COURTESY NAIMA J. KEITH
California African American Museum deputy director Naima J. Keith has been named the winner of the High Museum of Art’s David C. Driskell Prize, which is awarded annually to a scholar or artist who has made a major contribution to African American art history. She will be honored at a dinner at the Atlanta museum on April 28.
Keith was hired as the California African American Museum’s deputy director last year. Prior to that, she was an associate curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem, where she organized a number of critically acclaimed solo shows, among them a survey of work by Charles Gaines from 1974 to 1989. She was also a curatorial fellow at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.
“The level of passion and dedication Naima has applied to providing a platform for contemporary African American artists is extraordinary,” Rand Suffolk, the High’s director, said in a statement. “We are proud to welcome her among the impressive group of past Driskell Prize recipients and to support her work, which has introduced audiences to important artists of our time and will continue to make a significant impact in years to come.”