Richard Knowles Prize on Instagram / Listen to a brief commentary about the Richard Knowles Prize.

Recipients of the Richard Knowles Prize since inception:

2022: The Prize

Circuitous Succession Gallery on behalf of the Richard Knowles Legacy Project is pleased to announce Clay Palmer as this year’s nominee and recipient for the 3rd Annual Richard Knowles Prize.

About the artist:

Clay Palmer holds an MFA in Painting from the University of Memphis in 2021 and a BFA in Studio Art as a University Scholar from the University of Tennessee at Martin in 2017. While in graduate school, Clay was the recipient of the Harold and Martha Robinson Scholarship in Painting. He has been included in numerous regional, national, and international exhibitions including the 2022 Valdosta National, the 13th Annual International Drawing Discourse Exhibition, and the 2021 FL3TCH3R Exhibit. In 2020, Clay curated Voluntarily Indirect, an exhibition of contemporary observations on the human figure by Tennessee artists. Clay currently serves as Gallery and Events Coordinator and Lecturer in the University of Tennessee at Martin’s Department of Visual and Theater Arts.

Juror Jason Stout writes in his nomination letter:

“Due to his continuous work in Memphis during graduate school and beyond, I am selecting Clay Palmer as the recipient of the Richard Knowles Prize for 2022. Clay’s connection to Memphis, and his continuous relationships there in the field of art, make him a worthy candidate and someone deserving of the award.”

On behalf of the Richard Knowles Prize:

Due to his continuous work in Memphis during graduate school and beyond, I am selecting Clay Palmer as the recipient of the Richard Knowles Prize for 2022. Clay’s connection to Memphis, and his continuous relationships there is the field of art, make him a worthy candidate and someone deserving of the award.

I have known Clay Palmer since working with him as a student in undergrad at the University of Tennessee at Martin.  While here he was a member of our student organization, The League of Striving Artists, and was a University Scholar here as well.  This is a program that works with the top students in the university. They are asked to maintain a high GPA and do a research project for completion of scholars with two faculty serving as advisors.  Clay was our first University Scholar to do his scholar project in studio art. His exhibition, Know Jehovah, would be the body of work that he would apply to graduate school with. His selection was the University of Memphis, where Clay was accepted into in 2018.

While at Memphis Clay was an active student. He was a TA for several professors there, and also worked in the Memphis College of Art Summer program. He ran the Box Gallery on campus, organizing exhibits, and helped facilitate several other exhibitions for himself and other Memphis graduate students. This included the exhibition Framing with a Purpose in Blytheville Arkansas with Richard Echols, and Best of Memphis 2019, where he selected the juror and organized a talk and studio visits with other graduate and undergraduate students. He also served on the board of Numbers Inc. Magazine, writing exhibition reviews in Memphis and the surrounding area. One of his greatest contributions was organizing the exhibition Voluntarily Indirect, a survey on statewide figurative art that was to travel the region before being cut short by the Covid 19 pandemic.

Clay’s creative and scholarly work while at Memphis was noteworthy as well.  His work was featured in several national and regional exhibitions. He was the Elizabeth and Harold Robinson Scholarship in Painting recipient. He also received an Arts Memphis Relief Grant, an Honorable Mention at the UT Martin Alumni Exhibition, the Best Graduate Award from the Best of Memphis Art exhibition, and the Graduate Purchase Award from the 36th Annual Juried Student Exhibition.

Since graduating Clay has taken a job at the University of Tennessee at Martin as the Gallery Coordinator, but his connections to Memphis continue to develop. He has featured several prominent Memphis artists, including Beth Edwards and Hamlett Dobbins, as speakers for his Gallery Practicum class. He continues to work within the Memphis region connecting artists and opportunities, while continuing to find outlets for his own creative work nationally and regionally. He has been instrumental in connecting West Tennessee to the Memphis region and creative scene through his various connections and professional relationships, both with artists and venues. He is truly and emissary for the city of Memphis.

Jason Stout

Professor of Art

University of Tennessee at Martin

2021

Kelly Cook Harmon: Recipient of the 2nd Annual Richard Knowles Prize, Selected by Nick Peña

About Kelly Cook Harmon

Kelly Cook Harmon is a visual artist and adjunct instructor based in Memphis, TN. She received her BFA from Memphis College of Art in 2015 and her MFA from the University of Memphis in 2018. Her work has been exhibited in Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Colorado. In Kelly’s work, the unforgiving nature and transparency of watercolor is synonymous to the human experience. Using figures from her daily life, multiple bodies are layered on top of one another to reflect motion and memory. She currently teaches for both Christian Brothers University and the University of Memphis.

Kelly Cook Harmon’s Artist Statement

In my drawings and paintings, watercolor is synonymous with human experience. In addition to its immediacy, watercolor mirrors many human behaviors such as stubbornness, tenderness, and spontaneity. I carry these characteristics with me when working on my portraits, each work reflecting both the qualities of the material and that of the sitter. As I observe them, I use the transparency of watercolor to layer different poses on top of each other, referencing both time and movement. 

Transparency is a consistent element in my work. When painting in translucent layers, there is visual evidence of memory. The initial pose is never forgotten, but rather it is preserved under the succeeding poses. When these poses overlap, subtle distortions start to reveal themselves, creating small areas of rest within the composition. In these works, I break down moments to gain a better sense of familiarity.

