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About the SECA Art Award

Since 1967, the SECA Art Award has honored more than seventy Bay Area artists with an exhibition at SFMOMA and an accompanying publication. The award distinguishes Bay Area artists whose work, at the time of nomination, has not received substantial recognition from a major institution. The 2024 SECA Art Award Exhibition will open in December 2024.
 





2019 SECA Art Award Recipients

Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle
Sahar Khoury
Marlon Mullen

 

Marlon Mullen, Untitled, 2018; courtesy the artist; JTT, New York; and Adams and Ollman; © Marlon Mullen; photo: Charles Benton
Sahar Khoury, Untitled (Security Gate Topiary), 2019 (detail); courtesy the artist and Rebecca Camacho Presents, San Francisco; photo: Becca Barolli
Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, The Sower Pt. II, from The Uninvited Series, 2016; courtesy the artist; © Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle

Artist Eligibility

The SECA Art Award honors Bay Area artists whose work has not, at the time of nomination, been accorded substantial recognition from a major institution. SECA members, employees of SFMOMA, artists currently enrolled in an undergraduate or MFA program, and previous SECA award recipients are not eligible for the Art Award.

Application Review

Artists nominated for the SECA Art Award are invited to apply by submitting their C.V., an artist’s statement, and representative images of their work. The SECA Art Award co-curators select sixteen of these applicants for studio visits.

Studio Visits

Studio visits are led by the SECA Art Award co-curators and are open to all SECA members.

Selection of Art Award Recipients

Following the completion of studio visits, the SECA Art Award co-curators select the winners. The 2024 SECA exhibition co-curators are Maria Castro (assistant curator, painting and sculpture) and Shana Lopes (assistant curator, photography).

Exhibition

The SECA Art Awardees are featured in an SFMOMA exhibition and an accompanying publication.

Award History (1967–2019)

