Jun, 25, 2026
Media AlertsSpecial Events and ProgramsModern and Contemporary Art
2025 Arizona Artist Awards exhibitions to debut at Phoenix Art Museum in July 2026
New site-specific installations, works on paper, video works, and more by Arizona-based artists Alice Leora Briggs, Chris Ignacio, and Jan Talmadge Davids explore themes of fragility, identity, and landscape
PHOENIX (June 25, 2026) – On July 29, 2026, Phoenix Art Museum premieres the 2025 Arizona Artist Awards exhibitions, featuring works by 2025 Scult Family Artist Award recipient Alice Leora Briggs in a solo exhibition and works by 2025 Sally and Richard Lehmann Emerging Artists Awards recipients Chris Ignacio and Jan Talmadge Davids in a group exhibition. In NOW WHAT?, Briggs reflects on human mortality and the passage of time through an intimate display anchored by her signature sgraffito. In adjacent galleries, Ignacio premieres a new series, Everything is Ourselves, that draws from puppetry and performance traditions to consider how animated objects function as extensions of identity, while Talmadge Davids showcases work from her series repair(ian) that examines the relationship between physical landscape and emotional identity and geographies. The exhibitions are on view through January 24, 2027. Opening-day events include a public lecture at 6:30 pm by Briggs, who will discuss her process and works featured in the exhibition. Tickets to Briggs’ lecture are free and can be reserved here (advance registration is recommended).
“In alignment with our mission to serve our local community and champion Arizona-based artists through our annual Artist Awards program, we are honored to present the work of Alice Leora Briggs, Chris Ignacio, and Jan Talmadge Davids this year,” said Jeremy Mikolajczak, the Sybil Harrington Director and CEO at Phoenix Art Museum. “This cohort brings a wide range of artistic practices that yield engaging, evocative, and intimate reflections on difficult realities that face humanity, from mortality and shifting identities to personal and collective connections to place.”
Based in Tucson, Arizona, Alice Leora Briggsinvestigates human frailties and mortality through mediums spanning drawings, woodcuts, letterpress broadsides, site-specific installations, and books. Approaching her work with curiosity, compassion, and fearlessness, Briggs does not view mortality as an endpoint but rather an opportunity to consider the possibilities and changes that arise as one’s life progresses. In NOW WHAT?, visitors explore the artist’s works on paper, site-specific installation, and sgraffito compositions, which Briggs creates by coating panels with clay and acrylic medium, airbrushing the surface with black Indian ink, and then using drawing tools such as X-Acto knives, fiberglass pencils, and steel wool to cut into the surface. Visitors also encounter the words of Briggs’ 104-year-old mother on the walls and embedded into the artwork itself, prompting deeper contemplations on time, memory, and the fragility of life.
A Filipino American puppeteer, producer, educator, and interdisciplinary artist based in Phoenix, Arizona, Chris Ignacio debuts his new series, Everything is Ourselves, which features mixed-media installation and video works that explore the tradition of animating objects—from prehistoric figures carved from clay and stone to digital avatars—and how this practice reveals the human impulse to construct meaning, try on and create identities, and attain cosmological understanding.
Born in Tucson, Jan Talmadge Davids works in clay and mixed media to reinterpret the landscapes of her childhood and articulate ideas of place-making. At PhxArt, she expands on her series, repair(ian), through video and porcelain works based on her observations of flora, wild clay, and the natural landscape, which stand as elegies to honor the landscapes that shape our identities and inform our sense of belonging. Her works are imbued with lamentation and hope, fragility and strength, mirroring the geographies affected by climate crisis and agricultural abuse that have inspired the artist’s work.
“It has been a pleasure to work with Alice, Chris, and Jan over this last year,” said Christian Ramírez, Cohn Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art and Director of Engagement. “These artist have built multifaceted practices with a detailed eye towards craftsmanship. Their work stands as a testament to the strength of the artistic community here in Arizona.”
