EDGE AWARD
Darya Fard, 2025 Edge Award Winner
Darya Fard is a multidisciplinary artist with Printmaking concentration whose work examines spiritual exploration by creating metaphorical, symbolic mythical creatures inspired by Persian poetry, mythology, and psychological studies. Darya received her MFA degree from GSU, Atlanta, and her first MFA degree in painting in Iran, Tehran. Her primary aesthetic concern is in intersecting visual art and time-based mediums with Persian literature, mythology, and psychology incorporating scientistic studies and natural phenomena.
The 2024 Edge Award Finalists are Antonio Darden, Wihro Kim, Jackson Markovic, and Marinelly Piñango.
The 2025 Edge award Exhibition will take place at Swan Coach House Gallery in March, 2025.
EDGE AWARD HISTORY AND PRIZE DETAILS
Dana Haugaard, That breeze just keeps blowing over me (installation shot), 2021 Edge Award Exhibition
In 1999, as a response to dwindling public support for individual artists in the metro Atlanta area, the Forward Arts Foundation instituted the Emerging Artist Award (EAA). In 2019, the Emerging Artist Award was renamed the Edge Award in honor of Betty and Bob Edge, who helped found the award twenty years prior.
Artists are nominated by a rotating panel of independent arts professionals from the Atlanta arts community. All panelists are active participants in the Atlanta arts community and recognized as experts in their field. The winner and four finalists are chosen by the panel after two rounds of jurying. The award is overseen by non-voting Forward Arts Foundation Edge Award Committee members and Swan Coach House Gallery staff who serve as administrators.
Criteria for the award: artists must be early-career or under-recognized; have no major solo exhibitions; no current or exclusive gallery representation; must reside in the metro Atlanta area for at least two years prior to being nominated; and must be out of an educational institution for one year prior to nomination.
Each Edge Award winner receives $10,000 to pursue new work, a 2-week residency at the Hambidge Center, mentorship opportunities, and a solo exhibition at the Swan Coach House Gallery. The remaining four finalists receive $2000 each and exhibit one piece in the Swan Coach House Gallery front space during the Edge Award Exhibition.
Previous Edge Award Winners
2024 Edge Award Winner: Aineki Traverso
Finalists: Andrew Lyman, Natrice Miller, Yoon Nam, Ellex Swavoni
2021 Edge Award Winner: Dana Haugaard
Finalists: Davion Alston, Fredrik Brauer, Eleanor Neal, Saige Rowe
2023 Edge Award Winner: Hasani Sahlehe
Finalists: Caleb Jamel Brown, Jurell Cayetano, In Kyoung Chun, Timothy Short
2020 Edge Award Winner: María Korol
Finalists: Larkin Ford, Michael Jones, Dianna Settles, Jason Sweet
2022 Edge Award Winner: taylor janay
Finalists: Caleb Jamel Brown, Amie Esslinger, Nneka Kai, Jason Sweet
Emerging Artist Award Winners, 1999-2019
2018-19 Winner: Curtis Ames
Finalists: Robert Chamberlin, Krista Clark, Sonya Yong James, Christina Price Washington
2017-18 Winner: Andrew Boatright
Finalists: David Armistead, Wihro Kim, Julianne Trew, Vanessa Brook Williams
2016-17 Winner: Kellie Romany
Finalists: Chris Chambers, Travis Dodd, Rachel Garceau, Nick Madden
2015-16 Winner: Kelly Kristin Jones
Finalists: Dustin Chambers, Antonio Darden, Pastiche Lumumba, Vanessa Brook Williams
2014-15 Winner: Amandine Drouet
Finalists: Jessica Caldas, Chris Chambers, Henry Detweiler, Chantelle Rytter
2013-14 Winner: Morgan Alexander
Finalists: Brendan Danielsson, Rebecca Hanna, Chelsea Raflo, Nikki Starz
2012-13 Winner: Born
Finalists: Kevin Byrd, Andre Keichian, John Paul Floyd, Romy Maloon
2011-12 Winner: S. Patricia Patterson
Finalists: Margaret Fletcher, Born, Seana Reilly and Jessica Blinkhorn
2010-11 Winner: Lucha Rodriquez
Finalists: Meg Aubrey, Chung Fan Chang, Hope Hilton, Dorothy O’Connor
2010 Winner: Cosmo Whyte
Finalists: Morolake Odeleye, Whitney Stansell, Dayna Thacker & Whitney Wood
2009 Winner: Paul S. Benjamin
Finalists: Anita Arliss, Richard Russell, Ruth Stanford & Stan Woodard
2008 Winner: Ben Roosevelt
Finalists: Sarah Emerson, Tindel-Michi, Addison Will & Robert Witherspoon
2007 Winner: Santiago de Paoli
Finalists: Cara Averhart-Reese, Elizabeth Latta, K. Allyson Petty & Ben Wilson
2006 Winner: Ann-Marie Manker
Finalists: Jeremy Chance, Santiago De Paoli, Michi & Jon Rajkovich
2004 Winner: Matt Haffner
Finalists: Susan Cipcic, Will Eccleston, Travis Pack, & Jena Sibille
2003 Winner: Ruth Dusseault
Finalists: Jeff Conefrey, Sarah Hobbs, Deborah Kaszovitz & Sheila Swift
