Earlier this month, artist and CalArts faculty Shirley Tse was named the recipient of the International Sculpture Center’s (ISC) 2023 Outstanding Educator Award. Based in Hamilton, New Jersey, ISC is a nonprofit arts organization and publisher of Sculpture magazine, dedicated to educating the profession and the public about contemporary sculpture.
Selected by a dedicated awards committee, the Outstanding Educator Award is given annually “to honor inspiring, influential artists who have taught sculpture at institutions of higher learning for 15+ years and have sustained exemplary careers as professional artists. Recipients are valued by students and colleagues as mentors for future generations, are recognized nationally and internationally for their significant artistic production, and have made significant contributions to the field.”
Tse, who has taught at CalArts since 2001, was unanimously selected from a pool of nominees. Known for her sculpture, installation, and photography—which have been exhibited worldwide—Tse was the first female artist to represent Hong Kong in a solo exhibition at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019. She is also a 2012 recipient of the California Community Foundation Fellowship for Visual Artists, a 2009 John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, and a 2008 City of Los Angeles (COLA) Individual Artist Fellowship.
Past ISC Educator Award recipients include Coral Penelope Lambert, Bonnie Collura, Foon Sham, Patrick Strzelec, Coleen Sterritt, Ellen Driscoll, and Malcolm Cochran.
As part of the award, Tse will be featured in the January/February 2024 issue of Sculpture magazine.