The South Arts 2020 Southern Prize & State Fellows Exhibition Opens at the Bo Bartlett Center in Columbus, Georgia

Atlanta – The South Arts 2020 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 Sherrill Roland and Southern Prize finalist Carlton Nell.

Meet the State Fellows Visit the Bo Bartlett Center

To ensure social distance and public safety, visits to the exhibition must be scheduled by appointment through the Bo Bartlett Center’s website. The exhibition will be on display through January 8, 2021.

The 2020 State Fellowship recipients included in the exhibition are:

• Carlton Nell. Drawing. Opelika, Alabama. Southern Prize Finalist.
• Alba Triana. Experimental. Miami, Florida.
• Fahamu Pecou. Painting. Decatur, Georgia.
• Letitia Quesenberry. Multidisciplinary. Louisville, Kentucky.
• Karen Ocker. Painting. New Orleans, Louisiana.
• Ashleigh Coleman. Photography. Jackson, Mississippi.
• Sherrill Roland. Multidisciplinary. Morrisville, North Carolina. Southern Prize Winner.
• Kristi Ryba. Painting. Charleston, South Carolina.
• Bill Steber. Photography. Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

“We are extremely proud of this year’s Southern Prize and State Fellowship recipients,” said South Arts’ executive director Susie Surkamer. “Their distinctly powerful works, which visitors will experience in this exhibition, reflect what it means to be an artist living and working in the South. The exhibition explores themes including social justice to the challenges of motherhood and through the awesome power of our natural world.”

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 as well as 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. To schedule an appointment to view the exhibition, visit www.bobartlettcenter.org.