Phoenix Art Museum announces 2023 Scult and Lehmann Artist Awards recipients; increases monetary prizes and awards free Lifetime Memberships

May, 15, 2023

Exhibitions and Special Installations

Phoenix Art Museum announces 2023 Scult and Lehmann Artist Awards recipients; increases monetary prizes and awards free Lifetime Memberships

Arizona-based Fronterizx Collective, Yaritza Flores Bustos, and Alejandro Macias to exhibit work at Phoenix Art Museum starting July 19, 2023

PHOENIX (May 15, 2023) – Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) has named Fronterizx Collective the recipient of the 2023 Arlene and Morton Scult Artist Award (Scult Artist Award) and Yaritza Flores Bustos and Alejandro Macias as the recipients of the Sally and Richard Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards (Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards). Effective with this 2023 cohort, the Museum has doubled the Scult Artist Award prize from $5,000 to $10,000 and more than tripled the Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards prize from $1,500 to $5,000. Additionally, recipients are now awarded free Lifetime Memberships to Phoenix Art Museum and have the opportunity to show work in solo and group exhibitions at the Museum. Exhibitions featuring work by Fronterizx Collective, Flores Bustos, and Macias will premiere on July 19, 2023, with an art talk presented by Scult Artist Award recipient Fronterizx Collective at 6:30 pm on the same evening.Admission to the exhibition premiere is a voluntary donation as part of Pay-What-You-Wish Wednesday programming, and lecture tickets will be available soon on phxart.org. PhxArt will also honor the award recipients at the Museum’s inaugural Art Bash on October 13, 2023. The expansion of PhxArt’s annual artist award programs extends the Museum’s mission to recognize the importance of artist contributions to Arizona’s visual arts culture, highlight and amplify artistic talent across the state, and showcase Arizona’s wide-ranging creative practices and artistic excellence.

“We are incredibly excited to expand our Scult Artist Award and Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards programs as part of our efforts to underscore the Museum’s championing of regional practitioners and deepen our institution’s support for these artists whose work is central to the arts landscape,” said Jeremy Mikolajczak, the Museum’s Sybil Harrington Director and CEO. “We are deeply grateful to the generous local donors who made this increased recognition possible, and I extend my congratulations to Fronterizx Collective, Yaritza Flores Bustos, and Alejandro Macias, whose collaborative and individual artistic endeavors drive innovation, build community, and explore nuanced perspectives of identity within our growing and evolving region.”

Each year, Phoenix Art Museum recognizes a mid-career Arizona-based artist with the Arlene and Morton Scult Artist Award (Scult Artist Award). Eligible candidates 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 Arizona. Their candidacy is evaluated based on their demonstration of artistic excellence, active creation and exhibition of new work, and career-long growth and evolution. Following a robust review process, a jury of curators, art scholars, artists, and other visual arts experts and professionals from across the state selects the recipient. In addition to lifetime PhxArt Membership, the Scult Artist Award includes monetary support of $10,000 as well as an invitation to present a solo exhibition at the Museum of new and past work, at the discretion of the artist.

The 2023 Arlene and Morton Scult Artist Award recipient is Fronterizx Collective. Jenea Sanchez and Gabriela Muñoz of Fronterizx Collective began working together in 2009. Their practice in video, printmaking, paper-making, installation, performance, sculpture, and socially engaged projects is rooted in their experiences as women of color who grew up in the liminal culture between Mexico and the United States. Through skill-sharing and mutual aid, Fronterizx Collective develops projects and artworks that center the experiences of women of color and explore issues of power, labor, and transnational feminisms. Fronterizx Collective has received numerous awards, including the 2020–2021 NALAC Catalyst for Change Award, the 2019–2020 Mellon-Fronteridades Creative Scholar Fellowship, and recognitions from the Intercultural Leadership Institute and the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture’s Leadership Institute. Their work has been exhibited internationally at the Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez; MOCA Tucson; the Barrick Museum of Art; The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian; The Latino Museum of History, Art, and Culture; and the United States/Mexico border fence, among others. As part of the Scult Artist Award program, Fronterizx Collective will present work in a solo exhibition, which opens at Phoenix Art Museum on July 19, 2023. That same evening, the duo will present an artist talk to the community. Tickets are coming soon to phxart.org.