Learn more about Kelly Cook Harmon:

http://www.kellycookharmon.com

Excerpt from nomination correspondence between juror and selected artist:

Juror’s Notification Letter to the Winning Artist

Recipient: Kelly Cook Harmon

Dear Kelly,

I'm excited to share that your excellent artistic achievements and dedication to teaching art have been recognized for the 2nd Annual Richard Knowles Prize.

As an alumnus of UofM, you may know, "Richard Knowles was a Mid-South painter with an extensive record of exhibitions, commissions, and teaching. He was a retired Professor of Art (Distinguished Emeritus) from the University of Memphis (1999). He has produced paintings, drawings, and photography for exhibition at many local, regional, and national sites. His work is represented in collections and installations in Boston, St. Louis, Kansas City (KS), Little Rock, Nashville, Memphis and several city art museums, universities and private collections. He is represented in Memphis by The Richard Knowles Legacy Project as part of Circuitous Succession's portfolio of artists."

Juror Statement:

As this year's juror, I was asked to consider emerging Memphis area artists who continue a tradition of painting in the 21st century. The landscape of contemporary painting is vast in a semi-post-postmodernism era or whatever we are calling this period. There is a large pool of painters making their mark in Memphis, and it was great to learn more about emerging painters I was unfamiliar with within the area. It was also a pleasure to see the range of artists questioning the materiality of paint. 

I was drawn to artists who experimented with substrates and paint application blurring the line between two and three-dimensionality in making my selections. Ultimately, Kelly Cook Harmon stood out from my shortlist because of her ability to reimagine traditional materials and subject matter. 

Kelly creates an evocative surface activation by cutting into the wooden panel substrate that follows the contour of the layered figures in her paintings. While not kinetic, the subjects in her painting evoke activity, creating a space where the viewer sees the abstraction in their implied movement. Watercolor is a temperamental translucent material that shines most on a pristine white surface. Yet, Kelly has found a way to apply this unforgiving medium to a raw wood panel through relentless layering. Thus, transforming the cut wooden panel into something other than what it appears to be. The result is the perfect balance of abstraction, figuration, suspense, and subtlety on a surface that conceals and reveals itself. 

It has been an honor to serve as the juror for the second Richard Knowles Prize. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to meet Richard yet; I have immense respect for his artistic practice and impact as an educator. 

Once again, congratulations!

Nick Peña

[Conclude Letter]

Examples from Kelly Cook Harmon’s portfolio

*Let’s see which emerging artist gets the prize this year, which will be the original painting “Sylvia’s Ebullience” by Richard Knowles. On the July 4th the award recipient will be announced for the 2nd Annual Richard Knowles Prize. (Updated June 20th, 2021)

*Recipient of the 2nd Annual Richard Knowles Prize will be revealed above on July 4th, 2021.

About the Juror

Nick Peña (b. Joliet, Illinois) is a visual artist and art educator with 10+ years of teaching art in higher education. His research focuses on the contemporary American landscape, the American Dream, and the effects that ideal has on both our environment and our national psyche. His paintings and installations play off the contrasts between past and present, representation and abstraction, and stability and instability. He has received numerous awards and his work has been exhibited throughout the United States and featured in New American Paintings multiple times. He’s participated as an artist in residence at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Crosstown Arts, and North Louisiana Virtual Residency, The Ross Lynn Charitable Foundation in partnership with North Central Louisiana Arts Council. Learn more about the juror here

2020 / Rachel Stovall Davis

1st Annual Richard Knowles Prize (awarded 2020)

The Richard Knowles Legacy Project is pleased to award Rachel Stovall for her artistic achievement. As recipient of the first annual award she received an original abstract painting by the late great Dick Knowles, on this day of Sunday, September 13th, 2020 in Memphis, TN.

Mrs. Stovall is seen here with her prize, Richard Knowles, Untitled #12, Acrylic on canvas, 40x44in, 1975.

About Rachel Stovall Davis

Rachel is a MCA grad with a degree in sculptural ceramics. She entered school wanting to pursue a career in illustration, but switched after falling head-over-heels in love with pottery and sculpture. Rachel began showing her wares around Memphis, and has been accepted by venues such as the Brooks museum, The Pink Palace, and the local Memphis Potter’s Guild. She has honed her skill by apprenticing with Dale and Brin Baucum, two well known local potters, in 2017, and through an international apprenticeship in Nanning, China in 2015. As an avid lover of the arts, Rachel is excited to give budding artists the opportunity the learn and, create, and develop a deeper love of art.

Rachel currently works at the Memphis Public Library, where she can be found teaching art fundamentals to teens.

She is in the master of fine arts program at The University of Memphis.

Rachel Stovall Davis
“Spine.”
Ceramic, unscented soap, lamb’s wool, wood

Her online presence is here

First Annual Richard Knowles Award

Which Artist Will It Be?

Award to be announced June 23rd, 2020.

Judging Duration: February 15th-June 18th

This annual award is designed to stimulate collector-ship of original art and to recognize a contemporary artist for creating something extraordinary. The chosen artist will demonstrate: •Advanced Thought Process •Refined Presentation •Original Creativity •Craftsmanship •Inventiveness •Imagination

Winner receives: •Q&A interview •Promotion of selected artwork & artist’s website •Certificate •Original painting by Richard Knowles

Criterion: An emerging to advanced career artist age 24-100 showing work in Memphis city limits will be awarded an original painting by the late Dick Knowles!

Do you know a studio, gallery, or museum show the judge should view? If so, submit your tip to director@circuitoussuccession.com

Collect original artworks by Richard Knowles here.