1967 SECA Grant Award
Mel Henderson
1968 SECA Grant Award
Peter Zecher
1969 SECA Grant Award
William Allan
1970 SECA Grant Award
James Reineking
1970 SECA Vernal Equinox Special Award*
Bonnie Ora Sherk and Howard Levine
1971 SECA Grant Award
Wayne E. Campbell
1971 SECA Vernal Equinox Special Award*
Terry Fox
1972 SECA Vernal Equinox Special Award*
Stephen Davis
1973 SECA Grant Award
David Kimball Anderson; Special recognition: David Jones, Jim Pomeroy
1973 SECA Film as Art Awards*
Ronald Chase, Robert Burrill, Horst Leissl, Jeffery Miller, Frederick Fierstein, Amnon Igra, Steve Klocksiem, Larry Lansburgh, Brian Lansburgh
1974 SECA Grant Award
Charles R. Garoian, Jerome Johnson, David Jones,
Bryan Rogers, and Mary Snowden
1974 SECA Film as Art Awards*
Robert Bloomberg, Vince Collins, Peter Hutton, Larry Huston, Jeffrey Hale, Derek Lamb, Suzanne Simpson
1975 SECA Film as Art Awards*
James Broughton, Dave Viera, Michael O’Callahan, Richard Bell, Vince Collins
1975 SECA Grant Award
Ciel Bergman (aka Cheryl
Bowers), Lucian Octavius Pompili, and
Cornelia Schulz
1976 SECA Grant Award
David Maclay
1977 SECA Art Award
David Best, Michael Jean Cooper, Glenn Jampol, and
Miklós Pogány
1978 SECA Art Award
Milton Komisar
1978 SECA Film as Art Awards*
Dennis Sky David Pies, Gregg Schiffner, Rollin Buckman, Robert Burrill, Niccolo Caldararo, Robert C. Chiesa, Amanda C. Pope
1980 SECA Art Award
Squeak Carnwath, Suzanne Hanson, and Seth Seiderman
1980 SECA Photography Invitational*
Gay Block, Jack Butler, Vida Freeman, Sally Gall, Victor Landweber, Thomas Neff, Jane O’Neal, Susan Rankaitis, Gail Skoff, Wolf von dem Bussche, and Steve Yates
1980 SECA Film as Art Awards*
Les Blank, Ronald Chase, Bruce Conner, Pat Ferrero, Suzanne Simpson, Andy Aaron, Michael Anderson, Vince Collins, Sally Cruikshank, Dennis
“Sky” David Pies, Lambert Yam
1981 SECA Art Award
Marc Katano, George Lawson, and Margaret
Rinkovsky
1982 SECA Photography Invitational*
John Bloom, Lynda Frese, Paul Klein, Douglas
Muir, Michael Narcisco, Jeanne O’Connor, Art Rogers, Thom Sempere, Barbara
Thompson, Bruce Van Meter, and Laura Volkerding
1983 SECA Art Award
Clay Jensen
1984 SECA Art Award
Larry Thomas
1984 SECA Film as Art Awards*
Michael Naimark: Displacements; Gunvor Nelson, Michael Emery, James Irwin, Michael Rudnick, Don Bonato, Bruce Conner, Arthur Dong, Keith M. Jones, Charles Koppelman, Stephanie Maxwell, Greg McLain, David Michalak, Christian Schiess
1985
SECA Art Award
Richard Overstreet and Rick Soss
1986 SECA Art Award
Ev Thomas
1987 SECA Art Award
Anna Valentina Murch
1987 SECA Film as Art Awards*
Susan Friedman, Ruby Yang, Sal Giammona, Eric Sayetta, Dominic Angerame, Al Hernandez, Cathy Levine, Alan Mukamal
1988 SECA Video Invitational Award*
Lawrence Andrews, Paula Levine, Marek Pacholec, Alan Rath, Lisé Swenson
1988
SECA Art Award
Susan Marie Dopp
1990 SECA Art Award
Nayland Blake and John Meyer
1990 SECA Film as Art Award*
Sal Giammona, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Michael Wallin, Sylvie Carnot, Ted White
1992
SECA Art Award
John Beech, Hung Liu, and Maria Porges
1992 SECA Video Award*
Barbara Hammer, Marlon T. Riggs, Jonathan Robinson, Ed Rudolph, Michele Zaccheo; award commission: Christiane Robbins
1994
SECA Art Award
Toi Hoang
1996 SECA Art Award
D-L Alvarez, Anne Appleby, Barry McGee
1996 SECA Electronic Media Award*
Rebeca
Bollinger, Jim Campbell, Paul DeMarinis, and Carol Selter
1998
SECA Art Award
Chris Finley, Gay Outlaw, Laurie Reid, and Rigo 98 (now Rigo 23)
1998 SECA Award in the Media Arts: Film*
Ronald Levaco, Corey Ohama, Jay Rosenblatt, David Sherman, John Turk
2000 SECA Art Award
Rachael Neubauer and Kathryn VanDyke
2001
SFMOMA Experimental Design Award*
Thom Faulders, Donald Fortescue, and Post Tool
Design
2002
SECA Art Award
John Bankston, Andrea Higgins, Chris Johanson,
and Will Rogan
2004 SECA Art Award
Rosana Castrillo Díaz, Simon Evans, Shaun O’Dell, and Josephine Taylor
2006
SECA Art Award
Sarah Cain, Kota Ezawa, Amy Franceschini, Mitzi
Pederson, and Leslie Shows
2008 SECA Art Award
Tauba Auerbach, Desirée Holman, Jordan Kantor,
and Trevor Paglen
2010 SECA Art Award
Mauricio Ancalmo, Colter Jacobsen, Ruth Laskey,
and Kamau Amu Patton
2012 SECA Art Award
Zarouhie Abdalian, Josh Faught, Jonn Herschend,
and David Wilson
2017 SECA Art Award
Liam Everett, Alicia McCarthy, Sean McFarland, K.r.m. Mooney, and Lindsey White
2019 SECA Art Award
Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, Sahar Khoury, Marlon Mullen
2022 SECA Art Award
Binta Ayofemi, Maria Guzmán Capron, Cathy Lu, Marcel Pardo Ariza, Gregory Rick

*SECA Award Special Exhibitions and Presentations