongoing African American initiatives and expenses associated with the David C. Driskell Gala. The current balance of the David C. Driskell African American Art Acquisition Endowment Fund is $2 million. Through the David C. Driskell African American Art Acquisition Restricted Fund, the High has acquired works by artists including Radcliffe Bailey, Romare Bearden, Mark Bradford, Nick Cave, Willie Cole, William Downs, Rashid Johnson, Kerry James Marshall, John T. Scott and Renee Stout. About David Driskell David Driskell (American, 1931-2020) was an artist and scholar whose work on the African diaspora spanned more than four decades. The High's relationship with Driskell began in 2000 when the museum presented the concurrent exhibitions "To Conserve a Legacy: American Art from Historically Black Colleges and Universities" and "Narratives of African American Art and Identity: The David C. Driskell Collection," which examined African American art in the broad historical context of modern and contemporary art. In 2021, the High organized the survey exhibition "David Driskell: Icons of Nature and History," which traveled to the Portland Museum of Art and The Phillips Collection after its presentation at the High. Born in Eatonton, Georgia, Driskell became a distinguished professor emeritus at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he established The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Howard University in 1955 and his Master of Fine Arts degree from the Catholic University of America in 1962. He also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine in 1953 and studied art history at the Netherlands Institute for Art History in The Hague, Netherlands, in 1964. More information about Driskell is available at About the High Museum of ArtLocated in the heart of Atlanta, the High Museum of Art connects with audiences from across the Southeast and around the world through its distinguished collection, dynamic schedule of special exhibitions and engaging community-focused programs. Housed within facilities designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Richard Meier and Renzo Piano, the High features a collection of more than 20,000 works of art, including an extensive anthology of 19th- and 20th-century American fine and decorative arts; major holdings of photography and folk and self-taught work, especially that of artists from the American South; burgeoning collections of modern and contemporary art, including paintings, sculpture, new media and design; a growing collection of African art, with work dating from prehistory through the present; and significant holdings of European paintings and works on paper. The High is dedicated to reflecting the diversity of its communities and offering a variety of exhibitions and educational programs that engage visitors with the world of art, the lives of artists and the creative process. For more information about the High, visit Media contact:Marci Tate DavisManager, Public 404-733-4585 View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE High Museum of Art Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CNN
06-02-2025
- General
- CNN
US figure skating treads an unfortunately familiar ground: Rebuilding after aviation tragedy
There are no words to comfort anybody who's been affected by a plane crash. In an instant, many lives can be violently cut short – drastically and forever changing the futures of the friends and family who are left behind. It is particularly devastating whenever a large group of people is traveling together. Suddenly, a whole community is plunged into mourning for the lives that are lost, the dreams that are dashed and the potential that will never be fulfilled. It also often imperils the very existence of the project they'd been working on. In the early 1960s, Atlanta was on the cusp of desegregation and investment was starting to flow in. The city's leaders in arts dreamed of elevating the High Museum of Art into a world-class institution and their plans were taking shape as they embarked on a group trip to Europe; sadly, they never returned. One hundred twenty-two people died that day. Everyone from the Atlanta group, 106 of the city's most dedicated champions of art, perished in the wreckage of an Air France jet on the outskirts of Paris in 1962. The group comprised of artists, collectors, patrons and board members, among others, and their dream for improving Atlanta died with them. Many of the city's artists today lament that the Orly crash robbed Atlanta of its future, decades of progress lost as the visual arts scene instead flourished elsewhere. The impact can be just as acute whenever a sports club is in the wrong place at the wrong time. While aviation disasters are fortunately rare, there are too many examples of teams that have perished on snowy runways or rural hillsides; disasters that have consequences for a program that might take a generation or more to rebuild. It's too soon to fully comprehend the loss of so many talented young figure skaters in January's Washington, DC, crash, when American Airlines flight 5342 collided with a Black Hawk helicopter on its final approach to