BIO
Prilla Smith Brackett (b. 1942 New Orleans, LA) is an artist known for working with landscape conceptually, often using imagery to comment on ecological issues and more recently, personal struggle. Her current work is based on images of the dried-up section of an ancient clivia plant, with papery parts of cut off dead leaves and worm-like rootlets jutting out. Brackett increasingly uses improvisational techniques and abstract imagery which mirror her acceptance of unpredictability and not knowing in her life, following the death of her husband in 2023.
Brackett has exhibited throughout the eastern US including a solo show traveling to 8 venues in New England and the mid-Atlantic states. Her work is in the collections of Harvard University Art Museums, New Britain Museum of American Art, Danforth Art Museum, Worcester Art Museum, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
Her honors include a finalist award in painting from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, an Earthwatch Artist award in Madagascar, and a fellowship in painting at the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College. In 2019, she established the Prilla Smith Brackett biennial award for a Boston area woman artist, in collaboration with the Davis Museum of Wellesley College and the Boston Foundation.
The Prilla Smith Brackett Award
The Biennial Prilla Smith Brackett Award honors outstanding women visual artists based in the greater Boston area and is intended to draw attention to their exceptional contributions to the field and region. It is administered by the Davis Museum at Wellesley College. Inquiries for the 4th cycle can be addressed to them, in spring 2026. Recipients receive a $15,000 cash award intended to assist in career advancement through support for travel, research, early project development, project completion, studio costs, catalogue production, et. al.