Jennifer Steinkamp, a professor in UCLA’s Department of Design and Media Arts, received an award from Americans for the Arts for “Murmuration,” a public art installation at the George Deukmejian Courthouse in Long Beach. The 26-by-24-foot light installation depicts colorful images of fluttering feathers (a “murmuration” is the flowing movement of a flock of starlings).
The artwork was among 37 award winners selected as the year's best from 342 public artworks across North America by a three-judge panel — two artists and a public art expert — from Americans for the Arts, a nonprofit group that lobbies for better government funding for the arts and assists the nonprofit arts sector nationwide. “Murmuration” was one of only six award-winners unanimously favored by all three jurors.
Steinkamp is an installation artist who works with video and new media in order to explore ideas about architectural space, motion and perception. She has exhibited throughout the world, and her work is in numerous public collections, including the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art, the Experience Music Project in Seattle and the Istanbul Modern in Turkey. She is the recipient of awards from the City of Los Angeles, the J. Paul Getty Trust Fund, and the California Arts Council, among others.
Learn more about the artist at steinkamp.com and in Los Angeles Times coverage of the awards.