Highlights

Phoenix Art Museum has named Jeffrey Gibson, Candice Hopkins, and Kelly Akashi as the 2026-2027 speakers in its Lenhardt Lecture series, pairing two of the most decorated contemporary artists working in the U.S. with one of the field's leading Indigenous curators for back-to-back evenings that will draw the Valley's serious collector set.

Gibson, a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, will appear in conversation with Hopkins on October 14, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. Gibson represented the United States at the 2024 Venice Biennale with his exhibition the space in which to place me, which subsequently made its U.S. debut at The Broad in Los Angeles in May 2025. His work is held in the permanent collections of MoMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and the National Gallery of Art. In June 2025, he unveiled a site-specific installation at Kunsthaus Zurich and was selected for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Genesis Facade Commission.

Hopkins, who will join Gibson on the October stage, is Executive Director and Chief Curator of Forge Project in Taghkanic, New York, and a Fellow in Indigenous Art History and Curatorial Studies at Bard College. She served as Senior Curator for the inaugural 2019 and 2022 editions of the Toronto Biennial of Art and was part of the curatorial team for the Canadian Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale.

Akashi takes the spring slot on April 14, 2027. Her work is already familiar to PhxArt audiences: Polar Vista (1993-2023), acquired by the Museum in 2023, is currently on view in the Katz Wing for Modern Art. Akashi's recent commissions include a monumental installation for JFK International Airport's New Terminal One and a project for the Hyundai Terrace at the 2026 Whitney Biennial. She received the 2024 Distinguished Women in the Arts Award from MOCA Los Angeles.

Who is funding the lecture series?

The Lenhardt Lecture is a component of the Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative, established in 2017 through the Arizona-based Lenhardt family. David Lenhardt serves on the Museum's Board of Trustees. The initiative also funds contemporary art acquisitions and underwrites the Dawn and David Lenhardt Gallery. Since 2017, the Museum has acquired works by Shara Hughes, Arcmanoro Niles, Derek Fordjour, Rashid Johnson, Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, and Lily Stockman using funds from the initiative.

Beyond the public lectures, both Gibson and Akashi will engage with Arizona-based artists and creatives as part of the series' educational component, which the Museum describes as providing mentorship to local creators. Lenhardt Lecture tickets are free for Museum Members and $5 for the public. Tickets for both dates are available at phxart.org.

Where to find them

Sources

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  1. phxart.org retrieved 02/09/2026 20:59
  2. Polar Vista (official site) retrieved 02/09/2026 20:59
  3. National Gallery (official site) retrieved 02/09/2026 20:59

Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 02/09/2026 20:59. Every claim traces to a source.