Hermitage Awards Two $30,000 Commissions In Visual Art And Dance 2023 Hermitage Greenfield Prize Winners Declared

The Hermitage Artist Retreat (Andy Sandberg, Inventive Director and CEO), in collaboration with the Philadelphia-based mostly Greenfield Basis, has selected two recipients for the 2023 Hermitage Greenfield Prize, a single in the self-discipline of visual artwork and one particular in the discipline of dance and choreography. The prize is awarded on a yearly basis, rotating involving the fields of music, theater, and visible art. This year’s recipient in visual art is Sandy Rodriguez. Elevated on the US-Mexico border, Rodriguez produces poignant landscapes that weave jointly record, social memory, modern day politics, and cultural generation. Previous winners of this distinguished honor in visible artwork incorporate Sanford Biggers, Trenton Doyle Hancock, and Coco Fusco, amongst many others.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary season of the Hermitage and the 15-12 months legacy of the Hermitage Greenfield Prize, the Hermitage and the Greenfield Foundation resolved to existing a 2nd award in the discipline of dance and choreography. This is the very first time the HGP is recognizing dance, with a particular prize going to Lorenzo ‘Rennie’ Harris. Harris has been a pioneer in the avenue dance motion since founding Rennie Harris Puremovement in the early 90s, bringing authentic hip-hop encounters to the dance live performance stage and instructional spaces close to the entire world.

Harris and Rodriguez will each get a six-week Hermitage Fellowship and a $30,000 commission to build a new function in their respective fields, which will have their initial public presentations in Sarasota County in 2025.

“Amidst a genuinely amazing discipline of finalists for equally dance and visual art, Rennie Harris and Sandy Rodriguez are each groundbreaking generative artists who amazed the respective juries with their compelling and inspiring proposals,” says Hermitage Artistic Director Andy Sandberg. “Their devotion to their craft embodies the mission of the Hermitage Greenfield Prize – to convey into the entire world works of artwork that have a substantial effects on the wide as nicely as the artistic society of our society. We thank our distinguished jurors for their enthusiasm and dedication, and we congratulate all of our brilliant finalists, whom we search ahead to welcoming at the Hermitage. We glance forward to welcome Rennie and Sandy to Florida for the Hermitage Greenfield Prize Evening meal in April, and subsequently hosting them as Hermitage Fellows and sharing the initial community presentations of their new commissions in Sarasota in 2025.” The Hermitage’s presenting partners for just about every of their is effective will be announced at a later on date.

Lorenzo ‘Rennie’ Harris was born and lifted in an African American community in North Philadelphia. In 1992, Harris launched Rennie Harris Puremovement, a street dance theater corporation focused to preserving and disseminating hip-hop culture as a result of workshops, classes, hip-hop background lecture demonstrations, lengthy-expression residencies, mentoring programs, and community performances. Harris founded his enterprise primarily based on the belief that hip-hop is the most crucial primary expression of a new technology. His corporation has toured internationally undertaking this sort of authentic operates as “Rome and Jules,” a reimagining of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (2001 ‘Bessie’ award in choreography), “Lazarus” as the 1st choreographer in residence for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 2018, and “Lifted: A Gospel Dwelling Musical” a New York Times Critics’ Choose when it premiered at The Joyce Theater in 2022, among quite a few other productions and honors.

Primarily based in Los Angeles, Sandy Rodriguez is a initial-technology Chicana artist and researcher. Due to the fact getting her BFA from the California Institute of Arts, she has exhibited her performs at the Denver Art Museum, The Huntington Library, Artwork Museum and Botanical Backyard garden, The Amon Carter Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Museum of Present-day Artwork, Busan, South Korea. Her will work, these types of as Codex Rodriguez-Mondragón have been showcased in BBC News: In The Studio, Hyperallergic, LA Weekly, Los Angeles Instances, The New York Situations, and Spectrum Information/NY1, and her will work are in the permanent collections of Los Angeles County Museum of Artwork Crystal Bridges Museum of American Artwork, Bentonville, AR Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worthy of, TX, The Huntington Library, Artwork Museum and Botanical Garden, San Marino, CA, amongst some others.

