Atlanta: 2024 Driskell Prize winner Noami Beckwith celebrated at High Museum of Art gala and afterparty

Naomi Beckwith, 2024 Driskell Prize winner, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, NY | Photo by Rafterman, courtesy of the High Museum of Art

Gala guests included Randall Suffolk, director of the High Museum of Art,
curator Valerie Cassel Oliver, photographer Tyler Mitchell, designer Sergio Hudson, artist Ebony G. Patterson and gallery owner Monique Meloche

ATLANTA, Georgia, welcomed the art world on April 26, when the High Museum of Art celebrated the awarding of the 2024 David C. Driskell Prize. Naomi Beckwith. The Driskell Prize recognizes outstanding contributions to the field of African American art. The 19th recipient of this prestigious honor, Beckwith is deputy director and chief curator of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Sunda and G. Scott Uzzell, Nike vice president and general manager of North America, chaired the Driskell Award gala. The evening included a seated dinner, remarks and the annual event’s first-ever afterparty.

More than 250 guests attended the gala, according to the High Museum. Guests included High Museum Director Randall Suffolk; Raphael Bostic, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta; Camille Love, Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs; Phillana Williams, director of the Mayor’s Office of Film and Entertainment; and Nickol Hackett, chief investment officer and treasurer, Joyce Foundation, Chicago, Illinois.

Patrons mixed with artists and curators, photographer Tyler Mitchell, born in Atlanta; Atlanta artists Charly Palmer and Fahamu Pecou; the artist Geneviève Gaignard; and Lauren Haynes, Chief Curator and Vice President of Arts and Culture, Governors Island, New York, NY, among them. Previous Driskell Prize winners were also in attendance, including Valerie Cassel Oliver (2011), curator of modern and contemporary art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia; Naima Keith (2017), vice president of education and public programming, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and artist Ebony G. Patterson (2023).

“…It’s wonderful to always be admired or recognized by your peers, whoever they are in the field,” Beckwith said in a High Museum video produced for the Driskell Prize. “So you sit around and you go to the dinners, and that’s it… it’s quite lovely.” But when you understand that your people see you, it is the greatest honor.

Sergio Hudson designed Beckwith’s dress. The jewel-toned look with a long, flowing pleated skirt is featured in the designer’s recent Collection 12.

Proceeds from the gala benefited the David C. Driskell African American Art Endowment and Acquisition Restriction Fund, the High Museum said, and helped add 52 works by artists over the years African-Americans in the museum’s collection. CT

LEARN MORE about the David C. Driskell Prize

LEARN MORE about David C. Driskell and the Driskell Center for the Study of Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora at the University of Maryland, College Park

From left to right: Sunda Uzzell, Naomi Beckwith and Scott Uzzell. The Uzzells chaired the 19th annual David C. Driskell Award Gala. | Photo by Rafterman, courtesy of the High Museum of Art

From left, 2024 Driskell Prize recipient Naomi Beckwith and Randall Suffolk, director of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia | Photo by Rafterman, courtesy of the High Museum of Art

Kent Kelley and Tamara Kelley, members of the Driskell Prize Gala organizing committee. Kent Kelley is a member of the Board of Trustees of the High Museum of Art. | Photo by Rafterman, courtesy of the High Museum of Art

Charlene Crusoe-Ingram and Earnest Ingram, members of the Driskell Prize Gala organizing committee. Crusoe-Ingram is named vice chairman of the board of trustees of the High Museum of Art. | Photo by Rafterman, courtesy of the High Museum of Art

From left, 2024 Driskell Prize winner Naomi Beckwith with gala hosts. From left to right: Nikki Crump, Sunda Uzzell, Naomi Beckwith, Charlene Crusoe-Ingram, Robyn Wallace and Louise Sams. | Photo by Rafterman, courtesy of the High Museum of Art

Robyn and Zak Wallace, members of the Driskell Prize Gala organizing committee. | Photo by Rafterman, courtesy of the High Museum of Art

Karen Comer-Lowe, curator in residence at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art; and artist and chef Leslie Parks Bailey, wife of the late artist Radcliffe Bailey and daughter of the late artist Gordon Parks. | Photo by Rafterman, courtesy of the High Museum of Art

Randall Suffolk, director of the High Museum of Art and photographer Tyler Mitchell. “Tyler Mitchell: Idyllic Space” opens at the High Museum of Art on June 21. | Courtesy of the High Museum of Art

Mike Jackson and Egypt Sherrod, stars of the Atlanta-based HGTV series “Married to Real Estate.” | Photo by Rafterman, courtesy of the High Museum of Art

Naomi Beckwith, winner of the 2024 Driskell Prize, and Sergio Hudson, who designed Beckwith’s gala dress. | Photo by Rafterman, courtesy of the High Museum of Art

Born in South Carolina, Sergio Hudson is based in Los Angeles. Hudson won Bravo TV’s “Styled to Rock” in 2013, created her namesake brand in 2014, relaunched it in 2016 and debuted at New York Fashion Week in 2020. Her clothes are made in the USA. Hudson’s clients include many prominent figures in the music industry, Hollywood and politics, including former First Lady Michell Obama, Vice President Kamala Harris and First Lady Jill Biden, who wore a dress Hudson cobalt blue at the White House state dinner honoring Kenya. President William Ruto, May 23.

From left, Chicago gallerist Monique Meloche and 2023 Driskell Prize winner Ebony Patterson, represented by Monique Meloche. | Photo by Rafterman, courtesy of the High Museum of Art

From left, DJ Princess Cut and High Museum of Art board member Killer Mike, aka Mike Render. DJ Princess Cut provided the music for the very first Driskell Prize gala after party. | Photo by Rafterman, courtesy of the High Museum of Art

Photographer Tyler Mitchell and 2024 Driskell Prize winner Naomi Beckwith. | Photo by Rafterman, courtesy of the High Museum of Art

From left: Valerie Cassel Oliver, 2011 Driskell Prize recipient, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and Naomi Beckwith, 2024 Driskell Prize recipient. Cassel Oliver and Beckwith co-organized the historical traveling investigation “Howardena Pindell: What Remains to Be Seen”. | Photo by Rafterman, courtesy of the High Museum of Art

Naomi Beckwith, 2024 Driskell Prize winner, makes remarks at the gala. | Photo by Rafterman, courtesy of the High Museum of Art

Naomi Beckwith, 2024 Driskell Prize winner, holding her award, with High Museum Director Randall Suffolk. | Photo by Rafterman, courtesy of the High Museum of Art

BOOKSHELF
Naomi Beckwith has published numerous volumes. Among them, she co-wrote the exhibition catalogs “Howardena Pindell: What Remains To Be Seen” and “Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Any Number of Preoccupations” and co-edited “The Freedom Princip: Experiments in Art and Music , 1965.” until now.” Beckwith also edited the catalog for Duro Olowu’s MCA Chicago exhibition “Seeing Chicago” and co-edited the catalog for the exhibition “Grief and Grievance: Art and Mourning in America (from Civil Rights to Black Lives Matter).” She has also contributed to several other volumes, including “Lorna Simpson: Revised & Expanded Edition” (Phaidon Contemporary Artists Series) and “Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art.”