Sep, 02, 2026
Media AlertsSpecial Events and Programs
Phoenix Art Museum announces artists Jeffrey Gibson and Kelly Akashi, curator Candice Hopkins as 2026-2027 Lenhardt Lecture speakers
PhxArt welcomes Gibson in conversation with Hopkins in October 2026; Akashi to speak in spring 2027
PHOENIX (September 2, 2026) –For the 2026–2027 season, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) is pleased to announce that internationally acclaimed artist Jeffrey Gibson (a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent) will appear in conversation with the Executive Director and Chief Curator of Forge Project, Candice Hopkins (citizen of Carcross/Tagish First Nation), for the fall Lenhardt Lecture. Celebrated contemporary artist Kelly Akashi will come to Phoenix in April as the spring Lenhardt Lecture speaker. Widely recognized as one of the leading contemporary American artists working today, Gibson has earned international recognition for his multidisciplinary practice, which synthesizes Indigenous traditions and aesthetics with layered references to contemporary culture and global histories. He will appear in dialogue with Hopkins, whose writing and curatorial practice explore the intersections of history, contemporary art, and Indigeneity. The Museum will present Gibson and Hopkins on October 14, 2026. Tickets to the Lenhardt Lecture featuring Gibson and Hopkins on October 14 at 6:30 pm are live here.
On April 14, 2027, PhxArt welcomes Kelly Akashi, whose work is already familiar to Museum audiences through Polar Vista, acquired by the Museum in 2023 and currently on view in the Katz Wing for Modern Art. Tickets to the spring Lenhardt Lecture featuring Akashi are here. Lenhardt Lecture tickets are free for Museum Members and $5 for the public.
“We are honored to welcome Jeffrey Gibson, Candice Hopkins, and Kelly Akashi to Phoenix Art Museum as the next speakers in our esteemed Lenhardt Lecture series,” said Jeremy Mikolajczak, the Sybil Harrington Director and CEO of Phoenix Art Museum. “Among the most influential artists working today, Gibson and Akashi each bring deeply personal yet universally resonant perspectives that illuminate the stories, histories, and lived experiences shaping our world, while Hopkins has curated some of the most significant exhibitions in the past decade to reframe art history through an Indigenous lens. As we approach the 10th anniversary of the Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative, including the Lenhardt Lecture series, we celebrate the extraordinary impact the program has had on our Museum and our community. Through the generosity and vision of the Lenhardt family, we have welcomed many of the defining artists and cultural voices of our time, creating opportunities for meaningful dialogue while expanding the voices, narratives, and perspectives represented throughout PhxArt’s exhibitions, programs, and collection.”
Jeffrey Gibson (American, b. 1972) is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and convener, celebrated for his work in painting, installation, video, and performance. Over two decades, he has examined how language, pattern, and music construct meaning, synthesizing Indigenous and Western traditions through vibrant color, complex patterning, and layered sound. A member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, Gibson represented the U.S. at the 2024 Venice Biennale with his acclaimed exhibition the space in which to place me, which made its U.S. debut at The Broad in Los Angeles in May 2025. In June 2025, he unveiled a site-specific installation at Kunsthaus Zurich and that same year was selected for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Genesis Facade Commission. His work is held in major collections including MoMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and the National Gallery of Art.
Gibson will be joined in October by Candice Hopkins.A citizen of Carcross/Tagish First Nation, Hopkins is the Executive Director and Chief Curator of Forge Project, Taghkanic, New York, and Fellow in Indigenous Art History and Curatorial Studies at Bard College. She is curator of the exhibitions Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination Since 1969; Soundings: An Exhibition in Five Parts, co-curated with Dylan Robinson; and ᑕᑯᒃᓴᐅᔪᒻᒪᕆᒃ Double Vision, featuring textiles, prints and drawings by Jessie Oonark, Janet Kigusiuq, and Victoria Mamnguqsualuk. She was also the Senior Curator for the inaugural 2019 and 2022 editions of the Toronto Biennial of Art and part of the curatorial team for the Canadian Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, among other accomplishments.
