There’s more good news from Michigan’s Muskegon Museum of Art (MMA). As we reported this spring in Fine Art Connoisseur, the MMA has benefitted enormously from the vision of the San Antonio collectors Steven Alan Bennett and Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt, who recently donated their collection of figurative realist art made by women, along with a new wing to house it. In 2016 they established The Bennett Prize, endowing a $3 million fund at the MMA to ensure it will be awarded every two years in perpetuity. This $50,000 honor offers the winner an opportunity to create new work for a solo exhibition that then travels the country.
This May, the Dallas-based artist Amy Werntz won the fourth Bennett Prize, selected from among 10 finalists by a jury that included Art Institute of Chicago curator Gloria Groom, artists Margaret Bowland and Angela Fraleigh, and Elaine Melotti Schmidt. Best known for images of elderly people, Werntz says she strives to highlight “ordinary moments in everyday life and to show the importance and value of this generation so often overlooked in our society by the lure of youth.”
Co-founder Steven Alan Bennett adds, “We continue to be delighted by the high quality of the finalists. We were especially impressed by the work of Amy Werntz. Her level of mastery is remarkable, and her pieces have a finished, jewel-like quality that is instantly attractive. Her understanding of figurative painting is palpable and her treatment of her subjects is both kind and subtle.”
Werntz’s honor was announced during the May opening celebration for the MMA exhibition “Rising Voices 4: The Bennett Prize,” which features 30 paintings created by the 10 finalists. Another finalist, Nicole M. Santiago of Williamsburg, Virginia, was presented with the Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt Prize of $10,000. The other eight finalists were Olivia Chigas, Nimah Gobir, Ambrin Ling, Jane Philips, Audrey Rodriguez, Abbey Rosko, Helena Wurzel, and Rei Xiao.
Also on view at the MMA this season is the solo exhibition of new works created by the 2023 Bennett Prize winner, Shiqing Deng of Brooklyn.
“Rising Voices 4: The Bennett Prize”
Muskegon Museum of Art Muskegon, Michigan
thebennettartcollection.com
muskegonartmuseum.org
On View through August 24, 2025
