CADD & MADDREY PLLC
2020 PRIZE WINNER
Ciara Elle Bryant
Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas and Maddrey PLLC are proud to announce the inaugural recipient of the CADD x Maddrey PLLC Artist Prize to Dallas artist Ciara Elle Bryant.
The 2020 Prize was open to Black artists living or working in Dallas County and submitted portfolios were reviewed by an esteemed panel of jurors: Vivian Crockett, The Dallas Museum of Art’s Nancy and Tim Hanley Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, and Lise Ragbir, Director of Art Galleries at Black Studies, University of Texas. Bryant will receive a $5,000 cash prize as well as a solo exhibition of their artwork to be hosted in 2021. Maddrey PLLC will also provide the recipient with a Legal Mentorship Package worth a total value of more than $4,500.
Ciara Elle Bryant is a multidisciplinary creative who holds a MFA from Southern Methodist University. Through photography, video, mixed media, and installations, Bryant discusses blackness by focusing on how identity and culture exist in the new millennium. Bryant also teaches and facilitates artist workshops for youth and adults while working as a practicing artist. Bryant’s approach to research and curatorial practice has been integral to her process of furthering conversations surrounding black culture in art as well as historical studies.
Speaking on the Prize recipient, Ragbir writes: “Ciara Elle Bryant’s rich world-building is a refreshing reflection of timeless narratives. Her commitment to her subjects, and to her practice, are evident in her work.” Crockett adds, “Through her curatorial work, Ciara also extends resources and opportunities to fellow artists whenever possible. This prize recognizes not only her artistic accomplishments and evolving potential, but also the immense contributions that Ciara makes to her broader artistic communities.”
The jurors have also awarded prizes to two runner-ups, including a $1,000 prize to Hakeem Adewumi and a $500 prize to Andrea Tosten. Ragbir states, “It’s clear-- Hakeem Adewumi’s subjects trust him. And when that relationship plays out in front of the camera, combined with Adewumi’s keen sense of light and color, we all win.” On the third prize winner, Crockett states, “Tosten is an emerging artistic voice carving out a compelling interdisciplinary practice. I hope this award can serve as a small gesture of enthusiasm and support for her work.”
The 2020 CADD x Maddrey Artist Prize is made possible through the generous support of Maddrey PLLC, Diane Boddy, Joanne Casullo, Erin Cluley and Tearlach Hutcheson, John Dirba and Brian Morrison, Mike Matthews, Travis Vandergriff and Rodrigo Zepeda, Cris Worley and Erick Swenson, and additional anonymous donors.
About Maddrey PLLC
Thomas Maddrey is the founder of Maddrey PLLC, a boutique law firm focused on artists, collectors, and galleries. In 2021, Thomas reimagined how to support these communities and launched Maddrey Consulting LLC where he provides specialized one-on-one guidance to those in the creative industry. He’s proud of the inaugural CADD x Maddrey PLLC prize, and is excited to honor Ciara Elle Bryant.
2020 Jurors
Vivian A. Crockett is a Brazilian-American curator and scholar specializing in modern and contemporary art. Her work focuses largely on art of African diasporas, Latinx diasporas, and the Americas at the varied intersections of race, gender, and queer theory. She is a PhD candidate in Art History at Columbia University whose dissertation examines artistic practices and discourses in Brazil in the sixties and seventies. She has published exhibition catalogue texts for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Studio Museum in Harlem, Leslie-Lohman Museum and MASP (Museu de Arte de São Paulo), among others. Crockett has previously worked at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and held fellowships at MoMA and the Whitney Museum. She is currently The Nancy and Tim Hanley Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Lise Ragbir is the Director of the Art Galleries at Black Studies (AGBS) at the University of Texas at Austin. As such, she’s organized exhibitions featuring the work of artists such as Genevieve Gaignard, Lewellyn Xavier, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Deborah Roberts, Jacob Lawrence and Dawoud Bey among others. She is also the founder and editor-in-chief of [The Narrative]--AGBS’s virtual-platform which seeks to explore the conversations surrounding creative expression from across the Black Diaspora. Her essays about race, identity, immigration and cultural representation have appeared in the Guardian, Time Magazine and Hyperallergic in addition to other publications. She holds a BFA in Art History and Studio Art from Concordia University in Montreal, and completed her graduate work in Museum Studies at Harvard University.