the runway at Washington Reagan National Airport. But it's clear that the loss is profound, 14 young members of the US Figure Skating team were on board. Many were on a trajectory to possibly compete in the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps. Tragically, the same figure skating program had already experienced such loss. In 1961, the 18-member team was heading to the world championships in Prague when their plane crashed in Brussels. Everybody on board perished, the death toll also including coaches, judges and team officials. The World Championships were cancelled, and the Americans had to start from scratch ahead of the 1964 Olympics. Most of their athletes were too young to compete in Innsbruck, and it was something of an achievement that they still won a medal. The latest crash is particularly tragic – some of the skaters weren't even teenagers yet – and the loss of their coaches will make it even harder to train the athletes who will inevitably now step into their skates. When Brazil's Chapecoense football team headed to Colombia in November 2016, they wouldn't have imagined that anything could stop them. They'd been promoted four times in just eight years and were about to play in the biggest game in their history – the final of the Copa Sudamericana tournament. But when LaMia flight 2933 was just 11 miles from landing in Medellin, the lights in the cabin went dark – the plane had run out of fuel. Shortly afterwards it crashed into a mountain ridge, killing 71 of the 77 people on board. Only three players survived. Virtually the whole squad, its coaches and front office staff were killed. Forty-eight hours later, when the game should have been played against Atlético Nacional, the club's fans gathered at their home stadium in Chapeco to mourn their loss. One of the most poignant scenes witnessed that night was of the players who'd not made the trip, men who'd been injured or who'd been cut from the squad, linking hands and walking a lap of the field. The shock and pain were etched deep into their faces. Chapecoense were subsequently awarded the trophy for a game they never played, but it was a hollow victory – there was nothing to celebrate. A few weeks later, the trophy was seen in the corner of their locker room, almost out of sight, behind a pair of goalkeeper's gloves. The club still plays on, but they've since dropped out of Serie A, the top division in Brazil, and we will never know what might have been. Since the 1930s, when the Winnipeg Toilers became the first known sports team to be involved in a fatal aviation accident, dozens of teams all over the world have suffered the same fate. Six players from the Czech national ice hockey team were lost in the English Channel in 1948, and in 1949 the famous Torino soccer club were effectively wiped out in a crash just outside their home airport. At the time, Torino FC were regarded as one of the best in the world, and – although the club eventually rebuilt – Il Toro never recovered its former glory. At the time of the crash, Torino had won five consecutive league titles in Italy. Only once in the 76 years since then have they been champions again. The 1958 Egyptian national fencing team, the 1970 Puerto Rico national women's volleyball team, the 1980 US amateur boxing team and the 1993 Zambia national soccer team have all been devastated by aviation disasters. The fate of Uruguay's Old Christians Rugby Club and the Marshall college football team have been immortalized in cinema, but there is nothing poetic about sports tragedies of such scale. In the face of such catastrophic loss, sport itself seems trivial, but often it's the community of the team that helps those left behind pull through. In the wake of the latest crash in Washington, DC, the former Olympic star Nancy Kerrigan traveled to the Skating Club of Boston. Speaking through her tears, a distraught Kerrigan told reporters, 'Not sure how to process it, which is why I'm here. We just wanted to be here and be part of our community. We are strong, and I guess it's just how we respond to it. My response was to be with people I care about, and I love, and I needed support.' Those who are passionate about sports often debate the ifs and the buts, what could have been and what should have been – if only this goal had been scored or that player hadn't been injured. But speculating on what an athlete or a team might have accomplished if not for a mass tragedy seems tragically futile. When Manchester United won the 1968 European Cup final at Wembley, one of their star players excused himself from the celebratory dinner. A decade earlier, Bobby Charlton had made it out of the wreckage of their team plane on the runway at Munich airport. A victorious flight home from Belgrade had turned into a disaster for one of the best young sides in the world. Eight players, including some of Charlton's closest friends, had died. In the span of just 10 years, somehow the Manchester United Football Club had rebuilt and established themselves as the top team in Europe, but Charlton could never forget. Instead of celebrating with his new teammates, he went back up to his hotel room and cried.
