College of Charleston sculpture professor Herb Parker has been named a finalist for the Gibbes Museum of Art’s prestigious 1858 Prize for Contemporary Southern Art.

The prize awards $10,000 to an artist whose work contributes to a new understanding of art in the South. Presented annually, the prize recognizes the highest level of artistic achievement in any media. Parker, who has been a professor at the College since 1991, is among six finalists for 2019. Parker was awarded the South Arts South Carolina Fellowship in 2017.

RELATED: Get inside the mind of Herb Parker.

Chosen as a finalist for his nature-based installations, Parker’s work focuses on enhancing the viewer’s perception of the environment and humanity’s relationship with nature. His art includes elements of architecture, sculpture and landscape. Parker’s nature-based installations have taken him all over the world, most recently to create “Sami Dialogue,” Landart in Alingsas, Nolhaga Park in Alingsas, Sweden, and to participate in the 8th Geumgang Nature Art Biennale, Mt. Yeonmi, in Gongju, Korea.


Featured image: Herb Parker works on a sculpture.