The Ariel Bybee Endowment at the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts announces 2023 Prize Winner

NEW YORK CITY, New York –  March 2, 2023 –  The Ariel Bybee Endowment at the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts was established in 2021 to honor the legacy of Ariel Bybee and to foster the creation of new works by Latter-day Saint artists in disciplines that correspond to her varied career and interests in music and related arts. Each year, the Endowment chooses one of nine, rotating categories as the basis of the call for submissions: opera, dance, scholarship, art songs, youth education, hymns, visual arts, collaborative arts, and choral music.

This year, the Endowment asked artists to respond to the call for visual artwork, inspired by a specific piece of music of their choosing.

Sister-and-brother artists from Buenos Aires, Susana and Gonzalo Silva, were selected as the 2023 prize winners. Their proposal refers to a fellow Argentinean and female pioneer of electroacoustic music in Latin America, Hilda Dianda (1925). Dianda's Dos Estudios en Oposición ("Two Studies in Opposition," 1959) was intended for magnetic tape. Likewise, the Silvas' proposal, "two studies in collaboration" is conceived as a mixed-media installation that will explore two distinct research frameworks: the dialogue between graphical music notation and its relationship with contemporary visual art; and a review of Latin American, female representation within the canon of contemporary musical history.

According to the call, the Silvas' proposal also reflects the relationship between visual art and music. They suggest "the paper sculpture acts as an analogue of the magnetic tape where new musical sheets can be drawn and then present themselves as fading images of light and shadow."

This work will be exhibited at Sargent's Daughters, a gallery in downtown Manhattan in the future. Allegra LaViola is the gallery owner of Sargent's Daughters and served as a member of the jury for the 2023 prize. She commented that she "is delighted to show the work."

In addition to LaViola, a jury carefully reviewed more than sixty applicants from all over the world before selecting the winners.  

The 2023 jury consisted of the following individuals: Georgina Bringas, artist; Kent Christensen, artist; Janalee Emmer, director, Brigham Young University Museum of Art; Campbell Gray, retired director, The University of Queensland Art Museum; Brad Kramer, owner and director, Writ & Vision; Allegra LaViola, owner and director, Sargent’s Daughters; Neylan McBaine, CEO, Duet Partner; Kah Poon, photographer; and Warren Winegar, art advisor, Winegar Fine Art.

Mykal Urbina, executive director of the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts said this about the 2023 Prize deliberations: "We are honored that over 60 artists from across the globe shared with us their ideas and the music that inspired them, that an esteemed panel of jurors gave their time to thoughtfully review each submission, and that Susana and Gonzalo are now becoming such a meaningful part of Ariel Bybee's legacy." She went on to praise the Bybee Endowment, itself: " In every way, [the Endowment] represents the heart of the Center: collaboration, creativity, and artistic excellence."

Neylan McBaine, Ariel Bybee's daughter, echoed Urbina's sentiment, "I am thrilled with the outcome... The quality of our jury was world-class, and we were all delighted to find an equally illustrious equally artist in the brother and sister duo of Susana and Gonzalo. I for one can’t wait to see the final work. Just as the opera productions my mom performed in were initially inspired by the music they represented, so too will Susana and Gonzalo’s work be a tribute to a musician from their country who inspires them."

The artists will receive a $5,000 commission for their work.

Pictured here: Susana Isabel Silva, Gonzalo Javier Silva