In addition to the Scult Artist Award, Phoenix Art Museum annually presents the Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards. The Museum launched in April 2021 the juried grant program, which replaces the former Contemporary Forum Artists’ Grants and acknowledges the support of local donors Sally and Richard Lehmann, with additional support provided by Cattryn Somers and Michael Cafiso. The Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards foster the creative practices and careers of emerging Arizona-based artists by providing recognition, financial support, and an opportunity to exhibit their work. In order to apply through the annual open call, candidates must register as an Articipant with Artlink, a nonprofit organization that has supported and amplified Arizona artists and community-based art events and initiatives for more than 30 years. Candidates must have resided in Arizona for a minimum of one year. A jury of curators, art scholars, artists, and other visual arts experts and professionals from across the state select recipients, who in addition to the lifetime PhxArt Membership, receive monetary support of $5,000 as well as the opportunity to present a joint exhibition at the Museum with fellow Lehmann awardees.

The Museum has named Yaritza Flores Bustos and Alejandro Macias as the recipients of the 2023 Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards. Born in 1997, Yaritza Flores Bustos migrated from Michoacán, México, at a young age with her family. They established a home in Maryvale, the Westside of Phoenix, something that Bustos states with pride. Her interdisciplinary practice works across media to develop a new archive that venerates the multiple languages her community utilizes to survive. Flores Bustos has exhibited throughout Phoenix and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics and Transborder Studies in 2020 from Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University.

Alejandro Macias was born and raised in Brownsville, Texas. His practice mixes conventional, representational, and abstract approaches, a strategy that acts as a metaphor for his upbringing along the U.S.-Mexico border. His work explores themes of Mexican-American identity, assimilation, acculturation, repression, civil rights, immigration, cultural misconceptions, contemporary socio-political trepidations, and the ever-shifting American political landscape. Macias has been the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, including notable residencies at Vermont Studio Center; Chateau d’Orquevaux in Orquevaux, France; The Studios at MASS MoCA; Wassaic Project; and CALA Alliance. He recently participated in group exhibitions at the Visual Arts Center at the University of Texas at Austin, Mexic-Arte Museum, and Amarillo Museum of Art, to name a few, with solo exhibitions at Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, Presa House Gallery, and Tucson Museum of Art, among other exhibition opportunities. He received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Brownsville in 2008 and a Master of Fine Arts in 2-D studio art from the University of Texas – Pan American in 2012. Macias currently serves as an assistant professor of painting and drawing at the University of Arizona School of Art in Tucson. As part of the Lehmann Artist Awards program, Flores Bustos and Macias will present work in a group exhibition, also scheduled to open at Phoenix Art Museum on July 19, 2023.

“I extend my congratulations to the 2023 Scult Arist Award and Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards recipients,” said Christian Ramírez, PhxArt’s assistant curator of contemporary and community art initiatives. “These artists each explore identity in distinct ways but through a shared lens of life on the borderlands, defined by varying migration patterns and transnational identity. We very much look forward to sharing their important work with our shared community.”

On October 13, 2023, all three Artist Award recipients will be honored at the Museum’s inaugural Art Bash, an after-hours event in the Dorrance Sculpture Garden and Cummings Great Hall featuring live bands, specialty food and cocktail experiences, and more. Additional information on the new event, including ticket prices for Members and the general public, will be announced at a later date.

The jury for the 2023 Scult Artist Award and Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards was assembled by Ramírez and included 2021 Scult Award recipient Sama Alshaibi, Regents Professor of photography, video, and imaging at the School of Art at the University of Arizona; Ashley DeHoyos Sauder, Curator at DiverseWorks; Alana Hernandez, Executive Director and Curator at CALA Alliance; and Morton Scult.

For more information, contact the Museum’s Communications Office at samantha.santos@phxart.org or 602.257.2117. For high-resolution photography, click here.

About Phoenix Art Museum
Since 1959, Phoenix Art Museum has provided millions of guests with access to world-class art and experiences in an effort to ignite imaginations, create meaningful connections, and serve as a brave space for all people who wish to experience the transformative power of art. Located in Phoenix’s Central Corridor, the Museum is a vibrant destination for the visual arts and the largest art museum in the southwestern United States. Each year, more than 350,000 guests engage with critically acclaimed national and international exhibitions and the Museum’s collection of more than 20,000 works of American and Western American, Asian, European, Latin American, modern and contemporary art, and fashion design. The Museum also presents a comprehensive film program, live performances, and educational programs designed for visitors of all ages, along with vibrant photography exhibitions made possible through the Museum’s landmark partnership with the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona. To learn more about Phoenix Art Museum, visit phxart.org, or call 602.257.1880.

About Artlink Inc.
Artlink keeps the arts integral to our development by connecting artists, businesses, and the community. Founded as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization by artists in 1989, the Artlink name is a guiding principle for the organization, as it supports stakeholders of the arts and culture community, amplifying its collective strength. Visit artlinkphx.org to sign up for the Artlink newsletter, or connect socially on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.