By Madison Brown |Editor in Chief
The Foundation of Contemporary Arts (FCA) announced on June 26 that Augusta University's Mary S. Byrd Gallery of Art would be the third recipient of the Ellsworth Kelly Award. The Ellsworth Kelly Award is a $40,000 annual grant given to U.S. regional museums or university/college art galleries to support a solo exhibition by an emerging, mid-career or under-recognized contemporary visual artist.The Mary S. Byrd Gallery of Art will use the grant to fund an exhibition of Atlanta-based sculptor Bojana Ginn, who was born in the former Yugoslavia in 1974. She received her M.D. from the University of Belgrade in 2001. She moved to the United States in 2002 to accept a position in Emory University's biology department. She left the field of science in 2013 when she received her M.F.A. from the Savannah School of Art and Design and has been working as a sculptor ever since.Ginn's interdisciplinary practice of sculpture and science combines natural fibers and contemporary technology to explore the possibilities of line, time and space.
"Ginn's interest in re-defining humanity's relationship to ancient materials results in installations filled with vistas of light and organic fiber, which she manipulates in a non-traditional manner," said Shannon Morris, the director of the Mary S. Byrd Gallery of Art. "As a practicing artist and scientist, she successfully combines the two [disciplines] into a complete aesthetic experience."The exhibit will be curated by Morris and will open in the fall of 2019.Scott Thorp, professor and chair of the Department of Art and Design program at AU, expressed his excitement about having Morris curate the Bojana Ginn exhibition."We are very lucky to have Ms. Morris as gallery director," Thorp said. "She has a keen eye for new talent, and an ability to combine artists with spaces to create incredibly engaging cultural experiences. I can’t wait to see Bojana Ginn’s work in the gallery."