David Hammons performing his "Bliz-aard Ball Sale" piece outside Cooper Union in 1983. (Courtesy the artist)

Today the College Art Association released the winners of its annual awards, and there are some exciting picks. The reliably reclusive David Hammons nabbed the Distinguished Artist Award, Lucy Lippard was named Distinguished Feminist and David Antin was awarded the Frank Jewett Mather Award, which is presented for art criticism.

The awards will be presented at the CAA conference in February. Given Mr. Hammons's general refusal to appear at public events, it's anyone's guess if he'll show up to accept his award.

We're particularly excited about Ms. Lippard's win here at the Gallerist office, since it lets us link to this old New York magazine article, from 1985, that recalls a rather timely episode involving New York Times critic Hilton Kramer. Kay Larson and John Leonard wrote that Mr. Kramer once:

"... hissed the critic Lucy Lippard as she gave a testimonial to advances by women artists, and ... then quickly glanced to his companions like a small boy begging peer approval for putting a tack on a teacher's table."

The complete list of award winners, courtesy of Artforum, is as follows:

David Hammons, Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement
Adrian Piper, Artist Award for Distinguished Body of Work
Lucy R. Lippard, Distinguished Feminist Award
Allan Sekula, Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award for Writing on Art
David Antin, Frank Jewett Mather Award
Alexander Nagel, Charles Rufus Morey Book Award
Maryan W. Ainsworth, Stijn Alsteens, and Nadine M. Orenstein, Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award
Roy Flukinger, Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award for Smaller Museums, Libraries, Collections, and Exhibitions
Jacki Apple, Distinguished Teaching of Art Award
Gabriel P. Weisberg, Distinguished Teaching of Art History Award
Francesca G. Bewer, CAA/Heritage Preservation Award for Distinction in Scholarship and Conservation
Rebecca Molholt, Arthur Kingsley Porter Prize