News | Hunting Art Prize
LEIGH ANNE LESTER WINS 2011 HUNTING ART PRIZE
HOUSTON, April 30, 2011 - Hunting PLC announced that Mutant Spectre by San Antonio artist Leigh Anne Lester is the winner of the $50,000 Hunting Art Prize for 2011.
The graphite drawing was selected from 110 finalist pieces in the 31st annual award program, which is sponsored by the global oil services company and is the most generous annual art prize in North America for painting and drawing.
The announcement came during an evening awards gala on Saturday, April 30, at the Friedkin Corporate Campus, Gulf States Toyota, in Houston.
Lester focuses her work on addressing the genesis of genetic modification and its aftereffects. Her pieces have been shown in solo exhibitions throughout Texas and across the nation, and have garnered notable reviews in a range of publications, including New York Arts Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, and the San Francisco Chronicle.
"I'm honored to have been selected among such a distinguished group of artists," Lester said after the announcement. "I am also very grateful to Hunting for this recognition, and will do my best to honor the company and the Prize."
Lester is the co-founder, co-owner, and co-curator of the cactus bra SPACE, an alternative exhibition space for new artists, and is the manager of San Angel Folk Art Gallery, which houses the largest collection of folk art in the United States. Her work has been featured in a number of collections, both nationally and internationally.
She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from The University of Texas at San Antonio and completed a residency at the Ucross Foundation in Clearmont, Wyoming.
For more information about the 2011 winner, visit www.cactusbraspace.com/lal.
The Hunting Art Prize is open to amateur, up-and-coming, and established artists in Texas who are 18 years of age or older. This year's competition saw more than 1,600 entries from more than 200 cities and towns throughout the state. Submissions underwent a two-tiered jury process, after which nationally respected judges from Missouri, Florida, and Pennsylvania selected Lester's work as the 2011 winner.
In 2006, the competition moved to Houston, where Hunting's North American headquarters are located, after a quarter-century in the United Kingdom.
About Hunting PLC
HUNTING PLC is an international oil services company providing support solutions to the world’s largest oil and gas concerns. Established in 1874, it is a fully listed public company, traded on the London Stock Exchange. For further information, visit www.hunting.plc.uk.
