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Visual Artist Queen Brooks to Receive 2020 Raymond J. Hanley Award

in Press Releases October 1, 2020 2 min read

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Visual artist Queen Brooks (43213) has been selected as the 12th recipient of the Raymond J. Hanley Award. The annual award from the Raymond J. Hanley Fund at The Columbus Foundation is given to an artist who has demonstrated a high level of achievement while working at least five years in the arts in any discipline. The award money of $15,000 is given without restriction, so that the artist can use it to further his or her career as needed. The winner is selected by an anonymous panel of judges, and was announced today during the Arts Council’s 2020 Public Forum.

Brooks is an accomplished abstract artist known for telling stories by using lines, curves, bright colors and decorative items. Her work is praised for its vibrant colors and sophisticated sense of pattern.

Brooks was born in Columbus in 1943 and graduated from East High School in 1961. After working for COTA, she apprenticed under Columbus photographer Kojo Kamau and began working at the J. Ashburn Jr. Youth Center as an arts and crafts instructor. She graduated from The Ohio State University with her BFA and MFA degrees in art in 1990 and 1992, respectively. She has taught at Otterbein University and Ohio Dominican University, and has long served as a mentor for Columbus artists of all ages.

Her work has appeared in Essence and International Review of African American Art, and been exhibited at the Columbus Museum of Art, King Arts Complex, Ohio Dominican and Otterbein Universities, and in collections across the U.S.

Brooks has also won numerous awards for her work, including the Ohioana Career Award, an Arts Midwest National Endowment of the Arts Award and an Excellence in the Arts Award from The Ohio State University. In 1993, Brooks won the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest International Artist Award, which granted her a residency in the French port city of Abidjan in the Republic of the Ivory Coast, West Africa.

The Raymond J. Hanley Fund at The Columbus Foundation was created by past chairs of the Greater Columbus Arts Council board upon Hanley’s death in 2006. It is administered by the Arts Council, and continues the spirit of advocacy and partnership that the Arts Council has encouraged since its inception.

Mission of the Greater Columbus Arts Council: To support and advance the arts and cultural fabric of Columbus. www.gcac.org

The Greater Columbus Arts Council receives major financial support from the City of Columbus, Franklin County Commissioners and the Ohio Arts Council.

For translations of this release and other pages, please see the dropdown menu at the top right corner of gcac.org.

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CONTACT: Jami Goldstein
(614) 221-8492
jgoldstein@gcac.org