The Reading Public Museum is pleased to present the Rising Voices: The Bennett Prize® for Women Figurative Realist Painters, the inaugural award and exhibition for The Bennett Prize®, through the generosity of the Pittsburgh Foundation, Steven Alan Bennett and Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt. A stipend/grant-in-aid award, the $50,000 Bennett Prize® is given biennially to a woman painter whose principal focus is figurative painting. The Bennett Prize® seeks to encourage the pursuit of figurative realism by women painters and provides support over two years to a painter whose work demonstrates excellence in the genre. The winner of the inaugural Bennett Prize is Aneka Ingold, a painter whose work explores women’s experiences across time, culture and history.

Rising Voices features more than 25 works by the ten finalists, presenting a vibrant array of subjects and themes. These ten artists were chosen from a field of 647 entrants from across the United States. Their paintings were selected for technical excellence, emotive and conceptually expressive qualities, and for the ability of their artists to tell stories that address the timeless and contemporary issues facing not only women, but society as a whole. Other figurative artists featured in the exhibition include Dorielle Caimi, Jennifer R.A. Campbell, Kira Nam Greene, Mary Henderson, Stephanie Jackson, Rebecca Léviellé, Jenny Morgan, Daniela Kovacic Muzio, and Carrie Pearce.