About the 2010 Judges

Leslie King-Hammond was born in the South Bronx and grew up in South Jamaica and Hollis-Queens, New York and educated in the New York City public education system.  She won a full stipend-tuition scholarship awarded under the SEEK Grant (Search for Education, Evaluation, and Knowledge) at the City University of New York, Queens College (BFA degree, 1966-69). In 1969 she attended The Johns Hopkins University under a Horizon Fellowship for doctoral studies in art history. In 1973, she began to teach the art history courses at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). In 1976, she completed the Ph.D. was appointed Dean of Graduate Studies at Maryland Institute College of Art where she administers 200 students in eleven degree programs. She maintains a constant teaching schedule in the Art History Department.  In 2008 she retired to become Graduate Dean Emeritus and was appointed the Founding Director of the new Center for Race and Culture at the Maryland Institute College of Art. King-Hammond has won Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Studio Museum in Harlem (2002), Lifetime Service, Maryland Institute College of Art (2005), The DuBois Circle (2006). In 2008 received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Women’s Art Caucus-College Art Association and the James A. Porter Colloquium, Howard University and an Andy Warhol Curatorial Fellowship.

Ben Thompson is Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville.  MOCA Jacksonville is one of the Southeast’s largest contemporary art institutions, dedicated to presenting innovative exhibitions by the finest international, national and regional artists. The museum joined forces with the University of North Florida in the spring of 2009 and is now considered a cultural resource of UNF.   Mr. Thompson joined MOCA in 2007 as Registrar, was promoted to Associate Curator in 2008 and as of the fall 2009 has assumed the role of full Curator for the museum.  He is responsible for an ambitious exhibitions and collections program which features fifteen exhibitions annually in over 16,000 square feet of gallery space.  Mr. Thompson brings with him nine years of experience managing museum collections. Prior to his arrival at MOCA he was Registrar at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans and the Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University outside of Boston. He holds an MFA from Massachusetts College of Art, Boston and a BFA from The University of Southwestern Louisiana. He is also a member of the Southeastern Registrar’s Association (SERA) and a sculptor.