Mildred Howard Wins 2026 Artists' Legacy Foundation Award
Assemblage artist Mildred Howard receives a $25,000 unrestricted prize for her work conveying Black American stories.
The Artists’ Legacy Foundation has named Mildred Howard as the recipient of its 2026 Artist Award. The unrestricted prize comes with $25,000 and is given annually to a major painter or sculptor whose work demonstrates evidence of the hand.
Howard is known for her public art across California's Bay Area and a diverse practice spanning assemblage, collage, sculpture, and installation. She salvages objects and their histories to convey moving stories about the Black American experience. The artist has also been a mentor and community pillar for generations of local artists.
In a statement reported by Hyperallergic, Howard said the award "was a complete surprise and it comes at the perfect time." She added that it will assist her in continuing her practice, noting that support is crucial for artists in unsettling times. In a 2023 interview with the same publication, she expressed her philosophy, saying, "The journey is nothing without taking someone along with you."
Previous Award Recipients
The Artist Award has a history of honoring significant artists. Previous recipients include Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Howardena Pindell, and Suzan Frecon.
Other Art World Appointments
The weekly Art Movements column also reported several other appointments and changes in the art world. Cuauhtémoc Medina was named curator of the 25th Bienal de Arte Paiz, to be held in Guatemala. Margarita Lizcano Hernandez was appointed curatorial and programs associate at The Latinx Project. Edouard Kopp, chief curator of the Menil Drawing Institute, was named the next director of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University.
Gallery News and Exhibitions
Several galleries announced new representation and upcoming shows. Leilah Babirye is now represented by Salon 94 in collaboration with Gordon Robichaux and Galerie Max Hetzler, with her first solo exhibition scheduled for next spring. David Zwirner gallery will display the final works of the late Yayoi Kusama in an exhibition next spring. David Nolan Gallery is opening a new 6,000-square-foot space in New York's Tribeca neighborhood on September 9, launching with a solo show of works by Valerio Adami.
Environmental Art Grants Awarded
Separately, the organization Anonymous Was A Woman, in partnership with the New York Foundation for the Arts, awarded nearly half a million dollars in its fifth cycle of Environmental Art Grants. The funding supports 27 projects by women, transgender, and gender-nonconforming artists. Grants are one-time awards of up to $20,000.
Recipients include Minnesota-based artist Ifrah Mansour, whose work centers on the hand-woven Somali nomadic dwelling called the aqal. In an opinion piece for Hyperallergic, Mansour wrote that her work draws on the tools of the past to heal the present and design the future, calling it rooted in radical imagination, abundance, kindness, and collective care.
Leadership Change in Toronto
Stephan Jost is stepping down as director and CEO of the Art Gallery of Ontario after a decade in the role. A press statement highlighted that Jost helped secure over $500 million in gifts of art and funds and led a major expansion of the museum's modern and contemporary exhibition space. His tenure was also marked by controversies, including labor strikes and allegations of censorship after the museum backed out of a joint acquisition of a Nan Goldin artwork following the artist's public support for Gaza.
In a lighter note from the column's Wildcard section, artist Alex Katz, aged 99, gave an interview to PBS News Hour. Speaking from his home in Maine, he discussed his contrarian artistic streak. Katz said something deep inside told him not to go with the other guys, citing Jackson Pollock as potentially the best American painter while stating he was nothing like him. Of an upcoming exhibition pairing his work with Henri Matisse's in Nice, Katz called Matisse the best technical painter in 400 years of European-American painting, adding he would put his own paintings up to see if they were any good.
