High Museum of Art Honors Spelman Museum Director with Driskell Prize

The High Museum of Art honored Dr. Andrea Barnwell Brownlee as the 2013 recipient of the David C. Driskell Prize on Saturday in the High Museum of Art’s Wieland Pavilion.

An Atlanta resident, art historian, curator and writer, Brownlee is the director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, the only U.S. museum dedicated to visual art made by and about women of the African Diaspora.

"It's humbling. It's an honor, and it really means a lot to be recognized for my work," Brownlee told Patch.

The Driskell Prize recognizes a scholar or artist in the beginning or middle of his or her career whose work makes an original and important contribution to the field of African American art or art history. The annual award is named for the renowned African American artist and art scholar.

Brownlee is the ninth recipient of the prestigious prize.

"David is really the gold standard. To have the opportunity to be associated with this award in his honor, I don't have the words," Brownlee said, adding later, "Driskell's name demonstrates exceptional leadership."

Brownlee has previously earned numerous academic, professional and scholarly awards including a MacArthur Curatorial Fellowship in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Art Institute of Chicago (1998 – 2000), a Future Women Leadership Award from Art Table (2005), and the President’s Award from the Women’s Caucus for Art (2005). In 2010, Brownlee received the inaugural Nexus Award from the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center.

However, she said the Driskell Prize has given her "the courage and encouragement to pursue projects that you wouldn't otherwise...This prize is going to support those efforts."

“Andrea Barnwell Brownlee’s leadership for the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art has helped engage thousands of visitors through highly significant exhibitions and acquisitions,” stated Michael E. Shapiro, Nancy and Holcombe T. Green Jr., director of the High, in a release. “Her vision for the museum and passion for the arts exemplifies the qualities of the David C. Driskell Prize.”

The selection process for the 2013 recipient of the Driskell Prize began with a call for nominations from a national pool of artists, curators, teachers, collectors and art historians. Brownlee was chosen from these nominations by review committee members assembled by the High Museum of Art, this year including the High’s Michael Rooks, curator of modern and contemporary art; Lily Siegel, assistant curator of modern and contemporary art; and 2011 Driskell Prize recipient Valerie Cassel Oliver.

This year’s Driskell Prize Dinner was co-chaired by Joe Bankoff, Juanita Baranco and Ingrid Saunders Jones with Honorary Chair Sally McDaniel.

-Spelman College and the High Museum of Art contributed to this article.