UTA Assistant Art Professor Among Winners of Prestigious Smithsonian Portrait Competition
By UT Arlington University Communications
Posted on March 15, 2016, March 15, 2016

UTA Assistant Art Professor Among Winners of Prestigious Smithsonian Portrait Competition

A University of Texas at Arlington assistant professor of art has been named among seven award winners of the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2016 hosted by The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.

Huckaby, an assistant professor of painting in the Department of Art and Art History, joined UTA in 2009.

Sedrick Huckaby earned a commendation for "Sedrick, Sed, Daddy," a self-portrait painting.

"It is definitely a great honor to be one of the artists recognized in a competition that is so highly selective," said Huckaby, who will return to the National Portrait Gallery this summer to lead a discussion about his work. "I'm simply humbled by the experience and look forward to sharing my work with people across the nation."

Huckaby's painting and 42 works by the six other winning artists will be in the museum's exhibition, "The Outwin 2016: American Portraiture Today" now through Jan. 8, 2017. The competition and exhibition will then travel to three additional museums, including the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi from June 8 through May 14, 2017.

In addition, one exhibiting artist will win the People's Choice Award, which will be announced Sept. 20. In this part of the competition, visitors to the exhibition, both online and in the gallery, will be able to cast a vote for their favorite.

"We could not be more proud of Sedrick and his very powerful and moving artistry," said Elisabeth Cawthon, Acting Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. "Of course, we will encourage our UTA students, faculty and staff to vote for him in this phase of the competition. This is simply a magnificent accomplishment and well-deserved honor."

Huckaby joined the UTA Department of Art and Art History in 2009. He is the winner of numerous awards, including a Joan Mitchell Foundation Award and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. Recently, his work was added to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. His work can also be found in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine arts, Boston and the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. A native of Fort Worth, he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Boston University and a Master of Fine Arts from Yale University.

Huckaby's next local exhibition, "Three Forbidden F Words: Faith, Family and Fathers" will be held at the Valley House Gallery, 6616 Spring Valley Road, Dallas, beginning April 2. Visit www.valleyhouse.com for more information.

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