Conceptual artist Charles Gaines wins Edward MacDowell Medal

NEW YORK – Conceptual artist Charles Gaines is this year’s winner of the Edward MacDowell Medal, an honour previously given to Robert Frost and Toni Morrison among others.

On Sunday, the MacDowell artist colony praised Gaines as a “renowned and celebrated” artist and as an educator who has helped “generations of students.” MacDowell Colony chairman Michael Chabon, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, will present Gaines his medal at an August 11 ceremony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, the colony’s longtime home.

Gaines is a Charleston, South Carolina, native whose work has been exhibited everywhere from the Museum of Modern Art to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He teaches at the CalArts School of Art.

Edward MacDowell and his wife, Marian MacDowell, founded the MacDowell Colony in 1907. The medal was established in 1960.