Burlington City Arts honored multimedia artist Luna Shen as winner of the 2023 Diane Gabriel Visual Artist Award at the organization's May 19 opening reception for its summer exhibitions.
The award, which carries a $2,500 cash prize plus $1,000 in BCA Studios class credit, honors Vermont-based emerging artists who demonstrate artistic skill, a willingness to experiment and a commitment to innovation. Shen was selected from a field of 44 applicants.
Shen’s explorations of identity are shaped by their experiences as a first-generation American. They work in diverse materials and gestures that articulate their personal navigation between locations and culturally accepted binaries.
“The Diane Gabriel award provides significant material and financial support for me to create a new body of work that transcends individual mediums and genres, just as Gabriel did," Shen said. “As an emerging artist only three years into a formal creative practice, this award affirms me to continue taking risks in making experimental art that explores themes of (un)/belonging, dreams and what's 'alien.'"
The Gabriel Award was established in 2021 by the family of the late Diane Gabriel, one of Vermont’s most celebrated artists and educators. This award is presented annually.