We extend our heartfelt congratulations to the outstanding artists who have been recognized as this year’s Art Festival Award Winners! Your creativity, passion, and dedication to your craft have truly inspired us all. Each piece showcased was a testament to the power of artistic expression, and your work stood out as a shining example of excellence. We are deeply grateful for your participation and for sharing your vision with our community. Thank you for being an essential part of this celebration of art, imagination, and connection.

Jody Clowes is the director of the James Watrous Gallery, a program of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters, and the arts editor for Wisconsin People & Ideas magazine. Her curatorial experience also includes senior positions at Milwaukee Art Museum, Detroit’s Pewabic Pottery, and the UW-Madison’s Design Gallery, and her projects often emphasize connections across disciplines, from environmental concerns to social and economic history, technological change, and the history of craft. Jody has a B.A. in Art and Art History from Rutgers University and an M.A. in material culture studies from the University of Delaware’s Winterthur Museum program.

Paul Baker Prindle is the Gabriele Haberland Director of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA). Baker Prindle received his graduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a bachelor’s degree from Edgewood College.

During his previous time in Madison, Baker Prindle worked at the Madison Art Center, now known as MMoCA. In his first year as Director, he has expanded Museum hours, revitalized MMoCA’s 20-year-old César Pelli-designed building, and led the curatorial team for the 2025 Wisconsin Triennial. Baker Prindle came to MMoCA from the Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum (the Kleefeld) at California State University, Long Beach, where he served as the Director from 2019–2024. At the Kleefeld, he oversaw the Museum’s expansion and renovation, strengthened the collection, and secured the American Alliance of Museums reaccreditation.

Additionally, Baker Prindle organized and curated the exhibitions It moves forward, always, Drag Show, and Lee Krasner: Collage Paintings 1951-1955 featuring the work of self-taught artists, LGTBQ artists, Indigenous Americans, and artists who identify as women. Prior to his tenure at the Kleefeld, Paul Baker Prindle was the Director of the John and Geraldine Lilley Museum of Art at the University of Nevada, Reno, and has held positions at Gagosian Gallery, Edgewood College, and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center.