Sculptor Olu Amoda has been named the 2022 Hudgens Prize recipient, with a stunning cash award of $50,000 and a solo exhibition at the Jacqueline Casey Hudgens Center for Art and Learning in 2023.
Born in Warri, Nigeria, Amoda earned a Masters of Fine Arts
from Georgia Southern University in 2009, and has since made Georgia his home. Amoda describes his work as a social construct that emerged from the dialogue of objects, their materiality, and repurposing them to create hybrids of familiar subjects intuitively from
life experiences.
Upon receiving the prestigious Hudgens Prize, Amoda stated, “I would like to congratulate
the other finalists for their exquisite body of work. The Hudgens Prize finalists’
exhibition’s strength is in the diversity of artistic expression, and it is a great honor and
privilege to share the same platform. This prize, in its true sense, is a winning prize for all
visual artists in America.”
An exhibition featuring work from all four finalists continues through October 15th at the
Hudgens Center. The other Hudgens Prize finalists were Shanequa Gay, Jessica Self and Jamele Wright.
The purpose of the Hudgens Prize competition is to elevate and promote the arts in
Georgia while offering a transformational opportunity for the winning artist. The Hudgens Prize was last awarded in 2019 to Paul Stephen Benjamin. Benjamin continues to receive
nationwide recognition following receipt of the Hudgens Prize award and his solo exhibition at the Hudgens in 2020, including a recent exhibition, Black Form, at Davidson College’s Van Every | Smith Galleries .
The Hudgens Center for Art and Learning is a non-profit organization that has been
focused on supporting the arts in Georgia since its establishment in 1981. Its mission is to bring together art lovers, leaders and learners through quality art education programs and exhibitions.
The Hudgens presents enriching and inspiring art exhibitions in five gallery spaces throughout each year; offers art education and programming, in multiple
languages, for all ages and abilities; and provides outreach through the arts that support Georgia’s traditionally under-served individuals, families and communities.
The Hudgens Center for the Arts is located at 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Bldg. 300, in Duluth, on the Gas South District campus. For more information about art exhibitions, events and classes at The Hudgens, please visit the website at www.thehudgens.org or
call 770.623.6002.
