Moss winner combines art with community

By Becky Mayad

The Meadows Museum, SMU, announces that Erica Felicella has won the 2025 Moss/Chumley North Texas Artist Award. The award is given annually to an outstanding North Texas artist who has exhibited professionally for at least 10 years and has a proven track record as a community advocate for the visual arts. The award brings a $3,000 cash prize.

Felicella is a multidisciplinary artist and arts professional with roots in New England who has called Dallas home for more than 20 years. Originally trained in photography, she works as an artist, curator, producer, organizer and program developer for fellow artists. Throughout the past decade, her practice has expanded beyond photography to include performance, endurance art, site-specific installations and new media. Across these varied forms, Felicella explores collective human experiences through resonant themes such as memory, grief and vulnerability.

Beyond her own artistic practice, Felicella is deeply involved in community-building efforts throughout North Texas. Her advocacy for artists and arts access, through her stewardship of initiatives such as Temporary Assembly Permit through Art Conspiracy and the Dallas Public Library Culture Pass, demonstrates her drive to foster meaningful connections between art and community. Her years of cultivating both her artistic and community practice have allowed her to push the boundaries of her medium and help reimagine what’s possible for the DFW arts community.

“It is an immense honor to receive the Moss/Chumley award,” Felicella said. “Over two decades ago, I arrived in North Texas as a young, starry-eyed artist. I have always believed in dedicating oneself to expanding one’s horizons and giving back whenever possible, and have sought to balance personal expression with community-focused work. To be recognized for both these aspects of my artistic practice in a single award is truly remarkable. North Texas offers vibrant opportunities for growth, and it fills me with great joy to spread my wings here while contributing to this community.”

Felicella’s work has been showcased at the Dallas Museum of Art, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas Contemporary, Perot Museum of Nature and Science and Amarillo Museum of Art, among other institutions. She has also participated in international and regional performance festivals including Convergence in Ireland and Latitudes in Bolivia. Felicella pushes the boundaries of traditional exhibition spaces, often creating immersive experiences that engage in exterior environments. 

“Erica Felicella has greatly influenced North Texas by combining performance art with community engagement. Her work explores themes of human resilience and emotional depth,” said jury member Du Chau, recipient of the 2024 Moss/Chumley Award. “She inspires those around her while supporting local artists and cultural initiatives, enhancing the region’s creative environment.”

Another jury member, Meadows Museum curator Patricia Manzano Rodríguez, saluted Felicella’s community engagement efforts. “We are thrilled to honor Erica Felicella with this year’s Moss/Chumley Award,” said Manzano Rodríguez. “Her fearless exploration of performance, new media and installation art, combined with her deep dedication to the Dallas arts community, makes her an inspiring force. Erica’s work doesn’t just invite engagement, it demands reflection and connection.”

The Moss/Chumley Memorial Fund was created in 1989 by Frank Moss and the Meadows Museum as a tribute to Jim Chumley; Moss’s name was added to the fund upon his death in 1991. Moss and Chumley were two Dallas art dealers who made outstanding contributions to the visual arts in North Texas during the 1980s. The pair operated the Nimbus Gallery on Routh Street from 1980 to 1987 and the Moss/Chumley Gallery at the Crescent Court from 1986 to 1989, where they showcased numerous new artists.

Established in 1995, the Moss/Chumley Artist Award is given in their memory. The award, which carries a cash prize of $3,000, is open to artists working in any medium who live in one of the 11 North Texas counties: Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant and Wise.

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