The Southeast Chapter of ARLIS/NA is pleased to announce the winners of its 38th Annual Mary Ellen LoPresti Art Publication Awards for excellence in art publishing for the copyright year 2021.
WINNER
Sullivan, Marin R. The Sculpture of William Edmondson: Tombstones, Garden Ornaments, and Stonework. Contributions by Renée After, Kéla Jackson, Ellen Macfarlane, Anne Monahan, Betsy Phillips, Leorotha Williams; printed in Canada. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2021. Exhibition catalogue.
Published in conjunction with the first exhibition in twenty years of Nashville native William Edmondson, this richly illustrated book of essays by leading scholars sheds new light on Edmondson and his work. It firmly establishes Edmondson, not only as a “minority, self-taught artist,” but looks anew as his sculpture as his own expression in creativity, meant for the outdoors, not limited to only white collectors and indoor showings. The book is beautifully designed and illustrated, the essays are compelling and illuminating, placing Edmondson and his work as an important and influential contributor to the “modern American art movement.”
WINNER
Oliver, Valerie Cassel. The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse. Contributions by Regina N. Bradley, Charlie R. Braxton, Andrew Barnwell Brownlee, Kirsten Pay Buick, Jennifer Burris, Rhea L. Combs, Park McArthur, Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky aka That Subliminal Kid, Fred Moten, Anthony B. Pink, Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr., and Roger Reeves; designed by Peter M. Blaiwas, Wordesign Services; printed by Worth Higgins, Richmond, Virginia. Richmond, VA: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2021. Distributed by Duke University Press. Exhibition catalogue.
The Dirty South, curated by Valerie Cassel Oliver, is a monumental traveling exhibition and exhibition catalogue of Black contemporary art and musical expression from the last one hundred years. The book highlights the impact of the African American South on American culture and features guest essays, poetry, and a playlist, plus ample color reproductions throughout. A well-researched, thoughtful, and visually-engaging compendium of over ninety artists with a striking cover featuring a print by RaMell Ross.
HONORABLE MENTION
El Cartel: Voz para la resistencia. Curated by Flavia Marichal Lugo; essays by Antonio Martorell, Lizette Cabrera, Nelson Rivera, Dianne Bras; translated by David Auerbach; designed by Lionel Ortiz Meléndez; printed by Editorial Nomos S.A., Colombia. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Rio Piedras, 2021. Exhibition catalogue.
El Cartel: Voz para la Resistencia, an exhibition exploring posters as visual testimony of the cultural, social, and political work of Puerto Rico, contains a sample of the 4,000+ posters in the museum’s collection. The posters are divided into themes of colonialism, political prisoners, gender violence, environmental awareness, health, and the University of Puerto Rico. The book includes essays in Spanish and English and contains a supplementary CD with guides on using the poster collection in the classroom for teachers in grades four through twelve. The posters presented in the book were digitized with the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) is the largest international professional organization devoted to art librarianship. The Southeast Chapter of ARLIS/NA established the LoPresti Publication Award Competition in 1985 to recognize and encourage excellence in art publications issued in the Southeastern United States. The publication awards are named for Mary Ellen LoPresti, who was the Design Librarian at the Harrye B. Lyons Design Library, North Carolina State University, until her death in 1985.
Winning publications are kept in the ARLIS/NA Southeast Chapter archives at Duke University.
This year’s judges were Ann Baird (University of Florida), Cara Barker (Western Carolina University), Janelle Rebel (Ringling College of Art and Design), and Virginia Seymour (Savannah College of Art and Design). They reviewed 21 submissions from 16 publishers.
If you are interested in applying for next year’s award, please see the Award Guidelines and Entry Form at https://southeast.arlisna.hcommons.org/awards/lopresti-award/.