October 31, 2019
The Chicago-based multidisciplinary artist will receive an unrestricted 10,000 USD grant and studio visits with the inaugural jurors
Foundwork is delighted to announce the winner of the inaugural Foundwork Artist Prize: Chicago-based, Puerto Rico-born artist Edra Soto.
Soto will receive an unrestricted 10,000 USD grant in recognition of her outstanding multidisciplinary work, as reviewed on Foundwork and determined by the Prize’s inaugural jury:
DeWitt Godfrey, Becca Hoffman, Tod Lippy, Manuela Paz, and Helen Toomer
As part of the award, Soto will also receive a studio visit with each of the jurors to support further dialogue around her practice.
The jury has also chosen three short-listed artists for special mention: Christian Ruiz Berman (b. Mexico City, MX; based in New York, NY), Elliott Jerome Brown Jr. (b. Baldwin, NY; based in Queens, NY), and Julie Schenkelberg (b. Cleveland, OH; based in Detroit, MI).
In conjunction with the Prize, Foundwork has launched a new artist interview series, Dialogues, starting with an interview of Soto conducted by guest editor Scott Indrisek. The three short-listed artists will be featured in upcoming interviews by visiting editors and other practitioners in the field.
About the Awardee
Edra Soto (b. Puerto Rico; lives and works in Chicago) is an artist, curator, and educator whose multidisciplinary practice reflects upon constructed social hierarchies, cultural and historical archaeology, and vernacular languages. Soto has exhibited widely at venues such as the Pérez Art Museum, Miami, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, where she was invited to inaugurate the MCA’s new space for civically-engaged art, the Commons, in 2018. Soto also recently completed a commissioned public project, Screenhouse, for a two-year exhibition in Chicago’s Millennium Park. She received her MFA in 2000 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and has attended residencies including Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Headlands Center for the Arts, and Art OMI, among others. In addition to her art practice, Soto is also co-director of the outdoor project space THE FRANKLIN, Chicago, located in her backyard.
About Foundwork Artist Prize
Inaugurated in 2019, the Foundwork Artist Prize is a new juried grant awarded to recognize outstanding artists on the Foundwork platform. The 2019 winner will receive an unrestricted $10,000 grant as well as studio visits with each of the inaugural jurors. This combination of financial support and personal engagement reflects Foundwork’s goal to be a resource and support professional development for artists.
About Foundwork
Foundwork is an online platform and tool designed to support more access between artists, curators, gallerists, and other collaborators across the contemporary art community. Foundwork is a dedicated venue where artists can introduce their work to a global audience, and where curators and collaborators can research and engage with practicing artists wherever they are based. The platform currently features over 1100 artists in multiple countries. Foundwork is run out of New York and is located online at www.foundwork.art.
