The Bennett Prize has introduced an open name for Spherical 5 of its biennial competitors for ladies figurative realist painters, awarding a $75,000 high prize — up from $50,000 granted within the earlier version.
The primary place winner additionally receives a solo exhibition on the Muskegon Museum of Artwork (MMA) in Michigan, and 10 finalists can be chosen to take part in a touring exhibition, Rising Voices, organized by the museum. One runner-up will obtain $10,000.
The prize was established in 2018 by San Antonio-based artwork collector Steven Alan Bennett, who based The Bennett Assortment of Ladies Realists, and Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt, co-curator of the gathering. The 2 have a wing named for them on the Muskegon Museum, the Bennett Schmidt Pavilion.
Mr. Bennett and Ms. Schmidt will take part in Bennett Prize jury course of for the primary time, becoming a member of Julie Heffernan, a painter in Brooklyn, New York; Miranda Lash, Ellen Bruss Chief Curator on the Museum of Up to date Artwork Denver and co-Inventive Director of the Prospect 6 triennial in New Orleans; and Dr. Tiffany E. Barber, Assistant Professor of African American Artwork on the College of California at Los Angeles.
In a press launch, Ms. Schmidt mentioned, “We really feel very lucky that the fifth group of jurors keep[s] the excessive commonplace of experience that has come to be related to The Bennett Prize. That is the primary time that Steven and I’ve each been on the jury. We carry very totally different lenses to the duty of evaluating artwork in addition to robust opinions about our particular person preferences. I’m anticipating that this spherical of deliberations goes to be very animated and attention-grabbing.”
Based on the press launch, the prize was “created to uplift artists who haven’t but acquired full recognition,” and “helps each new skills and people who have painted for many years, providing alternative, visibility, and momentum.”
Amy Werntz, a Dallas-based painter, won the prize in 2025, for an intricately detailed portrait of her grandmother, Carlyla Woofter. On the time, Ms. Werntz informed Glasstire that the prize “affords me the devoted time to only concentrate on placing collectively a … entire physique of labor,” and sufficient cash to create a brand new studio house.
Ladies and femme-identifying folks age 18 and older and who keep a residence within the U.S. are eligible for the prize. The jury course of consists of in-person studio visits. For full eligibility necessities and to entry the appliance, go to Bennett Prize website.
The applying payment is $50, with a deadline of Saturday, September 19, at 11:59 p.m. MST.
