EDGE AWARD

Amanda Grae Platner, 2027 Edge Award Winner

Amanda Grae Platner is an interdisciplinary artist based in Atlanta, working across painting and performance. She received her MFA from the Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design at Georgia State University (2024) and holds a BFA in painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She is currently a Studio Artist at Atlanta Contemporary.

Her work is held in the collections of the Museum of Arts and Sciences and the Savannah College of Art and Design. She is the creator and director of large-scale collaborative performances including Matriarchy and Bipartisan, and is a MINT Leap Year Artist and a Hambidge Distinguished Fellow. Her work has been exhibited widely and featured in publications including Burnaway, ArtsATL, Atlanta Magazine, and on WABE’s NPR program City Lights with Lois Reitzes.

The 2027 Edge Award Finalists are Monica Campana, Victoria Garcia, Makeda Lewis, and Ezekiel Robinson

The 2027 Edge award Exhibition will take place at Swan Coach House Gallery in April, 2027.

EDGE AWARD HISTORY AND PRIZE DETAILS

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

Emerging Artist Award Winners, 1999-2019