Seattle Museum Honors Titus Kaphar

Contemporary artist Titus Kaphar is the inaugural Gwendolyn Knight and Jacob Lawrence Fellow at the Seattle Art Museum, Director Mimi Gates has announced. Kaphar will be featured in the first solo exhibition in SAM’s Gwendolyn Knight and Jacob Lawrence Gallery through September 6, 2009.

The Seattle Art Museum’s Gwendolyn Knight and Jacob Lawrence Fellowship is awarded bi-annually to an early career black (not necessarily African-American) artist – an individual who has been producing mature work for less than 10 years. The selected artist is honored with a one-person exhibition in SAM’s Gwendolyn Knight and Jacob Lawrence Gallery and receives a $10,000 award to further his or her artistic practice.

The Gwendolyn Knight and Jacob Lawrence Fellowship was created to provide inspiration for young artists and scholarship in the field of art history, especially as it pertains to the artistic and cultural life of black artists, both of which were important to Knight and Lawrence. Funding for the fellowship is provided by the Gwendolyn Knight and Jacob Lawrence Endowment. In selecting artists to receive the fellowship, emphasis is placed on individuals whose original work reflects the Lawrences’ concern for artistic excellence, education, mentorship and scholarship within the cultural contexts and value systems that informed their work and the work of other artists of color.

Future fellowship recipients will be nominated by a committee that includes outside visual art professionals, as well as SAM’s own curatorial staff. A selection committee will then review the merits of the proposed award recipients, and choose the winning artist. Kaphar, the inaugural fellow, was chosen by Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Adjunct Curator, Modern & Contemporary Art Department/ Kayla Skinner Deputy Director of Education and Public Programs and Michael Darling, Jon and Mary Shirley Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art.

"What an incredible gesture and legacy it is for artists to give the gift of resources to help another artist manifest their vision," said Jackson- Dumont.

Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1976, Kaphar earned a BFA in painting from San Jose State University, with a minor in African-American studies, and an MFA in painting from Yale University in 2006. The following year he was an artist-in-residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem. He has had exhibitions at the Yale University Art Gallery, Savannah College of Art and Design, the Provisions Library in Washington, DC, the Anno Domini Gallery in San Jose and the San Jose State University Gallery. Since receiving the Gwendolyn Knight/Jacob Lawrence Fellowship, Kaphar has been tapped for Cuba’s Havana Biennial. -- www.seattleartmuseum.org

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