Kelly Akashi (b. 1983, Los Angeles) uses material transformation to give physical form to memory, inheritance, and loss. Working across glass, bronze, crystal, stone, and ash, she renders fragile or ephemeral matter into enduring forms, creating works that hold traces of touch, labor, and impermanence and are grounded in a practice defined by deep material engagement and a conceptual approach. Akashi’s work has been presented in solo exhibitions at the San Jose Museum of Art, Frye Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Henry Art Gallery, SculptureCenter, and Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Milano. She has also created public commissions for JFK International Airport’s New Terminal One, as well as projects with the Aspen Art Museum, Clark Art Institute, and the Hyundai Terrace for the 2026 Whitney Biennial. She is the recipient of the 2024 Distinguished Women in the Arts Award from MOCA Los Angeles, among many other distinctions. Akashi’s work Polar Vista(1993–2023) is on view now in the Museum’s Katz Wing for Modern Art and was aquired by the institution in 2023.
“Dawn and I are thrilled that Jeffrey Gibson, Candice Hopkins, and Kelly Akashi are joining us this season for the Lenhardt Lecture series,” said David Lenhardt, a member of the Museum’s Board of Trustees. “Gibson and Akashi are both masters at layering cultural references, media, and meaning through their practices. Their artworks encourage deep looking and reward the viewer with new discoveries each time they engage. We are also excited to welcome Hopkins, whose commitment to advancing Indigenous practices in contemporary art has made such a transformative impact. We are grateful they will be sharing their meaningful stories and insights with our Phoenix community.”
In addition to their presentations at Phoenix Art Museum, Gibson and Akashi will engage with local artists and creatives as part of the educational and community-based component integral to the series. Each year, Lenhardt Lecture speakers give back and work with Arizona-based creators in various capacities to provide vital mentorship.
For more information about the Lenhardt Lecture series, contact the Communications Office of Phoenix Art Museum at press@phxart.org. For high-resolution images, click here.
About Jeffrey Gibson
Jeffrey Gibson (American, b. 1972) is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and convener celebrated for his work in painting, installation, video, and performance. For over two decades, he has examined how language, pattern, and music construct meaning, synthesizing Indigenous and Western traditions through vibrant color, complex patterning, and layered sound. A member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, Gibson represented the U.S. at the 2024 Venice Biennale with his acclaimed exhibition the space in which to place me, which made its U.S. debut at The Broad in Los Angeles in May 2025. In June 2025, he unveiled a site-specific installation at Kunsthaus Zurich. Gibson was selected for the Metropolitan Museum’s 2025 Genesis Facade Commission, and his monumental bronze sculptures will be on view through June 2026. His work is held in major collections including MoMA, the Whitney, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and the National Gallery of Art. He lives in New York’s Hudson Valley and is artist-in-residence at Bard College.
About Candice Hopkins
Candice Hopkins is a citizen of Carcross/Tagish First Nation and lives in Red Hook, New York. Her writing and curatorial practice explore the intersections of history, contemporary art, and Indigeneity. She is Executive Director & Chief Curator of Forge Project, Taghkanic, New York, and Fellow in Indigenous Art History and Curatorial Studies, Bard College. She is curator of the exhibitions Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination Since 1969, Soundings: An Exhibition in Five Parts, co-curated with Dylan Robinson, and ᑕᑯᒃᓴᐅᔪᒻᒪᕆᒃ Double Vision, featuring textiles, prints and drawings by Jessie Oonark, Janet Kigusiuq, and Victoria Mamnguqsualuk. She was the Senior Curator for the inaugural 2019 and 2022 editions of the Toronto Biennial of Art and part of the curatorial team for the Canadian Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, featuring the work of the media collective Isuma; as well as documenta 14, Athens and Kassel; and Sakahàn: International Indigenous Art, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Her notable essays include “The Gilded Gaze: Wealth and Economies on the Colonial Frontier,” in the documenta 14 Reader; “Outlawed Social Life,” in South as a State of Mind; and “The Appropriation Debates (or The Gallows of History),” in Saturation: Race, Art, and the Circulation of Value (New Museum/MIT Press, 2020).
