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2018 Jefferson Prize

The Jefferson Prize honors a tenured or tenure-track faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in research and creative activity.

Jered Sprecher

Jered SprecherSince joining the faculty in 2005, Jered Sprecher, professor in the School of Art, has consistently proven himself to be a significant artist, gaining national and international accolades for his work in painting and drawing. He has been awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship and received highly competitive residencies at the Chinati Foundation and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Sprecher has had one-person exhibitions throughout the United States at highly respected commercial galleries and university exhibition venues. His work is at the forefront of a generation of contemporary painters exploring anew the creative territory between figuration and abstraction. This award will support his latest project, an immersive museum exhibition titled The Garden, which will include an exhibition design, drawing, and a large digitally printed wall. It will center around a new body of paintings using abstract imagery of plants, trees, and flowers, with a palette drawn from the unlikely pairing of the natural landscape with the glowing light of a digital screen.