Visual artist, graffiti scholar and educator Will Kasso Condry of Brandon has been named winner of the inaugural Vermont Prize. The award, administered by Burlington City Arts in collaboration with the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, The Current and Hall Art Foundation, carries a $5,000 cash prize.
Launched in 2022 as a partnership among these four Vermont arts organizations, The Vermont Prize accepts submissions from visual artists currently living and working in Vermont. Each prize cycle is juried by a team consisting of one representative from each of the four partner organizations, as well as a fifth independent and unaffiliated juror. The prize winner is selected on the basis of artistic excellence, regardless of career stage.
Condry's entry used acrylic, ink and marker to conjure up new, extraordinary forms of Black humanity. "Will Kasso Condry impresses in every way," wrote independent juror Kelly Baum, the Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon Polsky Curator of Contemporary Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Premised on deeply held ethical beliefs, his visually stunning, highly chromatic, labor-intensive drawings and paintings take their inspiration from Afrofuturism, a philosophy that privileges Black agency, creativity and excellence, forging a political and aesthetic language that serves as a corrective to past and present wrongs."
Condry has taught courses at Middlebury College on the origins and politics of graffiti and street art and the elements of hip-hop culture as well as elementary school classes on the art of illustration, puppet making and mural painting. For over 20 years, he has worked with young people through a variety of community organizations including the Boys & Girls Club and his former nonprofit organization SAGE Coalition.
In addition to the monetary prize, Condry will have his work showcased and archived at The Vermont Prize website and on social media.