These Are the Winners of the Wisconsin Visual Art Achievement Awards

The biennial awards honor individuals and organizations for their contributions to the visual arts in the Badger State.

Carol Emmons and Tory Folliard lead the list of recipients of the 2024 Wisconsin Visual Art Achievement Awards.

Folliard, founder and managing director of the 25-year-old Tory Folliard Gallery, and Emmons, an artist specializing in site-specific installations, received Legacy Awards.

The awards, in seven categories, are presented biennially to individuals and organizations for significant contributions to the visual arts in Wisconsin.

Three founding organizations – Museum of Wisconsin Art, Wisconsin Visual Artists and Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters – collaborate to recognize exceptional educators, writers, visual artists, exhibitions and advocates in the state’s creative communities.


 

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This year’s 10-person nominations committee convenes to review nominations and select recipients included Rafael Salas, Fred Stonehouse, Della Wells and Laurie Winters. The awards ceremony will be held from 1-3 p.m. on Sunday at the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend. The event is open to the public and free to attend.

This year’s award categories and honorees are:

Legacy Awards

Carol Emmons and Tory Folliard

Educator Award (K–12)

Daniel Klewer

Educator Awards (College/University)

Kristy Deetz

Arts Writing Award

Tom Lidtke and Annemarie Sawkins, for A Creative Place: The History of Wisconsin Art

Exhibition Awards

Portrait Society Gallery for Art Against the Odds: Wisconsin Prison Art, co-curated by gallery Director Debra Brehmer and Manager Paul Salsieder in collaboration with Wisconsin’s incarcerated artists.

Museum of Wisconsin Art for Legends of Drag: Portraits by Harry James Hanson and Devin Antheus, curated by Assistant Curator Ally Wilber in collaboration with artists Harry James Hanson, Devin Antheus and America’s drag queens.

Community Arts Advocate Award

David Wells

Emerging Artist Award

Phoenix Brown

Rich Rovito is a freelance writer for Milwaukee Magazine.