Brookhaven Artist Wins Prestigious $50,000 Hudgens Prize

By Faye Edmundson

Brookhaven artist Pam Longobardi was named the winner of the prestigious Hudgens Prize and a cash award of $50,000. The award includes an invitation for a solo exhibition later at the Hudgens Center for the Arts in Duluth.

She was announced as the winner at an award ceremony at the Hudgens Saturday following a reception for the four finalists, according to a news release. The other finalists were Chris Chambers and Robbie Land, both of Atlanta, and Derek Larson of Statesboro.

"It has been an honor and a privilege to get to know my fellow finalists, formidable competitors all. I am overwhelmed by the support of the jurors, the Hudgens, and the community of Atlanta," said Longobardi, a Brookhaven Heights resident, as she tearfully accepted the award.

A jury of contemporary curators from three top art institutions selected the finalists from a pool of 370 applicants and then chose the winning artist.

The Hudgens Prize winner was chosen by the jury panel based on in-person visits to each of the four finalists' studios, a new element in the selection process, and on the works in the current Hudgens Prize Finalists Exhibition, which remains on view through Sept. 7.

“Part artist, part archaeologist, part forensic scientist, Pam Longobardi's sculptures and installations are the synthesized products of objects and debris cast out from oceans in remote geographical locations and collected by the artist over time,” the jurors said. “Reflecting the crisis of our modern ‘plastic age,’ Longobardi's work highlights notions of commerce, consumption, and the wastefulness of human society, as well as the powerful and unseen forces of nature to demolish and transform the objects we create.”

The Hudgens Prize, given only to Georgia artists, is one of the largest art awards in the entire nation. The purpose of the competition is to elevate and promote the arts in Georgia, as well as to offer a transformational opportunity for the winning artist. The prize was last awarded in 2010 to artist Gyun Hur of Atlanta.

Longobardi, a professor of art at Georgia State University in Atlanta, created the Drifters Project in 2006, an ongoing environmental art intervention involving photography and installation focusing on the cultural artifact of contemporary life, the plastic object, and its impact on the global ocean.

She has had more than 40 solo exhibitions and 65 group exhibitions in galleries and museums in the United States, China, Italy, Spain, Finland, Poland, Japan, Germany, Greece and Monaco.

For more information about Longobardi and the other finalists, visit the Hudgens Prize Finalists page.

The Hudgens Center for the Arts is located at 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Bldg. 300, in Duluth, in the Gwinnett Center complex.

Read also:

• Artist Travels Globe to Put Focus on How Plastic Pollutes Our Oceans