AwardNovember 6, 2023
Margarita Cano, winner of the Ellie's Michael Richards Award
The Michael Richards Award is granted to a Miami-Dade artist who develops an original, high-quality body of work that reaches a professional and distinguished level within the visual arts. A jury of national curators and experts nominates and selects the winner, who receives USD 75,000 for two years.
Michael Richards (1963 - 2001) was an Oolite alumnus and an intelligent, provocative, and poetic artist whose work addresses racial inequalities and social injustices. Richards died in his World Trade Center studio during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
In 2023, Margarita Cano is the winner, an artist, curator, and scholar. She served as coordinator of the Miami-Dade Public Library System, playing a key role in developing the library's art collection, overseeing innovative public programs, commissioning murals, and organizing exhibitions, among others.
Cano's contributions to Miami's artistic and literary evolution, including her leadership roles at the Miami Book Fair, the Cuban Museum, and the Center for Fine Arts, earned her a CINTAS "Lifetime Achievement" award over a decade ago. Bonnie Clearwater said of Cano's work, "a portal to a celestial world, where memories are transformed into sacred visions of life and loss." Her practice comprises drawings, photographs, books, sculptures, prints, and paintings and often features detailed, dreamlike landscapes, nostalgically evoking her Cuban childhood.
Michael Richards (1963 - 2001) was an Oolite alumnus and an intelligent, provocative, and poetic artist whose work addresses racial inequalities and social injustices. Richards died in his World Trade Center studio during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
In 2023, Margarita Cano is the winner, an artist, curator, and scholar. She served as coordinator of the Miami-Dade Public Library System, playing a key role in developing the library's art collection, overseeing innovative public programs, commissioning murals, and organizing exhibitions, among others.
Cano's contributions to Miami's artistic and literary evolution, including her leadership roles at the Miami Book Fair, the Cuban Museum, and the Center for Fine Arts, earned her a CINTAS "Lifetime Achievement" award over a decade ago. Bonnie Clearwater said of Cano's work, "a portal to a celestial world, where memories are transformed into sacred visions of life and loss." Her practice comprises drawings, photographs, books, sculptures, prints, and paintings and often features detailed, dreamlike landscapes, nostalgically evoking her Cuban childhood.
