Ebony G. Patterson Wins High Museum’s Driskell Prize

The High Museum of Art announced artist Ebony G. Patterson as the recipient of the 2023 David C. Driskel Award. The artist has made a major contribution to the field of African American art. The prize has been awarded annually by the museum since 2005. It demonstrates the Graduate School’s continued commitment to advancing artistic innovation and research by African-American artists and scholars.

Based in Kingston, Jamaica, and Chicago, Patterson is known for her multi-layered work in a variety of media. In her work, beautiful, lush imagery, color, and texture contrast with darker themes that deal with social and political injustice.

Her complex compositions may seem festive at first glance. But they involve the viewer in discovering deeper truths about race, class, social division, and political violence.

Ebony G. Patterson`s work has been featured in over 50 solo and group exhibitions over the past 10 years and is included in the collections of renowned institutions such as:

• the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA);
• National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston;
• Perez Art Museum, Miami; Speed ​​Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky;
• Studio Museum in Harlem, New York;
• the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, etc.

Ebony G. Patterson`s solo exhibitions are expected at the New York Botanical Gardens and the Arnolfini Museum in Bristol, UK. She is the co-artistic director of Prospect.6, scheduled to open in 2024, and is the first artist to hold the position.

Rand Suffolk, Nancy and Holcomb T. Green Jr., director of High Museum of Art said that Patterson’s vibrant work focuses on the lives and struggles of marginalized people around the world. In doing so, she asks viewers to reflect on the complex issues surrounding social and racial inequality.

Patterson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Painting from the Edna Manley College of Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston, Jamaica and a Master of Arts degree in Printmaking and Drawing from the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.

Patterson has taught at the Edna Manley College of Visual and Performing Arts and the University of Virginia, was an Associate Professor of Painting and Mixed Media at the University of Kentucky, and was the Bill and Stephanie Sick Distinguished Visiting Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.