About the Prize: Established in 1993 in recognition of New England artist Maud Morgan (1903–1999), the Maud Morgan Prize honors a Massachusetts woman artist who demonstrates significant vision, creativity, and contributions to contemporary art in the Commonwealth. As of 2011, $10,000 is awarded biennially to a state resident working at least 10 years in her field.
About the Artist: Wendy Jacob (born in 1958) has exhibited her work internationally since 1990, at venues including the Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Renaissance Society, Chicago; and the 1991 Whitney Biennial, New York. From 1988 to 2008 she was a member of the Chicago-based artist collective Haha. Jacob has lectured and researched at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge since 1999. Jacob's art is characterized by collaboration— with scientists, people with disabilities, fellow artists—and a sensitive response to place. She explores both intimacy and distance in works that infuse furniture, architecture, and public space with humanizing qualities. Through her synthesis of scientific research and artistic practice, Jacob has consistently proven that there are multiple ways to experience the world beyond one's own perspective. In two new installations made for the MFA, Jacob invites us to feel sound recorded in distant parts of the world in Ice Floe (2011) and to re-imagine the city through a different set of eyes in Explorer's Club (2011).
The artist wishes to thank the Arctic Circle 2010 residency program, the Council for the Arts at MIT, Tristan Hiatt, Kevin Brown, and Theodossios Demetrios Issaias.
ABOVE: Visitors explore Jacob's Ice Floe installation in the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art.
- Eunice and Julian Cohen Galleria (Gallery 265)