Hermitage Greenfield Prize recipients and finalists are nominated and picked by a jury of nationally regarded arts leaders. The 2023 jury in dance and choreography bundled Joseph V. Melillo (chair), BAM’s Executive Director Emeritus and the 1st member of the Hermitage’s Countrywide Curatorial Council Michael Novak, Creative Director of the acclaimed Paul Taylor Dance Firm, and a longtime company member himself and Charmaine Warren, performer, historian, guide, dance writer, and the founding inventive director for “Black Dance Stories.”

Three finalists for the 2023 Hermitage Greenfield Prize in Dance & Choreography incorporate Dormeshia, hailed by The New York Instances as “the queen of faucet” and co-director of the tap system at Jacob’s Pillow Jamar Roberts, a Bessie Award winner for Exceptional Performance who has choreographed for such observed establishments as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, New York City Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet and Christopher Williams, a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow in choreography whose is effective have been found all above the entire world such as commissions from Baryshnikov Arts Centre, The Joyce Theater, NYLA, Opéra Royal du Château de Versailles, and Perm Opera & Ballet Theater. All 3 dance finalists will get a Hermitage Fellowship, in addition to a prize of $1,000.

“Rennie Harris belongs in the pantheon of American masters,” suggests Joseph Melillo. “His usage of Hip-hop approaches, variations, and vocabularies has transformed the dance style to an creative plateau. He has attained this transformative achievement with humanity, intelligence, and grace.”

“I am beyond thrilled that the prestigious Hermitage Greenfield Prize is generously supporting dance and choreographers this yr, therefore reaching extra audiences of all ages throughout our increased arts communities,” claims Michael Novak. “It suggests a excellent offer to offer this prize to Rennie Harris, an icon in our marketplace who has not only introduced Road and Hip-hop dance – in all its highly effective iterations – to the entrance and middle of the concert dance landscape, but he has done so with a highly effective enthusiasm for education and learning, hope, inclusion, and supporting the next generation of dancers and dance-fans.”

“It can make perception that Dance Magazine extensive ago dubbed Rennie Harris the “large priest of hip hop,” suggests Charmaine Warren. “When the often-shy, Philadelphia-born choreographer established his company Rennie Harris Puremovement in 1992, he planted a prodigious seed in the dance world. Then and now, Harris’ mission has been to take a look at, protect, and share the tradition of Hip-hop, decisively away from the commercially exploited see. This award from the Hermitage Artist Retreat and the Greenfield Basis will assist Rennie’s continued operate in training the globe about the American-born dance type.”

“I’m normally appreciative of when I am found for the reason that we all move in our own worlds, just figuring issues out and in no way recognizing who is watching. This is definitely a important shock,” explained Harris on listening to the news. “I am really grateful to absolutely everyone who assumed of me and thinks that I’m well worth the time to aid support in this lifelong eyesight.”

Rennie Harris’ meant commission will focus on a do the job titled “Losing My Religion,” a personal reflection on his possess journey that weaves in thoughts on the world’s collective dilemmas. Harris is regarded for hard what has arrive to be predicted of Road dance and Hip-hop culture and the degenerative social norms and beliefs that ground the struggles of our time. As a section of this new get the job done, he designs to include a reimagining of his renowned solo, “Endangered Species,” an autobiographical function recounting his practical experience of staying chased and shot down in Kingston, Jamaica even though touring as a U.S. ambassador for President Reagan’s ‘American Embassy Tour.’ The solo’s inclusion in the do the job completes a tale of systemic racism and revolt, shifting away from what was to what is and what can be. Harris options to debut his very own acrylic and collage visuals as section of the do the job and hopes the work will be a car or truck for his return to the stage, setting the function on his very own physique. “Dropping My Religion” aims to be a haunting narrative of personalized and systemic wrestle and transformation, symbolic of an awakening and finally reminding us of our humanity. Harris provides, “This function, at its main, coincides with the mission of the Hermitage Greenfield Prize, invoking and promoting voice and expression of the human spirit.”

Visual Art recipients and finalists of the Hermitage Greenfield Prize are likewise nominated and picked by a jury of nationally recognized arts leaders. The 2023 jury in Visual Art incorporated Allison Glenn, Senior Curator at New York’s General public Artwork Fund and curator of Promise, Witness, Remembrance (2021) at the Pace Art Museum, which The New York Situations chosen as 1 of the “Greatest Artwork Exhibitions of 2021” Christine Kuan, President and Executive Director of Creative Capital, and the previous CEO/Director of Sotheby’s Institute of Art (NY) and Anne Patterson, acclaimed multidisciplinary visual artist and alumna Hermitage Fellow whose recent fee Ascendant Light-weight is the anchor of Capital One’s corporate headquarters.

