SLIS professor named finalist in first-ever BRAVA Awards

September 28, 2023

Tuscaloosa, Ala. – Assistant professor Sarah Bryant in the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS) was named a finalist for the inaugural BRAVA Awards in July. Held by the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (BIMA), the awards commemorate the 10th anniversary of the museum’s opening and will be awarded every two years.

Noting her achievement as a BRAVA Awards finalist for her work, Bryant said, “It is an honor! Both the winner, Julie Chen, and the other finalist, Karen Kunc, are exceptionally talented, productive and well-respected artists. I am gratified to be in such excellent company.”

BRAVA stands for BIMA Recognizing Achievement in the Visual Arts. The awards, decided by four different committees, recognize four artists whose work displays artistic merit and excellence, technical mastery, contribution to the industry, and professional accomplishment in four different categories. The awards categories are Emerging Artist; Artists’ Book Artist; Native American and First Nations Artist; and Children’s Book Illustrator.

Each artist selected for one of the four awards received $15,000 and recognition from BIMA at an awards ceremony on Sept. 23. Held at BIMA in Bainbridge Island, WA, all the winners were invited to the ceremony.

Bryant’s application included submitting images and video of her artwork as well as written statements. Awards were decided by an artist’s total body of work, rather than for one artwork. While her application included the contents of her portfolio, Bryant’s focus was on a recent series of books which she produced with five others during her time as a fellow in UA’s Collaborative Arts Research Initiative.

Her ongoing collaboration project, “Acts of Translation,” uses interviews with five collaborators to explore the communication and conversion of information. Each book reflects one instance of a collaborator’s communication and conversion, as well as a representation of that action through text, image, book material and structure.

Currently producing the fourth book out of five in the project, Bryant is also working with the Alabama Digital Humanities Center (ADHC) to create a website.. She plans to speak on the project in front of the ADHC in December.

Bryant is an assistant professor in UA’s MFA Book Arts program. Founded in 1985, it is one of three MFA Book Arts programs in the nation. Bryant said she is eligible to apply for the BRAVA Awards again in two years.

View Bryant’s entire body of work here.

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The College of Communication & Information Sciences, with a total enrollment of more than 3,400 students, was founded at The University of Alabama in 1973. Among three academic departments and one school, the College offers five bachelor’s, five master’s and one multidisciplinary doctoral program designed to hone students’ knowledge and skills within the communication and information sciences.

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Caleb Aguayo was a master’s student in the Community Journalism track and a graduate assistant for the college’s communications team from 2023 to 2024. Find more information about his ongoing work here: https://bit.ly/caleb-aguayo