CHARLESTON, S.C.- The Gibbes Museum of Art announced the 2011 Short List of Finalists for the fourth annual Factor Prize. The Factor Prize, awarded annually with a cash prize of $10,000, acknowledges an artist whose work demonstrates the highest level of artistic achievement in any media while contributing to a new understanding of art in the South. The winner of the 2010 Factor Prize was mixed media artist Radcliffe Bailey of Atlanta .

Artists who reside, work in, or are from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, or Virginia were nominated for the Prize online at www.factorprize.org through February 28, 2011. In early March, seven panelists reviewed the hundreds of applicants and narrowed the list to six artists. The seven panelists for the 2011 Factor Prize were philanthropists Elizabeth and Mallory Factor; 2010 Factor Prize winner Radcliffe Bailey; Chris Crosman, Chief Curator, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; Xandra Eden, Curator of Exhibitions, Weatherspoon Art Museum; Mark Sloan, Director and Senior Curator, Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art; and Pam Wall , Curator of Exhibitions, Gibbes Museum of Art The six artists (profiled below) selected for the 2011 Factor Prize Short List of Finalists are Bo Bartlett, Pinky Bass, Patrick Dougherty, Elliott Hundley, Deborah Luster, and Jiha Moon.

“We’re delighted with the caliber of artists who entered the contest this year. The finalists represent a wide array of styles, subjects, and approaches. Through the Factor Prize, the Gibbes continues its legacy of supporting and honoring the talents of artists working in and from the South,” said Angela Mack , Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Gibbes.

The winner of the 2011 Factor Prize will be announced on May 2 at a ceremony at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston . Nominations for the 2012 award can be made beginning June 1, 2011 on the factorprize.org website. The Factor Prize website not only serves as a nomination point for artists but it is also a publicly accessible online archive of information about Southern artists that can be used by curators, collectors, academicians, and the public.

Bo Bartlett
Born in Columbus , Georgia , Bartlett is acclaimed for his large-scale paintings that explore American life and cultural heritage. His realist style has been honed through extensive training, including a degree from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Bartlett ’s work is included in numerous public collections including the Denver Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Seattle Art Museum .

Pinky Bass
Photographer Pinky Bass was born in Fairhope , Alabama , where she continues to live today. For many years she has worked with pinhole photography, embracing the imperfections and unusual perspective of the medium. Currently, Bass is exploring mixed media work as she aims to reveal the mystery of life, death, and aging.

Patrick Dougherty
A native and current resident of North Carolina , Dougherty is a sculptor who works with twigs and branches to create site-specific installations. Woven together and held in place by tension, Dougherty’s sculptures have a whimsical quality, inspired by his experiences as a child. He has exhibited throughout the world, including installations in Austria , Belgium , Denmark , England , Japan , and numerous locations in the United States .

Elliott Hundley
Los Angeles-based artist Hundley was born and raised in Greensboro , North Carolina . He creates paintings, sculptures, and assemblages with richly-layered surfaces that draw inspiration from Greek mythology. Hundley has exhibited widely and his work in included in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Deborah Luster
Luster, who lives and works in New Orleans , Louisiana , turned to photography as a means to cope with the murder of her mother. She has created thousands of powerful, haunting portraits of prisoners housed in Louisiana . Her recent body of work captures desolate landscapes in New Orleans where murders occurred.

Jiha Moon
Korean-born painter Jiha Moon currently lives and works in Atlanta , Georgia . Her work combines diverse cultural influences, including Asian landscape painting, calligraphy, and imagery from Western popular culture. Moon’s work is included in a number of prestigious collections including the High Museum of Art in Atlanta , the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte , and the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum of Sculpture Garden in Washington , DC .