If you would like high-resolution photography related to the exhibitions, or if you would like to interview any of the Scult and Lehmann Award recipients, contact the Communications Office at kaylee.weyrauch@phxart.org or press@phxart.org.
About the Exhibition
The Arizona Artist Awards are made possible by the Scult Family Artist Award; Sally and Richard Lehmann; and the Cohn Fund for Arts and Culture, a founding gift of the Phoenix Art Museum Education and Engagement Excellence Fund.
NOW WHAT? and the 2025 Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards exhibitions are organized by Phoenix Art Museum and curated by Christian Ramírez, the Cohn Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art and Director of Engagement. Their Phoenix premiere is made possible by the Cohn Fund for Arts and Culture, a founding gift of the Phoenix Art Museum Education and Engagement Excellence.
Additional support is provided by the Rob Walton, Jordan Rose, and Rose Law Group Fund for Contemporary Art.
All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by The Opatrny Family Foundation with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin.
Admission is free for Museum Members and youth aged 5 and younger. Entrance into the exhibition is included in general admission for the public. Visitors may also enjoy reduced admission to the exhibition during voluntary-donation times on Wednesdays from 3 – 8 pm, made possible by SRP and City of Phoenix, with additional support from Arizona Community Foundation, and First Fridays from 5 – 8 pm, made possible by APS with additional support from Arizona Community Foundation. For a full breakdown of general admission prices and hours, see phxart.org/visit/.
About the Scult Family Artist Award
Each year, Phoenix Art Museum recognizes a mid-career Arizona-based artist with the Scult Family Artist Award. Eligible candidates must have resided in Arizona for a minimum of four consecutive years and are nominated by a group of curators, museum directors, and other arts professionals from across the state. Their candidacy is evaluated based on their demonstration of artistic excellence, active creation and exhibition of new work, and career-spanning evolution. Following a robust review process, a jury of curators, art scholars, artists, and other experts and professionals in the field from across the country selects the recipient. The Scult Family Artist Award includes monetary support of $20,000 and an invitation to present a solo exhibition of new and past work at the Museum. The 2025 Scult Artist Award jury included Lana Meador, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, San Antonio Museum of Art; Olivia Miller, Executive Director, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon; Ann Morton, 2019 Scult Family Artist Award recipient; Christian Ramírez, Cohn Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art and Director of Engagement, Phoenix Art Museum; and Jeff Scult.
About the Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards
The Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards foster the creative practices and careers of emerging Arizona-based artists. Candidates must have resided in Arizona for a minimum of one year and are invited to apply through an annual open call hosted by Artlink, a non-profit organization that has supported and amplified Arizona artists and community-based art events and initiatives for more than 30 years. Recipients receive $10,000 in monetary support and the opportunity to present a joint exhibition at the Museum with fellow Lehmann awardees. The 2025 Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards jury was also assembled by Ramírez and included Ramírez; Lana Meador, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, San Antonio Museum of Art; Olivia Miller, Executive Director, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon; Ann Morton, 2019 Scult Family Artist Award recipient; and Sally Lehmann.
About Phoenix Art Museum
Since 1959, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) has engaged millions of visitors with the art and fashion of our region and world. Located in Phoenix’s Central Corridor, PhxArt creates spaces of exchange and belonging for all audiences through dynamic exhibitions, collections, and art experiences. Each year, more than 250,000 guests engage with critically acclaimed national and international exhibitions, as well as the Museum’s collection of more than 21,000 works of American and Western American, Asian, European, Latin American, modern, and contemporary art and fashion. The Museum also presents vibrant photography exhibitions made possible through the Museum’s landmark partnership with the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson and is home to The Gene and Cathy Lemon Art Research Library, The Thorne Miniature Rooms, The Ullman Center for the Art of Philip C. Curtis, and Arizona Costume Institute (ACI). For the community, PhxArt hosts lectures, live performances, outstanding examples of global cinema, arts-education workshops, family-focused programs, and more. To learn more about Phoenix Art Museum, visit phxart.org, or call 602.257.1880.
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