Celebrating Pacific Northwest Artists: 25 Years of the Neddy Awards

The Neddy Artist Award offers one of the largest, unrestricted artist awards in the Pacific Northwest, providing two gifts to visual artists based in the Puget Sound region every year. The Neddy Artist Award program is funded by the Behnke Foundation and stewarded by Cornish College of the Arts as a tribute to the Seattle painter and teacher Robert E. [Ned] Behnke (1948-1989).

Deaf from birth, Ned Behnke expressed himself in the visual arts from an early age. He lived and worked in Seattle, where he taught art to hearing-impaired students at Cornish College of the Arts, and other institutions. His legacy is evident throughout our community, through the generous philanthropy of the Behnke family.

Noting how the award impacted him, artist Juan Alonso-Rodríguez said, “I was the second artist to receive the Neddy. What it did for my career, far surpassed its immediate financial benefits. This prestigious award and stamp of approval not only increased my visibility and sales but also led to opportunities I may not have had without it. I will always be grateful for the honor of being a recipient and for the Behnke family’s generous tribute to Ned.”

“This exhibit reintroduces the recipients of the past 25 years to an audience that remains interested in art as an essential part of civic life. Audiences will experience works that represent where these artists are now in their personal lives and in their practices,” said curator Negarra A. Kudumu. Learn more about the curator’s vision for the 25-year celebration of the Neddy’s and about the Neddy Artist Award program at Cornish College of the Arts.

Negarra A. Kudumu is an interlocutrice working at the intersection of art and healing with a focus on contemporary art from the Pacific Northwest, Africa, South Asia, and their respective diasporas.

In her art practice, Negarra functions as a curator, writer, and public speaker. Her writing has been published in notable volumes including Atlantica: Contemporary Art from Angola and Its Diaspora (Hangar Books, 2018), and has also contributed essays to exhibition catalogs, gallery publications, and art world magazines in the United States and Canada.

Negarra regularly lectures, participates in talks, and moderates panels on various topics related to contemporary art. Over the past five years, she has been invited to speak in Calgary, Toronto, Amsterdam, Harare, and Venice on a range of topics including the intersections between art and healing, art education, and alternative artistic practice.

Negarra lives and works in Seattle, WA.

• 2022 Priscilla Dobler Dzul and Myron Curry
• 2020 Tariqa Waters and Anthony White
• 2019 Inye Wokoma and Aramis O. Hamer
• 2018 Timea Tihanyi and Lakshmi Muirhead
• 2017 Che Sehyun and Christopher Paul Jordan
• 2016 Clyde Petersen and Nathan DiPietro
• 2015 Wynne Greenwood* and Matt Browning*
• 2014 Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes and Susanna Bluhm
• 2013 Victoria Haven* and Matthew Offenbacher
• 2012 Eirik Johnson and Stacey Rozich
• 2010 Richard Marquis* and Margie Livingston
• 2009 April Surgent and Eric Elliott
• 2008 Akio Takamori* and Randy Hayes
• 2007 Whiting Tennis
• 2006 Barbara Robertson and Brian Murphy*
• 2005 Joseph Park*
• 2004 Claire Cowie
• 2003 Susan Dory
• 2002 Dionne Haroutunian and Donnabelle Casis
• 2001 Chris Bruch and Mark Takamichi Miller
• 2000 Claudia Fitch and Mary Ann Peters
• 1999 Jeffry Mitchell and Doug Keyes
• 1998 Benjamin Wilkins* and Lauri Chambers*
• 1997 Juan Alonso-Rodriguez
• 1996 Michael Spafford*

* Artist not featured in exhibit