Lenhardt Lecture: Jeffrey Gibson in Conversation with Candice Hopkins
October 14, 2026
6:30 – 8 pm, Whiteman Hall
Free for Members | $5 for the general public
Join PhxArt for the fall 2026 Lenhardt Lecture featuring artist Jeffery Gibson in conversation with curator and writer Candice Hopkins.
ABOUT JEFFERY GIBSON
Jeffrey Gibson (American, b. 1972) is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and convener, celebrated for his work in painting, installation, video, and performance. Over two decades, he has examined how language, pattern, and music construct meaning, synthesizing Indigenous and Western traditions through vibrant color, complex patterning, and layered sound. A member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, Gibson represented the U.S. at the 2024 Venice Biennale with his acclaimed exhibition the space in which to place me, which made its U.S. debut at The Broad in Los Angeles in May 2025. In June 2025, he unveiled a site-specific installation at Kunsthaus Zurich and that same year was selected for the Metropolitan Museum’s Genesis Facade Commission. His work is held in major collections including MoMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and the National Gallery of Art.
ABOUT CANDICE HOPKINS
Candice Hopkins is a citizen of Carcross/Tagish First Nation and lives in Red Hook, New York. Her writing and curatorial practice explore the intersections of history, contemporary art, and Indigeneity. She is Executive Director & Chief Curator of Forge Project, Taghkanic, New York, and Fellow in Indigenous Art History and Curatorial Studies, Bard College. She is curator of the exhibitions Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination Since 1969, Soundings: An Exhibition in Five Parts, co-curated with Dylan Robinson, and ᑕᑯᒃᓴᐅᔪᒻᒪᕆᒃ Double Vision, featuring textiles, prints and drawings by Jessie Oonark, Janet Kigusiuq, and Victoria Mamnguqsualuk. She was the Senior Curator for the inaugural 2019 and 2022 editions of the Toronto Biennial of Art and part of the curatorial team for the Canadian Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, featuring the work of the media collective Isuma; as well as documenta 14, Athens and Kassel; and Sakahàn: International Indigenous Art, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Her notable essays include “The Gilded Gaze: Wealth and Economies on the Colonial Frontier,” in the documenta 14 Reader; “Outlawed Social Life,” in South as a State of Mind; and “The Appropriation Debates (or The Gallows of History),” in Saturation: Race, Art, and the Circulation of Value (New Museum/MIT Press, 2020).
ABOUT THE LENHARDT LECTURE
The David and Dawn Lenhardt Lecture engages Valley audiences with some of the most acclaimed contemporary artists in the world. In 2018, the inaugural lecture presented New-York based artist Jim Hodges, and subsequent lectures have featured artists Shara Hughes, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Arcmanoro Niles, Teresita Fernández in conversation with Amalia Mesa-Bains, Derek Fordjour, Rashid Johnson, Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe in conversation with Larry Ossei-Mensah, Leonardo Drew, Lily Stockman, Eamon Ore-Giron, Charles Gaines in conversation with Thelma Golden, Adam Pendelton in conversation with Dr. Adrienne Edwards, and Caroline Kent. The program also includes an educational and community-based component. All Lenhardt Lecture speakers engage with local artists and creatives, working with Arizona-based creators in various capacities to provide vital mentorship.
SPONSORS
The Lenhardt Lecture is made possible through the generosity of The Dawn and David Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative.
Lenhardt Lecture Series is supported in part by Prime Steak Concepts.