CNN
06-02-2025
- General
- CNN
US figure skating treads an unfortunately familiar ground: Rebuilding after aviation tragedy
There are no words to comfort anybody who's been affected by a plane crash. In an instant, many lives can be violently cut short – drastically and forever changing the futures of the friends and family who are left behind. It is particularly devastating whenever a large group of people is traveling together. Suddenly, a whole community is plunged into mourning for the lives that are lost, the dreams that are dashed and the potential that will never be fulfilled. It also often imperils the very existence of the project they'd been working on. In the early 1960s, Atlanta was on the cusp of desegregation and investment was starting to flow in. The city's leaders in arts dreamed of elevating the High Museum of Art into a world-class institution and their plans were taking shape as they embarked on a group trip to Europe; sadly, they never returned. One hundred twenty-two people died that day. Everyone from the Atlanta group, 106 of the city's most dedicated champions of art, perished in the wreckage of an Air France jet on the outskirts of Paris in 1962. The group comprised of artists, collectors, patrons and board members, among others, and their dream for improving Atlanta died with them. Many of the city's artists today lament that the Orly crash robbed Atlanta of its future, decades of progress lost as the visual arts scene instead flourished elsewhere. The impact can be just as acute whenever a sports club is in the wrong place at the wrong time. While aviation disasters are fortunately rare, there are too many examples of teams that have perished on snowy runways or rural hillsides; disasters that have consequences for a program that might take a generation or more to rebuild. It's too soon to fully comprehend the loss of so many talented young figure skaters in January's Washington, DC, crash, when American Airlines flight 5342 collided with a Black Hawk helicopter on its final approach to the runway at Washington Reagan National Airport. But it's clear that the loss is profound, 14 young members of the US Figure Skating team were on board. Many were on a trajectory to possibly compete in the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps. Tragically, the same figure skating program had already experienced such loss. In 1961, the 18-member team was heading to the world championships in Prague when their plane crashed in Brussels. Everybody on board perished, the death toll also including coaches, judges and team officials. The World Championships were cancelled, and the Americans had to start from scratch ahead of the 1964 Olympics. Most of their athletes were too young to compete in Innsbruck, and it was something of an achievement that they still won a medal. The latest crash is particularly tragic – some of the skaters weren't even teenagers yet – and the loss of their coaches will make it even harder to train the athletes who will inevitably now step into their skates. When Brazil's Chapecoense football team headed to Colombia in November 2016, they wouldn't have imagined that anything could stop them. They'd been promoted four times in just eight years and were about to play in the biggest game in their history – the final of the Copa Sudamericana tournament. But when LaMia flight 2933 was just 11 miles from landing in Medellin, the lights in the cabin went dark – the plane had run out of fuel. Shortly afterwards it crashed into a mountain ridge, killing 71 of the 77 people on board. Only three players survived. Virtually the whole squad, its coaches and front office staff were killed. Forty-eight hours later, when the game should have been played against Atlético Nacional, the club's fans gathered at their home stadium in Chapeco to mourn their loss. One of the most poignant scenes witnessed that night was of the players who'd not made the trip, men who'd been injured or who'd been cut from the squad, linking hands and walking a lap of the field. The shock and pain were etched deep into their faces. Chapecoense were subsequently awarded the trophy for a game they never played, but it was a hollow victory – there was nothing to celebrate. A few weeks later, the trophy was seen in the corner of their locker room, almost out of sight, behind a pair of goalkeeper's gloves. The club still plays on, but they've since dropped out of Serie A, the top division in Brazil, and we will never know what might have been. Since the 1930s, when the Winnipeg Toilers became the first known sports team to be involved in a fatal aviation accident, dozens of teams all over the world have suffered the same fate. Six players from the Czech national ice hockey team were lost in the English Channel in 1948, and in 1949 the famous Torino soccer club were effectively wiped out in a crash just outside their home airport. At the time, Torino FC were regarded as one of the best in the world, and – although the club eventually rebuilt – Il Toro never recovered its former glory. At the time of the crash, Torino had won five consecutive league titles in Italy. Only once in the 76 years since then have they been champions again. The 1958 Egyptian national fencing team, the 1970 Puerto Rico national women's volleyball team, the 1980 US amateur boxing team and the 1993 Zambia national soccer team have all been devastated by aviation disasters. The fate of Uruguay's Old Christians Rugby Club and the Marshall college football team have been immortalized in cinema, but there is nothing poetic about sports tragedies of such scale. In the face of such catastrophic loss, sport itself seems trivial, but often it's the community of the team that helps those left behind pull through. In the wake of the latest crash in Washington, DC, the former Olympic star Nancy Kerrigan traveled to the Skating Club of Boston. Speaking through her tears, a distraught Kerrigan told reporters, 'Not sure how to process it, which is why I'm here. We just wanted to be here and be part of our community. We are strong, and I guess it's just how we respond to it. My response was to be with people I care about, and I love, and I needed support.' Those who are passionate about sports often debate the ifs and the buts, what could have been and what should have been – if only this goal had been scored or that player hadn't been injured. But speculating on what an athlete or a team might have accomplished if not for a mass tragedy seems tragically futile. When Manchester United won the 1968 European Cup final at Wembley, one of their star players excused himself from the celebratory dinner. A decade earlier, Bobby Charlton had made it out of the wreckage of their team plane on the runway at Munich airport. A victorious flight home from Belgrade had turned into a disaster for one of the best young sides in the world. Eight players, including some of Charlton's closest friends, had died. In the span of just 10 years, somehow the Manchester United Football Club had rebuilt and established themselves as the top team in Europe, but Charlton could never forget. Instead of celebrating with his new teammates, he went back up to his hotel room and cried.