Three finalists for the 2023 Hermitage Greenfield Prize in Visual Art consist of Maura Brewer, whose get the job done has been exhibited at MoMA, Art in Basic in New York, the MCA in Chicago, the Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, and the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wein in Vienna, among other sites Azza El Siddique, who has exhibited do the job at famous intuitions this sort of as MIT Checklist Centre, Helena Anrather (NY), Oakville Galleries (Ontario), The Gardiner Museum (Toronto), and The Museum of Modern day Artwork (Toronto) and Joanna Keane Lopez, who has been supported by the Andy Warhol Basis for the Visible Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and experienced get the job done exhibited at The Momentary of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Artwork, Website Santa Fe, the Countrywide Hispanic Cultural Middle Artwork Museum, Akron Art Museum, and Sarasota Art Museum. All a few visible artwork finalists will acquire a Hermitage Fellowship, in addition to a prize of $1,000.

“Sandy Rodriquez is an artist pretty individual to this time,” suggests Anne Patterson. “Her encouraged believed-provoking function reveals neglected histories that urgently need to be unveiled.” Fellow visible artwork jurors Allison Glenn and Christine Kuan echoed Patterson’s remarks, describing Rodriguez as “dynamic,” “impressive,” “persuasive,” and a “local community builder.”

“I could not be additional thrilled to have this possibility, and to consider really deeply about what it means to create a web site-distinct installation that will engage with a variety of constituents and communities to seriously transfer the subject ahead.” reported Sandy Rodriguez upon studying of her choice. “The finalist invitation from the Hermitage gave me a minute to pause and to ponder what may be possible – how I may well get this second of radical enlargement and growth and do a thing experimental and web site-certain to this area and this organization. I am just absolutely overjoyed.”

Sandy Rodriguez programs to use her commission to make a panoramic exhibition, the centerpiece of which will be a new big-scale map that depicts the southeastern topography and shoreline marked by tales of resistance from the colonial period of time to the existing. Established with hand-processed local mineral pigment watercolors on amate paper with an accompanying audio installation, the outcome will be reminiscent of a 19th-century design and style panorama in the spherical. Rodriguez intends that the anticolonial panorama will make visible a history of the area for a large range of modern audiences. Of interest at this preliminary phase are the histories of indigenous resistance after the arrival of Juan Ponce de Leon, migrations, and functions drawn from up to date news tales. The work will contain depictions of endemic and endangered native vegetation and maritime animals, and local climate adjust as ongoing colonial aggression will also be resolved in the get the job done.

Harris and Rodriguez will be celebrated at the Hermitage Greenfield Prize Evening meal on Sunday, April 16th, at 6pm at the Ca’ d’Zan of The Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Florida. Potential will be minimal, so early reservations are strongly advised. Co-Chairs for this party are Tom & Sherry Koski, with The Ringling Museum Executive Director Steven Large and Sarasota Art Museum Executive Director Virginia Shearer serving as Honorary Co-Chairs. Tables and sponsorships now obtainable additional data can be discovered at HermitageArtistRetreat.org.

In addition to the Hermitage Greenfield Prize Meal on April 16th, the Hermitage Greenfield Prize Celebration will consist of systems and talks with present and earlier HGP winners and jurors through the weekend of April 14-16, 2023. These activities will be offered on the Hermitage Seaside and through Sarasota County with some also obtainable on line. More details about these programs will be announced at a later on date. The Hermitage Greenfield Prize Celebration is introduced in partnership with the Greenfield Foundation, with the Group Basis of Sarasota County serving as the direct Community Sponsor.

In addition to the Hermitage Greenfield Prize, the Hermitage Artist Retreat introduced the once-a-year Hermitage Important Theater Award (HMTA) in 2021, newly recognized to identify a playwright or theater artist with a $35,000 fee to make a new, original, and impactful piece of theater. Recipients of the HMTA to day incorporate playwright Madeleine George (Only Murders in the Constructing on Hulu) and theater maker Shariffa Ali, each with expected developmental workshops in the drop of 2023, as effectively as the most not long ago introduced receiver Imani Uzuri with an predicted presentation of her function in the tumble of 2024.

For much more facts about the Hermitage, the Hermitage Greenfield Prize, and upcoming Hermitage courses, pay a visit to HermitageArtistRetreat.org.