About Kelly Akashi
Kelly Akashi (b. 1983) uses material transformation to give physical form to memory, inheritance, and loss, translating intimate objects into sculptures that register time and change. Her practice is grounded in deep material engagement, where learning processes such as glassblowing, stone carving, casting, and candle-making becomes integral to her conceptual approach. She approaches mortality as a contemplative condition, attentive to the quiet dignity of transience. Akashi serves as Core Faculty in Grad Art at ArtCenter College of Design. Her work has been presented in solo exhibitions at the San Jose Museum of Art, Frye Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Henry Art Gallery, SculptureCenter, and Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Milano. Public commissions include a monumental installation for JFK International Airport’s New Terminal One, an outdoor sculpture commission for Williams College Museum of Art, projects with the Aspen Art Museum, Clark Art Institute, and the Hyundai Terrace for the 2026 Whitney Biennial. She is the recipient of the 2024 Distinguished Women in the Arts Award from MOCA Los Angeles and grants from the Trellis Fund, the Andy Warhol Foundation, LACMA Art + Tech, Peter S. Reed Foundation, and Tieger Foundation.
About the Lenhardt Lecture and the Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative
Since 2018, the Lenhardt Lecture series has engaged Valley audiences with some of the most acclaimed contemporary artists in the world. Featured speakers have included Jim Hodges, Shara Hughes, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Arcmanoro Niles, Teresita Fernández in conversation with Amalia Mesa-Bains, Derek Fordjour, Rashid Johnson, Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe in conversation with Larry Ossei-Mensah, Leonardo Drew, Lily Stockman, Eamon Ore-Giron, Charles Gaines in conversation with Thelma Golden, Adam Pendelton in conversation with Dr. Adrienne Edwards, and Caroline Kent. The program also includes an educational and community-based component. All Lenhardt Lecture speakers engage with local artists and creatives, working with Arizona-based creators in various capacities to provide vital mentorship.
The Lenhardt Lecture is a key component of the Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative. Established in 2017 through the generosity of the Arizona-based Lenhardt family, the Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative deepens the Museum’s commitment to contemporary art through various programs, namely the Lenhardt Lectures, which engage Valley audiences with some of the most acclaimed contemporary artists in the world; the Lenhardt Contemporary Art Acquisition Fund, which enables Phoenix Art Museum to collect works by contemporary artists; and the Dawn and David Lenhardt Gallery, designated for the presentation of contemporary art, including works acquired with funds from the Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative, loans from national and local collectors, and a rotating series of artworks from the Lenhardts’ own collection. In 2021, the initiative was expanded to support the diversification of the contemporary art collection of Phoenix Art Museum through the acquisition of works by artists contributing to discourses on race, gender, and other socially relevant concerns, including those by Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and women artists, among others. Since 2017, the Museum has acquired artworks by Shara Hughes, Arcmanoro Niles, Derek Fordjour, Rashid Johnson, Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe and Lily Stockman with funds from the Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative.
About Phoenix Art Museum
Since 1959, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) has engaged millions of visitors with the art 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 experiences with art. Each year, 300,000 guests on average engage with critically acclaimed national and international exhibitions and 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 design, along with vibrant photography exhibitions made possible through the Museum’s landmark partnership with the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson. PhxArt also presents live performances, outstanding examples of global cinema, arts-education programs and workshops, a monthly live-music series, and more for the community. To learn more about Phoenix Art Museum, visit phxart.org, or call 602.257.1880.
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