Kirsten Pai Buick is the 2015 Driskell Prize recipient

The High Museum of Art has their 2015 recipient of the David C. Driskell Prize. University of New Mexico professor Dr. Kirsten Pai Buick was chosen for the award, named after the prominent African-American artist and scholar. Since 2005, the Driskell Prize has recognized the work of an early to mid-career scholar or artist making an impact in the field of African-American art and history. Along with the recognition, there’s a $25,000 cash award.
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? After receiving nominations from a national pool of artists, curators, educators, collectors, and historians, the review committee went with Buick, who according to Michael E. Shapiro, the High’s Nancy and Holcombe T. Green Jr. director, “is distinguished by her groundbreaking research on a broad range of historical and contemporary subjects as well as her commitment as a professor.” From the High’s official release:
? ?? Buick is a tenured associate professor at the University of New Mexico, where she has taught for more than 14 years. Buick earned her bachelor’s degree in art history and Italian literature in 1985 from the University of Chicago. In the early 1990s, she moved to Italy for eight months to continue her work on Italian studies. Noting the prominence of U.S. visual culture in Europe during her time there, she re-focused her area of concentration to British colonial and American art upon her return to the United States. She earned her master’s and doctorate degrees in art history from the University of Michigan.
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? Buick has published extensively on African-American art. Her book “Child of the Fire: Mary Edmonia Lewis and the Problem of Art History’s Black and Indian Subject” was published by Duke University Press, and her second book, “In Authenticity: Kara Walker and the Eidetics of Racism,” is currently in progress. Her published articles include studies on the work of artists including Daniel Coburn, Patrick Nagatani, Joseph Delaney, Aaron Douglas, Horace Pippin and Kehinde Wiley.
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? In addition to receiving the Driskell Prize, Buick has earned numerous academic, professional and scholarly awards and grants including the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Predoctoral Fellowship, the Charles Gaius Bolin Fellowship at Williams College, CAA Professional Development Fellowship in Art History, Rhoades Foundation Visiting Lectureship and the UNM University Libraries Faculty Acknowledgement Award.
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? ?? This year’s review committee included Michael Rooks, the High’s Wieland Family curator of modern and contemporary art, 2013 Driskell Prize recipient Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, and Lauren Haynes, assistant curator at Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. Buick will be honored at the Driskel Prize Dinner on Sat., May 5.
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