Texas Cultural Trust is pleased to feature, as part of our Texas Medal of Arts Awards celebration, a commissioned, site-responsive 111-foot art installation by American contemporary artist Susan Scafati titled “???♦️???.” Overlooking Austin’s skyline from the Long Center’s City Terrace, “???♦️???” reimagines our constructed landscape as a suspended spectrum of everyday urban forms in flux. This exhibition is in conjunction with a project that is supported in part by the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division and sponsored by Big Medium. Special thanks to the invaluable contributions of Vault Fine Art Services for helping to make this vision come to life.

Scafati’s artwork has been exhibited widely in museums and galleries. Career highlights include juried exhibitions by the Museum of Modern Art/ MOMA Photography Curator Sarah Meister (University of the Arts, Philadelphia) and Cindy Sherman, Adam Fuss, Jack Pierce (Sean Kelly Gallery, New York); the Modern Voice Artist for the “Goya: Mad Reason” exhibition (Blanton Museum); Artist-in-Residence at Facebook’s Austin office resulting in a commissioned 4-story art installation; and recipient of L’Ecole Nationale Photographie Superieur Award from the International Center of Photography.

Since 2001, the biennial Texas Medal of Arts Awards has honored 108 Texas leaders and luminaries who have achieved excellence through their creative talents as well as those whose generosity has opened doors to artistic opportunity for Texans of all ages. The Texas Cultural Trust’s Texas Medal of Arts Award is Texas’ most respected arts recognition and underscores the power of the arts to improve children’s education, contribute to the unique and proud cultural heritage of Texas, and stimulate the state’s economy.

The 2019 celebration is co-chaired by Leslie Blanton and Leslie Ward and will begin with the Arts Alive! cocktail reception at the Blanton Museum of Art on the evening of February 26th and will culminate with the Rise with the Arts Brunch at the Texas Governor’s Mansion, where Governor Greg Abbott will present the medals to the honorees. The Red Carpet Reception, Awards Show and Gala Dinner will take place at the Long Center for Performing Arts on February 27th, where guests will enjoy performances by 2019 honorees Grammy Award-winning Boz Scaggs, Tony Award-winning Jennifer Holliday and Grammy Award-winning Conspirare as well as Van Cliburn International Piano Competition medalist Kenny Broberg, and the Long Center Select Ensemble comprised of Austin’s high school musical theatre stars of tomorrow.

For more information and to attend the Texas Medal of Arts Awards, please visit texasmedalofarts.org or call 512.478.5289. Individual tickets will be available beginning January 10. For more information on the Texas Cultural Trust, please visit txculturaltrust.org.